David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I commend the Member. I know she has a passionate interest in this area, and is amongst the most authentic and early voices, indeed, in urging better public policy. I completely agree with the basic concepts of the circular economy, and packaging, in particular, is a real challenge, and we need to rethink. I'm old enough to remember when you used to go to the fruit...
David Melding: Paul Davies.
David Melding: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for that answer. Indeed, EE announced that Cardiff was one of the six UK cities that would be the first to get 5G mobile networks. This promises to improve services, not just through personal devices, and that will be transformative, but to offer an integrated infrastructure for buildings, transport, public utilities, providing unprecedented benefits for...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, I do think this is an important area of public policy. Depending on how you count empty homes—whether they're empty after six months or a shorter period—there's somewhere between 23,000 and 43,000 empty properties in Wales. In my area, Rhondda Cynon Taf has nearly 500 properties that have been empty for five years—that's the worst of any authority apart from Swansea....
David Melding: 5. Will the Leader of the House make a statement on 5G connectivity in Cardiff? OAQ53095
David Melding: What action is the Welsh Government taking to eradicate missed appointments in the Welsh NHS?
David Melding: 'This is an aspect of the "personality" of Wales which can be overlooked if the country is seen as no more than part of the Highland Zone of Britain. Eastwards, Wales faces the lowlands of England, but it also faces the western waters, with their network of sea-routes. People and influences came from the one direction and the other, and the interplay between what came by land and what came...
David Melding: Boom boom. [Laughter.] There were great achievements in the Neolithic, as you're about to discover. In north-west Europe, where we find ourselves, the Neolithic ran from about 4,500 BC to 1,700 BC, although exactitude in these matters is not particularly helpful. No-one woke up one day and said, 'Ah, the Neolithic is over and the Bronze Age has begun', but we do like to use these categories....
David Melding: Deputy Presiding Officer, I'm unaccustomed to such a warm welcome. In the last 24 hours or so we've discussed the budget, we've discussed Brexit and we've just been discussing the Welsh Government's record, but now we have a calm interlude, and I want to turn to the Neolithic in the story of Wales—
David Melding: And what would have happened if the Labour Government had been returned in 2010 and Mr Darling's spending plans had been put into effect? How would that have affected your current spending?
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, a little while ago, the ministerial advisory group on outcomes for children received a presentation from Lord Laming and his review into the youth criminal justice system and the alarming discovery that looked-after children were much more likely to come into contact with the youth justice system compared to their peers, often because those involved—the police, teachers...
David Melding: Well, relief is either helpful, or it isn't, so I think you need to make your mind up on that. And I wouldn't like to go out into the streets of Cardiff, or go to Monmouth or Anglesey, and tell the first-time buyers there, paying well over the odds of what they would pay if they were in England, that this extra tax is neither here nor there. I think that is a really bad message. The other...
David Melding: Well, Minister, when this policy was introduced, it diverged from the option that they took in England. There, first-time buyers have a relief of up to £300,000, and, on properties that are priced at that level, there is no stamp duty at all. You quote the average house price—I thought you said £140,000; I think that is not accurate. The average price, I think, at the moment is £180,000...
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Minister, it's nearly a year since the finance Secretary announced his changes to land transaction tax, moving the standard threshold for payment from £150,000 to £180,000. What assessment has your department made of the likely effect this will have on first-time buyers in Wales?
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, you will know, and I'm sure you welcomed, as I did, the decision of RCT council to launch the largest ever capital investment programme in their history. It's set at £300 million, of which £45 million will be on housing. Some innovative schemes are planned, and some important partnerships with the private sector and housing associations—and the local authority itself,...
David Melding: And those rules are being changed; the borrowing cap is going to be lifted.
David Melding: I want to speak about housing, and I think it's a fairly sobering experience to look at the record going back over the last 20 or 25 years. I don't want to make a particularly partisan speech. I want us to look at how we can forge a new consensus, and, happily, we have a lot of flexibility in improving the planning system, adapting some of our spending, but a lot of what we need to do could...
David Melding: Well, as a liberal Conservative, I think that's been the mission of my life so far, so I certainly do agree with you. But I know that in a democracy, you've got to be able to accept a decision that you profoundly, bitterly disagree with—that's what a democracy is all about. It's not about just having it easy all the time or losing for five years then your party gets back in—it alternates....
David Melding: I'm reaching the end, but I will take the—.
David Melding: I do believe the PM's deal is a good one, and it reflects the situation produced by the referendum result, which was 52 per cent in favour of leave, 48 per cent for remain. It's a nuanced position we now find ourselves in: an ongoing relationship with Europe, but also removal from its political structures. I think that is a fair reflection of where we are as a people at the moment. Above all...
