Cabinet meeting: 7 July 2025

• Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS (Chair)
• Huw Irranca-Davies MS
• Jayne Bryant MS
• Mark Drakeford MS
• Rebecca Evans MS
• Jane Hutt MS
• Julie James MS
• Jeremy Miles MS
• Lynne Neagle MS
• Ken Skates MS
   
• Dawn Bowden MS
• Vikki Howells MS
• Sarah Murphy MS
• Jack Sargeant MS

Officials

• Andrew Goodall, Permanent Secretary
• Rachel Garside-Jones, Director Office of the First Minister and Delivery
• Rebecca Dunn, Head of Cabinet Division
• Victoria Jones, Principal Private Secretary First Minister
• Toby Mason, Head of Strategic Communications
• Sinead Gallagher, Deputy Director Cabinet Office
• Wayne David, Special Adviser
• Sarah Dickins, Special Adviser
• Madeleine Brindley, Special Adviser
• Julia David, Special Adviser
• Haf Davies, Special Adviser
• Victoria Evans, Special Adviser
• David Hooson, Special Adviser
• Nadila Hussein, Special Adviser
• Kirsty Keenan, Special Adviser
• Jackie Jones, Special Adviser
• Stephen Jones, Special Adviser
• Philippa Marsden, Special Adviser
• Martha O’Neil, Special Adviser
• Mary Wimbury, Special Adviser
• Christopher W Morgan, Head of Cabinet Secretariat (minutes)
• Damian Roche, Cabinet Secretariat
• Helena Bird, Permanent Secretary’s office
• Kath Hallett, First Minister’s office
• Tracey Burke, Director General Climate Change & Rural Affairs
• Andrew Slade, Director General Economy, Energy and Transport
• Emma Williams, Interim Director General Education, Culture & Welsh Language
• Nia James, Director Legal Services
• Simon Brindle, Director of Commercial Procurement
• Gian Marco Currado, Director Rural Affairs (item 4)
• Hannah Wharf, Deputy Director, Support for Learners Division (item 5)
• Louise Brown, Head of Additional Learning Needs Reform (item 5)

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 30 Mehefin 2025 / Cabinet approved the minutes of 30 June 2025.

Visit to Switzerland

2.1 The First Minister informed Cabinet that she was proud to have been able to be in Switzerland on Saturday to support the woman’s team in their first Euro25 match. Although it was not the result that had been hoped for, it had been a great hard-fought performance. The team was wished all the best for the next game against France on Wednesday, and it was noted that the Minister for Culture, Skills and Social Partnership would be attending the match against England the following Sunday.

2.2 Unfortunately, the planned visit to CERN in Geneva had to be postponed due to travel disruption. This would be re-arranged for a future date.

COVID-19 Inquiry

2.3 The First Minister advised Cabinet that the public hearing stage of the COVID-19 Inquiry Module 6 on the care sector began last week. Welsh witnesses would be giving evidence over the next 2 weeks, with the Chief Inspector of Care Inspectorate Wales appearing before the Inquiry that afternoon. The former First Minister, Vaughan Gething MS, was scheduled to attend the following week.

3.1 Cabinet considered the Plenary Grid and noted voting time was scheduled for 5:20pm on Tuesday, this would then be followed by Stage 3 of the Disused Mine and Quarry Tips (Wales) Bill, with voting throughout the 120-minute session. Voting time would be around 6:40pm on Wednesday.

4.1 The Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs provided Cabinet with an oral update on the Sustainable Farming Scheme (SFS).

4.2 Cabinet considered the paper the previous week and requested a note from policy officials to address the issues that had been raised during the discussion. This had been circulated to Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers the previous Tuesday.

4.3 Having considered the views of Cabinet, and the stakeholder roundtable, the intention was to proceed.

4.4 Cabinet agreed the revised SFS and noted the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs would be making a statement to the Senedd on 15 July.

5.1 The Cabinet Secretary for Education introduced the paper, which asked Cabinet to note the findings of the review of Additional Learning Needs and Education Tribunal (Wales) Act and agree to respond to the evidence in a way that supported learners, while recognising the financial, workload and handling issues for delivery partners.

5.2 The Act was an ambitious piece of legislation, designed to secure statutory protections for the most vulnerable learners. It established a unified legal framework for supporting learners with Additional Learning Needs (ALN), aged 0–25 through an Individual Development Plan. It replaced the dual system of school-led Special Educational Needs (SEN) plans and Local Authority statements, while integrating pre- and post-16 systems.

5.3 It sought to strengthen collaboration between local authorities and health boards, promote early intervention, and ensure a fair, bilingual system focused on inclusion. This was all predicted to be on a cost neutral basis, while reducing conflict in the system.

5.4 The review confirmed strong support for the principles underpinning the ALN reforms, particularly the focus on inclusion and person-centred planning. Everyone was working to support the diversity of children in every classroom across a range of settings.

5.5 However, evidence suggested inconsistent implementation.

5.6 To address this, there was a need to work with delivery partners to ensure the legislation was clear, consistently applied.

5.7 In terms of next steps, a Written Statement would be shared with Senedd Members on progress with the review before summer recess.

5.8 Cabinet approved the paper.

20th Anniversary of the 7/7 attacks in London

6.1 The First Minister reflected on the 20th anniversary of the terrorist attacks in London and the 52 people who lost their lives. The government’s thoughts were with the families, survivors and everyone affected by that fateful day.

Cabinet Secretariat
July 2025