David Melding: 8. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the availability of services to support children with arthritis in South Wales Central? OAQ52597
David Melding: How does the Cabinet Secretary plan to improve NHS complaint-handling delays so that cases are dealt with in the NHS's standard 30-day target period?
David Melding: What are the Welsh Government's plans for easing congestion on the A470 throughout South Wales Central?
David Melding: I enthusiastically support the case put forward by John Griffiths. I do think that the default should be at 20 mph. There's overwhelming evidence. I think there's popular demand increasing for it. Some survey data were published today about how the public are getting much more demanding of what they expect in their cities, and they want less reliance on cars and more responsible use of cars....
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, research has consistently shown that better outcomes are achieved for victims and their children when an integrated approach is taken by the agencies, and we know from Government stats in Wales, England and Scotland that domestic abuse counts for at least one in 10 people who require local authority support for homelessness. Some of the charities in the sector report that...
David Melding: What measures are in place to improve the efficiency of Welsh Government public spending?
David Melding: First Minister, this has been examined, reviewed, endlessly across Europe, and very many countries now have a 20-mph limit, or 30 kmph in their measures. Can I commend Cardiff council for just getting on with this? And I welcome the local campaigns that are now pushing us, like the one in Sully. It should be default and the motorist should not be king in terms of who can go out and enjoy...
David Melding: What powers does the Welsh Government have to set a general speed limit in urban areas of 20 mph?
David Melding: Minister, we in the Welsh Conservatives recently released an urban strategy that will create, we hope, cities that are fit for the twenty-first century and I'm glad my colleagues, at least, have read the paper.
David Melding: I've set an exam, don't worry. This includes some elements of housing policy and we will be producing a further document specifically on housing in the autumn. But one area that we did look at in that strategy was green roofing. There are housing developments now throughout England—one example being in Barking in London—where developers are exploring the use of green roofs on housing...
David Melding: Thank you for that, which is in part encouraging. As you know, the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee has been looking at this whole issue of energy efficiency in housing. Our evidence has suggested that there is a significant number of barriers to delivering transformative change in house building in Wales at the moment. The Home Builders Federation expressed concern...
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Following on from yesterday's debate on affordable housing in Wales, I would like to touch upon some important broader concerns that weren't raised in the debate. My concerns particularly regard the futureproofing of the increased supply of housing that we need and how we can build homes at volume that meet the needs and demands of future generations, particularly...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, thank you for that very concise answer. The Welsh Government's proposals to amalgamate several grant-funded streams into a single grant—the early intervention, prevention and support grant—will remove the ring-fenced protection for several streams such as Supporting People, the Flying Start revenue grant and Families First. Now, in my region, this could have a...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, can I welcome that part of the consultation that proposes the restructuring of the use class system to provide further protection for pubs in a manner similar to that in England? We've lost something like 17 per cent of our pubs since the year 2000. In England, there's a further protection in the planning system whereby a pause is placed on the disposal of assets that are...
David Melding: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the grants provided by local government to deliver public services? OAQ52498
David Melding: If they can build on the Holmans model and bring it up to date, that's fine, but it was published just three years ago. I think we can exaggerate how up-to-date you may feel it is.
David Melding: Well, it disgusts me as a capitalist.
David Melding: Yes, they are for Wales, as we are the Welsh Assembly, thank you. The question, I suppose, because of the scale that these show, is a good one to put, because of the numbers we have been routinely talking about in recent years—under both Labour and Conservative Governments, it has to be acknowledged. But it just shows you how much we need to raise our ambition. Housing, affordable housing,...
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I move the amendment in the name of Paul Davies. 15,841; 20,158; 17,236. These are not abstract numbers. Let me explain. In 1954, the number of house completions, or dwellings completed, by all agencies was 15,841: 13,197 of those were in the public sector, the largest number of houses ever built by the public sector. That was 1954. In 1967—and I will just finish...
David Melding: First Minister, access to green spaces is really important today. Ninety-six per cent of Copenhageners live within a 15-minute walk of a sizeable green or blue area, and work is indeed under way to even improve those access rates. The city has biodiversity volunteers who play a vital role in nurturing the city's green areas and the city has planted more than 3,600 trees, many of them adopted...
