Mike Hedges: I know Lee Waters doesn't accept this, but improved roads can reduce emissions. If you've got to make a journey to a hospital, how else do you suggest that people make it to A&E—by cycle or walking to A&E? Pembrokeshire lives at risk—. Providing healthcare in rural areas is difficult, but it is not impossible. Other people do it. We also know that a similar petition regarding A&E in...
Mike Hedges: A view from outside the area, but a view from somebody else who was on the Petitions Committee: one thing we know from the petition is that there are a very large number of people who want an A&E service at Withybush. A petition of 40,045 signatures is unprecedented. You actually need 5,000 signatures for the Petitions Committee to ask the Business Committee if we can have a debate on it. We...
Mike Hedges: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank Andrew Davies, Dai Lloyd, Julie Morgan, Caroline Jones, Neil Hamilton and the Cabinet Secretary for taking part in this debate? I think what I found most—how can I explain it—most beneficial was that it was not just a debate of the committee; it wasn't the committee having a debate in public when they normally have it in a committee...
Mike Hedges: Diolch, Deputy Presiding Officer. At the start of this Assembly, the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee agreed that one of its priorities should be to scrutinise the Welsh Government’s progress on climate change mitigation because of its importance to the people of Wales. It was also agreed that the committee would produce an annual report on the Welsh Government’s...
Mike Hedges: Well, as anybody who listens to Radio Wales in the morning will be aware, there will be a traffic jam between anywhere around about junction 47 to junction 41. This is a sort of standard every morning. Satnavs, of course, are part of the problem, because they generally produce a 'via the M4' route if you are going almost anywhere east or west. Can I ask the Cabinet Secretary to undertake an...
Mike Hedges: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on traffic congestion on the M4 in the South Wales West region? OAQ52617
Mike Hedges: You're very welcome.
Mike Hedges: Will the First Minister make a statement on ways to tackle loneliness and isolation?
Mike Hedges: Thank you for that answer. I wasn't aware of what happened this morning, obviously. But if it is intended to create 1 million Welsh speakers, the route most likely to be successful is to increase the number of children attending Welsh-medium schools. I know from personal experience, as do others in this Chamber, just how difficult it is to learn Welsh as an adult. This would mean...
Mike Hedges: 4. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the proposed growth in Welsh-medium education? OAQ52574
Mike Hedges: Including yourself.
Mike Hedges: Two questions for the leader of the house, one I think that the leader of the house must be getting used to by now: can I request a further update on Welsh Government action on the Virgin Media closure in Swansea? Unfortunately, I say now 'on the closure'; before we broke up for the summer it was 'the proposed closure'. Can I ask for a statement on that? Can I also request a statement on...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank John Griffiths for giving me a minute in this debate? What's the difference between 20 mph and 30 mph? It doesn't sound very much, does it? Well, the perception, the corner vision, how much you actually see, increases the slower you're going. Your reaction time—. For those who did their driving test many years ago, the back page of 'The Highway Code' told you how long it would...
Mike Hedges: I welcome the opportunity to say a few words on the retirement of the auditor general, Huw Vaughan Thomas. I've been a member of the Public Accounts Committee, or a substitute member, since 2011. To me, the outgoing auditor general had two great strengths, which I hope Nick Ramsay will agree with me on: knowing what the key areas to investigate and report on were, and proportionality in his...
Mike Hedges: Can I talk about Brexit in terms of organisations that rarely get mentioned, namely local government? How is the Welsh Government helping local authorities prepare for Brexit, including the possibility of a 'no deal' scenario? Because local authorities don't often get mentioned when we talk about Brexit, but they will, in many cases, be at the front line when we come out.
Mike Hedges: As you know, leader of the house, in the first week of May this year, Virgin Media announced 772 job cuts at its Swansea call centre, which it proposed to close, causing serious concerns to many of my constituents and many of yours. The Welsh Government, since then, have been involved in supporting staff working in Virgin Media, and all I've heard are good things from the people working there...
Mike Hedges: The first thing any voting system needs to be is secure. We should have a system that does not allow either multivoting or the harvesting of votes. We do, however, need to make it easier to vote. Has the Welsh Government considered supporting two simple innovations: allowing early voting at a central voting centre, and, secondly, allowing voting at any polling station in a constituency?
Mike Hedges: The Westminster Government seems to have an energy policy based upon offshore wind and nuclear power. As prototypes are by their very nature more expensive, and the future storage costs of nuclear are capped—we would never have had a nuclear power station built if they weren't capped—it is not a level playing field. Did the Westminster Government explain why the price for nuclear—which,...
Mike Hedges: Certainly.
Mike Hedges: It was also before my time here. What I will say is that councils were continuing to sell council houses under the right to buy—and I'm sure Mark Isherwood regrets the sale of council houses. Until recently, councils were not building. Low-cost owner-occupier properties have become buy-to-rent properties. That's a real thing that's affected very many of my constituents—very many...