Alun Davies: I'm grateful, Presiding Officer, to the Minister for that response. We share, I think, an absolute commitment to the equality of access to learning, and I know the Minister has spoken very forcefully about this, and I agree with the approach that she's taken, and I recognise her commitment to ensuring that all learners have the same opportunity to access learning. And she's already this...
Alun Davies: 2. Will the Minister make a statement on ensuring that all pupils have access to the necessary equipment and resources to enable remote learning? OQ56097
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to the Minister for her introduction to this debate. This is the most political budget that I've considered in my time here. We have the combination of not only the pandemic, but the continuing impact of austerity, we have the impact of Brexit, we know that we have the impact of climate change, and I believe we also have a crisis of inequality that means that the needs of this...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful, Deputy Presiding Officer. I have two questions. The first relates to the speed at which those over 70 and with a condition that makes them clinically vulnerable will be offered a vaccine because they will be, clearly, at elevated risk, and it's important that we're able to address those. But also people who share households with people who would not fit into one of those...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to see you back, Deputy Presiding Officer. I think we all are. I think also all of us were also appalled and shocked to see the scenes from Washington last week, and our thoughts and prayers are with the families, of course, who lost loved ones in that attempt to undermine America's democracy. Now, what we saw last week was no accident. It was a pre-planned attempt to undermine...
Alun Davies: I'm glad the First Minister gave such short shrift to the questioner on this matter. This was, of course, somebody who wanted to invite Donald Trump to open his ill-fated office in Pontypridd, and also has got everything wrong at every point over the last nine months. What is important now in terms of reviewing how we go forward is to ensure that we continue to support people through this...
Alun Davies: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and thank you for the statement, Minister. These have been the most difficult of days, as you've suggested, and I think all of us want to join you in thanking all of the key workers who've given up their Christmases to support people in our communities over the last few weeks. I'm also grateful to you for the foresight of some of your decisions. We've...
Alun Davies: It's always good to hear what the squires of Wiltshire think, but for most of us who were elected to sit in this place, we are appalled at both what we're being presented with this morning and the way in which business is being conducted. A deal concluded on Christmas eve, a Bill published yesterday, and people talk about democracy and parliamentary accountability. There has been no...
Alun Davies: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I'll certainly take note of what you've said. We are, of course, facing a real public health crisis of a depth that none of us have experienced before, but I think we also have a crisis in terms of how we deal with this public health emergency. We also have a crisis about how we debate and discuss and communicate with each other. Deputy...
Alun Davies: Deputy Presiding Officer, I'm grateful to the Minister for that update, and I was grateful to him for his statement yesterday. The coronavirus has affected our communities and our lives in profoundly different ways and it's made us challenge many assumptions that we've accepted over many years. One of the most profound potential impacts and longer term impacts of the coronavirus has been a...
Alun Davies: And the people of Wales, of course, have decided what is best for them, and they've elected this Parliament. This Bill, which I hope—[Interruption.]—which I hope the Parliament will refuse legislative consent for, is one of the most dishonest and destructive pieces of legislation that I've had the misfortune to read in my time in politics. They set two clear objectives for this...
Alun Davies: 2. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government’s strategy to invest in the economic development of towns in the Heads of the Valleys? OQ56004
Alun Davies: —that I'd like to just raise, quickly, with the Minister, is our Tech Valleys. This is a £100 million investment in Blaenau Gwent that was announced by myself as a Minister and also the Minister for economy and enterprise. It is important that we're able to deliver on that commitment. It was a solid commitment, given to the people of Blaenau Gwent at an extraordinarily difficult time. The...
Alun Davies: I'd like to thank the Minister for the statement this afternoon, but I also want to congratulate him on the work he's done since taking over responsibility for this portfolio and as chair of the Valleys taskforce. It's always difficult for a former Minister, of course, to ask questions of his replacement in Government, and I accept that, but I want to make the point of congratulating him on...
Alun Davies: I'm very grateful to Lord Burns and the commission and to the Minister for his statement this afternoon. The Minister, in answering the questions, has referred to developments on the Ebbw valley line, and particularly new infrastructure in and around Abertillery. I'd be grateful if he could write to me outlining exactly what those investments are and how he sees those developments being...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you for that, Minister, and I join the tone of exchanges this afternoon, where we all welcome the news about the vaccine being made available, and we look forward to that radically changing the health situation in Blaenau Gwent and elsewhere. But in the meantime, of course, today we've seen numbers of the infection that demonstrate that Blaenau Gwent is again near the top of...
Alun Davies: 8. Will the Minister make a statement on health protection measures in Blaenau Gwent? OQ55955
Alun Davies: I think these are the most difficult decisions that we've faced over the last nine months, a series of extraordinarily difficult decisions forced upon all Governments as a consequence of this virus. And I hope that in approaching these decisions we will all share the same determination to do what is right for the people we represent—not to do what is easy, and not to do what is popular, but...
Alun Davies: First Minister, it's no surprise, of course, to see Plaid Cymru and the Tories ganging up to condemn investment in the south Wales Valleys. I'm old enough now to remember it was a Plaid Cymru Minister, of course, who held up investment in the Heads of the Valleys road back in 2007. The road is there not simply to provide communications, but as a tool of economic development. And in supporting...
Alun Davies: Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government plans for the economic development of towns?
