Bethan Sayed: Finally, I met with Universities Wales yesterday about degree apprenticeships, and they said that they are quite frustrated about the very narrow confines through which people can access that money in relation to the Welsh Government's priorities of digital, and they're telling me that people are going in their droves to England to take part in these apprenticeship opportunities at a degree...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for your statement. There has been some success in this area, so I’d like to welcome the headline figures, but the statement does give us a very idealistic picture, which masks some of the problems that are developing in this area. The first thing that I have to ask is: could we have a better delivery system in terms of learning in the workplace? At present, money will be procured...
Bethan Sayed: We've heard in the news recently that there are strong suggestions that, during the miner's strike, the police, via the special demonstration squad—the same SDS that infiltrated the lives of many women here in Wales in campaign groups—in fact infiltrated the National Union of Mineworkers during the miner's strike and thus were breaking the law. And I'm sure that Members on your own...
Bethan Sayed: My constituent Hannah Evans has been diagnosed as having a rare hereditary genetic condition, Ehlers-Danlos type 3 syndrome—I hope I've said that right—and has developed secondary complications as a result of mast cell activation disease and systemic mastocytosis disorder. Hannah has to travel to London to see a private specialist as there is no specialist in Wales to meet her complex...
Bethan Sayed: Diolch yn fawr iawn. I know that time is short. Thank you to Mick Antoniw for introducing our report and for putting forward eloquently the discussions that we've had and the conclusions that we've come to in relation to the work that we have sought to do in the limited capacity that we've had in relation to our representation on the Committee of the Regions. I welcome everybody's...
Bethan Sayed: We are not here next week, because of recess, but it's Eating Disorders Awareness Week and there's a campaign, 'I'm socking it to eating disorders', where they're asking people to wear snazzy, coloured socks and post this on social media. Assuming that AMs have snazzy, coloured socks, I would encourage people to support Eating Disorders Awareness Week by taking part in that social media...
Bethan Sayed: I'm not saying that it's based on Welsh Government cuts; I'm saying that it's based on what analysis are you making of the potential for those cuts, taking place here in Wales, where jobs will be lost. We are hearing that from meetings that all of my colleagues have been arranging across Wales. So, instead of putting your head in the sand, what are you going to be doing about that so that we...
Bethan Sayed: I think that's pretty blasé, I'm sorry, Minister, because this will affect people on the ground—their livelihoods, where they spend their money, how they spend their money, the jobs that they will be able to go to and the skills that we will have in our communities. So, I'll ask you again: what economic analysis will you have on a Wales basis as to the impact of the cuts to our higher...
Bethan Sayed: Thanks. I wanted to ask the first question as to whether you've made an economic analysis of the potential cuts to higher education. I appreciate that this is primarily in relation to the education portfolio, but if we look at this in a holistic way, any job losses—be those in Bangor, be those in Carmarthen, or be those in Cardiff, with a £21 million deficit in its budget announced...
Bethan Sayed: Trefnydd, I just wanted to ask for a debate on the Welsh Government's definition of 'local' in relation to housing development. I know you can't comment on local cases, but I'm sure you're aware of the issue with regard to housing development in Pennard, and Swansea Council has defined 'local' as Mumbles. Now, I know of an instance of a young woman who moved home because she'd lost a child to...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for that response. A few weeks ago, I met with a number of headteachers in the Swansea area, and in their own words, they said that the situation was reaching crisis point in terms of what's happening in primary schools in that particular area. Morale is very low—those aren't my words, but theirs. What are you doing to work with schools, in the context of the current very...
Bethan Sayed: 7. What support is the Welsh Government giving to primary schools? OAQ53414
Bethan Sayed: Will you give way? It's a bit delayed, but you mentioned the research on body image in a digital age, and I was wondering if that could be shared with Assembly Members. I'm not sure who conducted that, but I'd be certainly interested to share that with the cross-party group on eating disorders so that we can feed into how we can take part in that in future.
Bethan Sayed: So, we can shake our heads and grin at some of this, but we know how easy it is to get taken into and get sucked up in what we should and shouldn't look like or what trend we should or shouldn't embrace. Now, come on, how many of us have felt a sense of satisfaction after getting a certain amount of likes or affirmations after posting a selfie or a new profile picture online? Let's be honest...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you, and I've given a minute to Jack Sargeant and to Lynne Neagle. I wanted to raise this debate to explore how—[Interruption.]
Bethan Sayed: I wanted to raise the debate to explore how true we are to our own lives in how we operate online, and whether it's harming us at all. Now, growing up in the south Wales Valleys and, believe it or not, it was before the time of the internet taking hold, I didn't have these types of influences online, but I certainly had them in magazines. In my mid twenties, I stopped buying many of the...
Bethan Sayed: What the proposed prison in Port Talbot was truly about, in my view, was a Westminster Government that had failed to invest in Wales, had cancelled major infrastructure projects or failed to back others. It was another example of a Westminster Government that believed that Wales, having a flatlining economy, would jump at the chance to host anything with even a mild prospect of investment,...
Bethan Sayed: Thanks. I think it's really important that we keep this particular issue at the top of the political agenda and try and discuss this in a constructive way if it's possible—not from what I've heard from some contributions today. One of the things I was most keen to talk about and to put on the agenda when we had the campaign in Port Talbot against a new superprison in Baglan was that the...
Bethan Sayed: Will you take an intervention?
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for that reply. This report is, of course, the third one if we include the desktop review into safeguarding at the health board, and the report shows there is still a lack of clarity on how some recommendations, which stretch back before this particular scandal, have or will be put in place. When we discuss this report, I think we should all remember what it's about—sexual...
