Suzy Davies: Well, I'm very pleased to hear those last remarks, because I appreciate that while this matter was well-aired yesterday, I don't think you did square off this question about preventative budgeting, which is a weakness that's been identified in the budget you brought forward. I visited, like others, Llamau. It was a Drws Agored project, which was about helping keep young people safe at home,...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for taking the intervention. I'm not here to defend any cuts to legal aid by the UK Government but, obviously, any additional money to be spent on a devolved system of justice will depend on the Barnett formula. Isn't there an argument for saying that we should be spending the money that we do have, focusing more of that on preventing people entering the justice system in...
Suzy Davies: This reminds me a little bit of the Programme for International Student Assessment results, which is a welcome halt to a persistent downward trend but still some way to go from where we were six years ago. If you look at undergraduates—obviously, we're all going to welcome any growth in numbers in undergraduates, even though that's smaller than the growth in the number of...
Suzy Davies: Will the First Minister make a statement on minor injuries unit services in Wales?
Suzy Davies: I do recognise the concerns behind this question, but the boundaries between main home, second homes, multiple occupation properties and any business identity have become long blurred since the arrival of Airbnb and other similar daily-rate accommodation companies. If you support the principle of what Plaid thinks of as a second home—which is occupied only periodically by visitors who don't...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Llywydd, for this opportunity. Deputy Minister, can I say 'thank you' for your earlier answers, and for the contributions today? You were right: I did go and visit Auschwitz-Birkenau this time last week. I don't propose to talk about that in particular, except from one particular angle, which we've touched on a little bit already, and that is the necessity for our younger...
Suzy Davies: As the aim of 1 million Welsh speakers is supported across the board, or almost across the board, I'm more than happy to recognise the work that’s been done by the Government and the work that you've mentioned in your statement today. I would like to say a few words, because I was particularly pleased to see what’s written in the report itself on Wales beyond our borders. I don't know if...
Suzy Davies: So, just looking at the £39 million that, over some years, you've already allocated to getting teachers ready for this new curriculum, can you give us some indication of how much of that is going to go to creating time for curriculum designers—both within and among schools? What have the teachers told you so far about how they're going to be able to manage these absences or need for...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Minister, for a very comprehensive statement on the journey so far. Can I offer my thanks to everybody else involved in what looks like, certainly, an enormous amount of hard work? I've explained before that the Welsh Conservatives have long argued that we should let teachers teach, and some of the changes already have our in-principle support. That goes hand in hand with...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that, and I'm looking forward to your statement, on the back of which I hope to ask you a different question. But, for now, I would like to ask you about education and, in the light of the new curriculum, whether you would consider the work of the March of the Living movement. This is an annual educational programme that brings students from around the world to Poland, where...
Suzy Davies: First Minister, not every child in my region with an autistic spectrum condition will need full special educational needs or additional learning needs support, but many do and, in some cases, quite significant support. It's also true that some of those children will experience poor mental health, whether that's unrelated to their autism or as a consequence of the daily challenges they face...
Suzy Davies: 3. What is the Welsh Government doing to tackle anti-semitism? OAQ55000
Suzy Davies: New Lanark.
Suzy Davies: The recommendations on diversity in the report, which are entirely justified, and I'm very glad that the Minister's accepted those, have a wider resonance about where we fit into our own lives as well as our place in the universe, if you like—questions that are reflected in religions all round the world. But even in a secular environment such as ours, I'm sure we'll all have spent a minute...
Suzy Davies: It's on occasions like this that I'm sorry I'm no longer on the culture committee. I'm a bit disappointed, Dai, that you didn't mention the fantastic Richard Price of Llangeinor, who is, of course, our regional hero. I must admit, I do worry about the place of Welsh history—[Interruption.] [Laughter.] Oh, he's top of the dramatis personae—come on. I already worry about the place of Welsh...
Suzy Davies: Minister, a few months ago, I asked you about the discrepancy in ambulance discharge times for my constituents attending the Princess of Wales Hospital, as compared to those attending other hospitals in Cwm Taf Morgannwg. Now I've had a freedom of information response showing that my constituents who live in the Bridgend County Borough Council area are waiting far longer for orthopaedic...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that answer. I understood that the targeting was at areas of deprivation, but it seemed that, in the way that it's been crafted, it was able to have a slightly wider remit than, perhaps, the pupil deprivation grant. This £36 million, though—you'll have seen it in the press this week—has already prompted some questions about its value for money in terms of its outcomes....
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for that answer. Obviously, I'm extremely pleased to hear that it is in the budget somewhere and that the use it's being put to is the use for which it was intended. Although local authorities, as we know, are largely responsible for school funding, schools are undoubtedly affected by decisions you make on the education budget. Over the course of this Assembly, you're...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, I have to say I was very pleased when you amended the guidance, to be followed by local authorities primarily, requiring them to take additional steps before they made a decision on closing small, rural schools. And while that didn't capture all small schools, it was a statement of recognition of the place in the community of small, rural schools and their...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that answer, and, of course, to be fair, in committee last week, you spoke to us about that pot of funding for helping local authorities and educators prepare for the requirements of the additional learning needs Act. And in the draft budget, you've committed £9 million to two other areas of expenditure, including helping councils deal with the present situation on providing...
