Cabinet meeting: 15 September 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
• Luke Young, Special Adviser
• Sarah Dickins, Special Adviser
• Madeleine Brindley, 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
• Carwyn Wycherley, Cabinet Office
• Kath Hallett, First Minister’s office
• Tracey Burke, Director General Climate Change & Rural Affairs
• Sioned Evans, Chief Operating Officer
• Judith Paget, Director General Health
• Andrew Slade, Director General Economy, Energy and Transport  
• Emma Williams, Director General Education, Culture & Welsh Language
• Nia James, Director Legal Services

1.1 Cymeradwyodd y Cabinet gofnodion y 14 Gorffennaf 2025 / Cabinet approved the minutes of 14 July 2025.   

2.1 The First Minister welcomed Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers back after what had been a difficult summer. 

Tribute to Hefin David MS 

2.2 The First Minister indicated that she would be leading the tributes to Hefin David in Plenary the following day. Cabinet’s thoughts remained with Vikki Howells and her family. 

Summer recess 

2.3 It was recognised that it had been a busy summer recess with Ministerial commitments throughout. Specifically, the First Minister thanked the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, who had been at the forefront of the Major Incident declared by South Wales Fire and Rescue Service on the large wildfire at Clydach Dingle and Llangattock. He had also attended a number of agricultural shows.  

Exam results 

2.4 The First Minister also thanked the Cabinet Secretary for Education for her leadership across the portfolio, particularly in relation to the exam results. On GCSEs there had been improvements across all key grade ranges, with top grades up on the previous year and notably higher than 2019. On A-levels, there had been a broadly stable picture compared to the previous year, with encouraging signs of improvement in important grades and in some key subjects. Compared with pre-Covid, the gains were even more notable.  

Ministerial Code 

2.5 The First Minister informed Cabinet that the updated version of the Ministerial Code had been published the previous week. 

3.1 Cabinet considered the Plenary Grid and noted that the session on Tuesday would commence with tributes to Hefin David MS, with a short break before First Minister’s Questions. Voting time was scheduled for 6:45pm on Tuesday and would be around 6:25pm on Wednesday.

4.1 The Cabinet Secretary for Social Justice, Trefnydd and Chief Whip provided Cabinet with an oral update on Community Cohesion. 

4.2 Wales was experiencing a wave of anti-migrant viral narratives and misinformation, spawning protests, similar to the rest of the UK. For example, there had been protests and counter-protests in Rhoose, Mold and Newtown, an incident involving scouts from Scotland being targeted in Newbridge and extremist graffiti in Maesteg.

4.3 There had also been an increased focus on Government and Third Sector activities to promote equality, inclusion and human rights in Wales, such as the Nation of Sanctuary policy. 

4.4 In response, the Hate Hurts Wales campaign was due to be relaunched, which would encourage victims to report hate crime and encourage bystander action. The Government continued to fund the Wales Hate Support Centre to provide tailored support to any hate crime victim. There was also the community stakeholder misinformation toolkit to help community leaders to navigate potentially false and harmful information.  Furthermore, work was continuing to explore actions that could be taken to protect those standing up for equality and inclusion, as well as helping Welsh citizens to better discern fact from fiction.

4.5 Cabinet noted the update. 

Cabinet Secretariat
July 2025