Sioned Williams: I'd like to declare an interest, namely that my husband is employed by Swansea University.
Sioned Williams: I would like to talk a little bit in more detail about how the strategy will mitigate the impact of the withdrawal of UK structural funds on Welsh universities specifically. You just mentioned the warning that we've had from Swansea University that up to 240 researchers are facing redundancy in that institution alone. I'm sure you'd agree that redundancies on this scale—and many of them are...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Llywydd. Plaid Cymru welcomes this debate today, and we will be supporting the Conservatives' motion, and that's because it's clear that many of our young people and children in Wales with vision impairments are being failed in the sense that they are not being supported to live as autonomously, independently and freely as they are entitled to, as noted in article 26 of the UN...
Sioned Williams: The cost-of-living crisis is going to do exactly what the COVID crisis did. I've heard so many witnesses to inquiries held by both of the committees of which I'm a member—equalities and social justice and children, young people and education—repeat this, or words to that effect, when referring to the undeniable evidence that not only will the impact of this crisis again be deeper in the...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you for letting me come in on this. The chief executive of Neath Port Talbot council wrote to me regarding the possible devastating impact of the Government’s decision around this on a number of local bus services, and I just want to make the point that it’s not just rural bus services, but services in counties like Neath Port Talbot, and she’s...
Sioned Williams: Minister, do you agree that the terms used by those in power when discussing refugees especially and all those marginalised in our society count, because language has consequences? And we saw this in Knowsley this weekend—despicable and potentially terrible consequences. One hundred organisations have signed an open letter to call on all political leaders to condemn Friday's attack on...
Sioned Williams: As we approach the anniversary—the grim milestone, as you called it—of the illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine, I want to echo your thanks to people all over Wales who have provided sanctuary to people from Ukraine. When we in Wales say, 'Refugees are welcome', when we declare ourselves a nation of sanctuary, when our Government declares itself a supersponsor to aid those forced to...
Sioned Williams: We are a nation of sanctuary.
Sioned Williams: Thank you for the statement, Minister, and we welcome this investment in digital skills, particularly in light of the fact that there is increasing demand for digital skills in the jobs market, and this is demand that isn't currently being met, with a lack of advanced digital skills being a concern too expressed by employers. 'Digital 2030' was launched in 2019, so we're now four years into...
Sioned Williams: Will the First Minister outline the Government's response to the current significant increase in household bills?
Sioned Williams: Yesterday in the debate on the Welsh Government's draft budget, I spoke about how the people of Wales are facing multiple crises, unprecedented crises since the advent of devolution, and I agreed with the Welsh Government that this was a difficult budget in a difficult time, and outlined the support that is needed for those who need it most, why the services providing this support must be...
Sioned Williams: In the cross-party group on consumer rights, which I chair, we heard on Monday from Which?. Their latest report, published this week, showed that 92 per cent of Welsh consumers are worried about energy prices higher than in England and Scotland, and that consumers are engaging in cost-saving behaviours that may be detrimental to their health. We know it's detrimental to their health: 78 per...
Sioned Williams: With Westminster denying Wales the resources and the powers that we need, yes, there is a need for difficult decisions to be made. The Welsh Government makes those decisions even harder by failing to secure the resources it needs through fair, proportionate and just taxation to help us overcome the shameful hardship that scars our communities. I urge Members to support our amendment.
Sioned Williams: In introducing the draft budget to the Senedd, the Minister mentioned that this was one of the most difficult budgets since devolution. This is because it is a time of austerity, a time of poverty, and a time of crisis, the likes of which we haven’t seen for decades. In the Wales of the twenty-first century, nurses and teachers are amongst the thousands who are having to turn to foodbanks....
Sioned Williams: Thank you for the statement, Deputy Minister.
Sioned Williams: The co-operation agreement between the Welsh Government and Plaid Cymru promises to make Wales the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe and support the publication of an LGBTQ+ action plan. Today is therefore a proud day for Plaid Cymru, as for Adam Price as the first LGBTQ+ party leader in the Senedd, with part of that commitment realised with the publication of the action plan, an action...
Sioned Williams: Thank you to Jack Sargeant for bringing this topic before us this afternoon. Plaid Cymru fully supports a ban on forcing customers to pay for their energy through prepayment meters, and as I raised with the Minister for Social Justice in the Chamber this afternoon, the Conservative Government in Westminster needs to do more than encourage electricity and gas suppliers to prevent this unsafe...
Sioned Williams: Public Health Wales states in its recent report 'Cost of living crisis in Wales: A public health lens' that the cost-of-living crisis is not just a temporary economic squeeze, it is a long-term public health issue affecting the whole population. We will never achieve the fairer Wales we all desire to see if our health service continues to be a means to address the consequences of poverty and...
Sioned Williams: Opening the debate, Rhun ap Iorwerth said that preventative has to be the attitude we take towards health, and I want to speak to the part of our motion that calls for the placing of preventative measures at the heart of all health-related policy and activity involving all Government departments. Plaid Cymru has emphasised time and again when we debate health in all its aspects the need to...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister. I was asking particularly about the discretionary assistance fund, but perhaps we could return to that at another time. I do have a question on prepayment meters and this concern that people are being forced onto them against their will, even when it's not safe for them to be on such a meter, which is contrary to the duty of the supplier to check that. I'm pleased that so...
