Suzy Davies: The next item is a debate on the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee report: the Welsh Government's Draft International Strategy. And I call on the Chair of the committee to move the motion—David Rees.
Suzy Davies: I just wanted to ask you, Minister, about, when we're talking about affordable housing in particular, whether council houses and social houses provided by social landlords are going to be affected by your plans for non-traditional construction methods, can I say? Obviously, their borrowing facility is going to be dependent on the valuation of the body of assets and, obviously, we had problems...
Suzy Davies: You anticipate my point, Mr George. I was trying to get to the point that this is a difficult question. It's not just car versus train versus whatever. We have roads that are in a dangerous state of repair, which don't at the moment have sufficient capacity to deal with the congestion that we've created for a number of reasons, and which are not designed to prioritise public transport. We...
Suzy Davies: Okay.
Suzy Davies: Thank you to Jenny for giving me that intervention as well. I have to start off, though, by saying how disappointed I am to see yet another entire opposition motion deleted by Welsh Government and replaced by one of its own. Every week the Government has an entire day of its own to bring forward debates of its own choosing, but as this is becoming an established pattern of Welsh Government in...
Suzy Davies: Will you take an intervention? Thank you very much, Jenny. In terms of improving the rail infrastructure in Wales, what are your views about those areas that are outside the urban centres of south Wales and north Wales? Most of Wales doesn't have a rail system worth speaking of.
Suzy Davies: Minister, the Swansea bay city deal, of course, is founded on the commercialisation of innovation, not least in decarbonising energy sources west of my region, but I'm pleased with progress within my region. I've raised the prospects about the national steel innovation centre with you before, so I am pleased to hear that Neath Port Talbot's projects for that and tackling climate change have...
Suzy Davies: Will the Minister outline how the Welsh Government's tourism strategy will boost the economy of South Wales West?
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that answer. I've raised the issue of Kenfig nature reserve and its dunes with you before, and that has been hit by weather and flooding, not just in the past two weeks, but since Christmas. And you're right, all eyes are on homes and businesses at the moment, and I certainly don't want to detract from that, but I'm rather surprised to hear that NRW has taken the line it has....
Suzy Davies: 2. How is the Welsh Government responding to the effects of recent flooding on protected areas of the natural environment in South Wales West? OAQ55121
Suzy Davies: Well, I agree with you completely there, Mike, and with apps in particular—if I haven't got a pair of these with me, then I may as well not have an app at all. I have to say, it’s almost six years, actually, since I did a short debate on a very similar issue, and at the end of this, I really would like to hear from the Deputy Minister what she thinks has changed, particularly on that...
Suzy Davies: Back in September, I was told, on a visit, that many of the posts in the Princess of Wales were interim and subject to service-level agreements that expire later this year. Cwm Taf Morgannwg does not yet have full control over some aspects of health delivery at Princess of Wales, and, furthermore, the maternity scandal and the loss of the chief executive has delayed certain decisions. This is...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that response, and I heard your earlier responses to Jack Sargeant on that question. The Choose Well campaign, of course, is very obvious at the moment, but, realistically, sometimes people have to choose between NHS Direct and A&E—it is an experience I've actually had myself. I note the minor injury unit review that you mentioned, but what increase have you seen in the number...
Suzy Davies: Some of the schools in my region quite rightly use part of their pupil development grant to help support on-site school counselling services for pupils. What feedback have you had from schools who don't get high levels of PDG, and have seen cuts to their core funding, about the difficulties they might have in offering counselling on site?
Suzy Davies: 8. What is the Welsh Government doing to avoid unnecessary attendance of accident and emergency services in Wales? OAQ55088
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Minister. I hope you'll feel better soon. I welcome this, because I think we all understand how crucial this is to the success of the 2050 policy, but I also welcome the recognition that language choice is a very personal issue, particularly within families. I was in the same situation as you, Minister, but I was the non-Welsh speaker. We as a family decided to bring up the...
Suzy Davies: The Swansea Bay city region is about raising economic confidence in my region and beyond, but, alongside that, the local authority in Swansea is attempting to regenerate the city centre, including the construction of the new Swansea digital arena. So, along with the International Convention Centre, this substantially increases the capacity for conferences and major events in south Wales...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that response, but the question remains: what does the medium term look like and what does the long term look like? Just to conclude on that: yesterday evening, we were discussing the regional skills partnerships, and the fact that Welsh language skills have been a theme that has emerged through these partnerships. If I understand things correctly, I would expect that in the...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that response. Personally, I welcome the idea of ambassadors, particularly as it was a idea Welsh Conservative idea to have them within the workplace. And if it can work in FE, then that can only be positive. Now, I accept what you said on how to proceed in this area, but one of the core elements of the programme is to secure sufficient numbers of bilingual staff to teach...
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Llywydd. Minister, last night, both of us attended a CollegesWales event to learn more about the upshots of Work Welsh. Again, hidden skills were acknowledged, not only within the workforce, but within the student body too. The majority of lecturers, students and apprentices noted that, in their view, they don't have any Welsh language skills or fundamental second language skills,...
