The Welsh Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care, Jeremy Miles MS, has suspended the publication of referral to treatment (RTT) waiting time data for Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, pending an external review into data quality and governance concerns. The suspension follows issues identified in the board’s recent RTT data submissions, including anomalies in reported waiting list figures and inconsistencies with operational activity levels. The review will be conducted by experts from Digital Health and Care Wales, NHS Wales Performance and Improvement, the Welsh Government’s Chief Statistician’s team and a peer expert from another Welsh health board. It will focus solely on planned care data, excluding cancer, diagnostics, therapies and urgent care data, and will examine data collection, quality assurance and reporting processes, providing recommendations to strengthen governance and assurance arrangements. During the suspension period, national RTT statistics will continue to be published, but data from Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board will be omitted. The Office for Statistics Regulation has been informed of the decision.

The Welsh Government has announced changes to council tax collection rules, following an April 2025 consultation. From April 2026, households will have 63 days to address missed payments before enforcement action can be taken, replacing the current seven-day period. The changes modify existing legislation that requires full annual payment if an instalment is not made within seven days of receiving a reminder notice. The reforms also set out clearer rules for reminder and final notices. The Finance Secretary, Mark Drakeford, stated that the changes are intended to give households more time to access support and prevent rapid debt escalation, while ensuring councils can still take action against deliberate non-payment and maintain effective collection of funds for essential public services.

The Welsh Government has announced revised income thresholds for the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), effective from September 2026. The changes are expected to enable at least 1,500 additional 16- to 18-year-olds to qualify for the £40 weekly allowance. The income thresholds for households with one dependant will increase from £23,400 to £24,570, while the threshold for households with two or more dependants will rise from £25,974 to £27,273. The EMA is intended to help cover costs such as travel, meals and study materials, with the aim of reducing financial barriers to education. Applications for the EMA will open on 27 April 2026.

The Welsh Government has announced that, from 1 April 2026, all new providers of children's homes, fostering services and secure accommodation in Wales must operate on a not-for-profit basis, making Wales the first UK nation to introduce such a requirement. The measure forms part of wider reforms under the Health and Social Care (Wales) Act 2025, aimed at phasing out profit extraction from children's social care services. Care Inspectorate Wales will oversee compliance and has enforcement powers in cases of non-compliance. In the future, care for looked after children will be provided solely by public sector, charitable or not-for-profit organisations, with changes being phased in to avoid disruption to individual children's care. The Welsh Government is also funding Cwmpas to provide free support to organisations transitioning to not-for-profit models.

The Welsh Government has announced plans to introduce a series of amendments to the Environment (Principles, Governance and Biodiversity Targets) (Wales) Bill as it progresses to Stage 2 in the Senedd. In a written statement on 14 November 2025, Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs, Huw Irranca-Davies, confirmed the proposals will set clear deadlines for the publication and review of environmental principles, reinforce the independence and funding of the Office of Environmental Governance Wales (OEGW), and accelerate the setting and review of biodiversity targets. The amendments aim to ensure robust environmental governance, enhance accountability, and advance Wales’s commitments to halt and reverse biodiversity decline.

The Welsh Government has updated Future Wales: The National Plan 2040, its statutory national development framework, which sets the national spatial and planning direction for development in Wales to 2040 and must be applied alongside Planning Policy Wales. The framework guides regional and local development planning and infrastructure investment, with the objective of supporting sustainable economic growth, addressing housing need, enabling decarbonisation, and enhancing biodiversity, ecosystem resilience and green infrastructure. It was prepared through a multi‑year process supported by a comprehensive evidence base, extensive public engagement and consultation, and Senedd scrutiny, and was informed by statutory impact assessments, including an Integrated Sustainability Appraisal and a Habitats Regulations Assessment, to embed sustainable development principles and environmental protections throughout.

The Welsh Government has updated the Rent Smart Wales: Code of Practice. The code is for landlords and agents licensed through the Rent Smart Wales scheme and is intended to improve practices in the private rent sector.

The Social Housing Grant guidance for registered social landlords and local authorities in Wales has been updated. The guidance explains how to submit a scheme and fill out the forms needed at each stage.

The Welsh Government updated Technical Advice Note (TAN) 24, providing revised guidance on how the planning system incorporates the historic environment during the preparation of development plans and planning decisions. The updated guidance integrates provisions from the Historic Environment (Wales) Act 2023 (HE(W)A 2023) and the new 2024 regulations, detailing procedures related to World Heritage Sites, scheduled monuments, listed buildings, conservation areas and heritage impact assessments. This guidance is intended for planning authorities, developers and legal practitioners engaged with planning applications that affect historic assets.

On 4 October 2024, the Welsh Government updated various building control and regulation guidance documents.

The Welsh Government has published a revised charging scheme for building control profession regulation, effective from 1 April 2025. The update, detailed in circular WGC 003/2025, modifies hourly rates and extends cost recovery for third-party experts across all regulatory functions under the Building Control Profession (Charges) (Wales) Regulations 2023. While upfront registration fees for building inspectors and building control approvers remain unchanged, the scheme includes minor wording amendments to improve clarity. The changes aim to reflect updated costs in delivering Welsh Ministers' regulatory functions.

The Welsh Government has updated Approved Documents F and L to provide guidance on complying with the Building Regulations 2010, SI 2010/2214 in Wales for buildings other than dwellings. Approved Document L covers energy efficiency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. It requires meeting target primary energy and CO₂ rates, limiting heat loss, and using efficient building services. Approved Document F covers ventilation by requiring systems that supply fresh air, remove pollutants and moisture, and protect occupant health. Both documents place responsibility on those undertaking building work to achieve compliance while offering practical guidance rather than prescriptive methods. They apply to new and existing non-domestic buildings, including mixed-use developments, and require that work meets regulatory standards or does not worsen existing performance, while allowing alternative approaches where agreed with building control bodies and permitting flexibility for certain building types such as historic buildings.