Nick Ramsay: I’ve been inspired by Huw Irranca-Davies’s request for something to be done about late trains to ask you, leader of the house, if we could have an update from the Cabinet Secretary on where we are with the awarding of the new Wales and borders franchise, currently of course with Arriva. I think it would be really helpful if we specifically had some information on where we are with the...
Nick Ramsay: I’ve got to say, Eluned Morgan, I listen closely to your arguments, and you have very many sensible things to say, but that wasn’t one of them. I’m a bit concerned about your argument that just because people aren’t aware of community health councils, they shouldn’t exist. If you use—
Nick Ramsay: Well, you said something that could be confused as saying that.
Nick Ramsay: No, not yet. I’m not.
Nick Ramsay: You actually said that you hadn’t heard of community health councils and that was an argument for them not to be there. Well, on those grounds, I think many of my constituents have never heard of the Welsh Assembly, but I don’t use that as an argument to abolish myself—well, not yet, anyway, but I suppose there’s still time. Look, no-one—well, very few people at any rate are saying...
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, I’m pleased that Jayne Bryant has raised this very important issue. I’ve had the privilege over a number of years as an Assembly Member to visit Women’s Aid groups across Wales and, obviously, in my own constituency, in Abergavenny, where I also visited a safe house, and I realise the important work they do, not just for the victims, but for the families, for children...
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, as you’ve just said, angling is worth around—you took the words out of my mouth—£100 million per year to the Welsh economy. As Adam Price, the Member for Carmarthenshire has said, it’s a very important segment of all parts of Wales, particularly the rural economy. I appreciate that you’re limited in what you can say at the moment, but would you agree that the...
Nick Ramsay: First Minister, can I concur with Jayne Bryant’s comments, and also welcome the opening of the new hospice at Malpas? As chief executive, Emma Saysell, has said, this is a landmark development and will hopefully plug previously identified gaps in provision over the last few years, and I’m sure it will go from strength to strength. You’ll know, First Minister, I frequently raise the...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Llywydd. Can I thank all the Members and the Cabinet Secretary for contributing to today’s important debate? As I said at the start of this afternoon’s debate, the Public Accounts Committee has a crucial role in ensuring the efficient expenditure of public money in Wales, so it was very important that the committee had an opportunity to bring this issue to the Assembly, and I’ve...
Nick Ramsay: Will you give way?
Nick Ramsay: Yes, you’re totally right on that; the way that the larch was marketed was a big problem. It should have been marked in smaller, manageable lumps of larch that could have been more easily absorbed by the market. So, there were serious failings in that regard.
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the Public Accounts Committee inquiry arising from the Natural Resources Wales annual report and accounts 2015-16. As Members will be aware, the Public Accounts Committee has a crucial role in ensuring the efficient expenditure of public money. As part of this role we routinely scrutinise the annual reports and...
Nick Ramsay: To assist us with our inquiry we took evidence from NRW on two occasions and from the timber industry sector, represented by the United Kingdom Forest Products Association. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our witnesses for assisting us with our work. Having carefully considered the evidence, we found there to be a number of issues regarding NRW’s handling of the awarding of...
Nick Ramsay: Can I thank the Chair of the Finance Committee for his statement today? As one of the three members of the committee who visited Edinburgh, and the only one who unwisely took the train and ended up taking a lot longer than everyone else, I found it extremely useful when I got there, particularly the meetings with the Scottish Parliament’s Finance and Constitution Committee, the Scottish...
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, it was a pleasure accompanying you to the turf-cutting ceremony at the new critical care centre, now known as the Grange university hospital, on Monday in Cwmbran. I did tweet a nice picture of us, with you with a shovel digging the foundations. This new hospital has been a long time in the pipeline, as we know, and you have the virtue of being the Minister who actually got...
Nick Ramsay: I’m pleased to contribute to today’s debate, and to have taken part in the scrutiny of the supplementary budget by the Assembly’s Finance Committee that was mentioned by the Cabinet Secretary earlier, the conclusions of which are in our report, quite a succinct report, well worth the read—short, yes—well worth a read when Members get a chance. This is the first supplementary budget,...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you for that answer, First Minister. It was a pleasure to join the health Secretary yesterday at the new Grange University Hospital site—a much better name, I think, than the old ‘SCCC’ that we’ve been calling it for so long. It’s been a long time coming. I think it was 2007 when I first attended a meeting about the construction of the new hospital. Back then I remember a...
Nick Ramsay: 9. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to improve access to healthcare services in Monmouth? OAQ(5)0730(FM)
Nick Ramsay: Leader of the house, two things, if I may. Firstly, I attended Monmouth School's speech day on Saturday—a school that is achieving increasingly good results. Meanwhile, just up the road, Monmouth Comprehensive School's new school building is under construction, partially funded by Welsh Government’s twenty-first century schools programme. Two excellent schools, and schools that work...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you for giving way. You just mentioned a diesel tax. Is that diesel tax a typical example of a type of tax that would encourage tourism near the border? So, you would end up with a load of flows across the border of people in their diesel cars to go and get it cheaper elsewhere, so that would be a very difficult one to implement.
