Andrew RT Davies: If I may invoke the name of the former First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, I do know full well that in previous Assemblies there was that consensus and there was that political will to engage across the political divide back when he was First Minister, around the Government of Wales Act 2006 and around the constitutional changes that were happening in the Assembly in its early days. I do draw your...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, could we have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Education in light of the comments from the First Minister that seem to have reinstated the PISA target for 2021, after her assertion in the Children, Young People and Education Committee meeting last Thursday? I do think it is vitally important that everyone with an interest in education does know who is running...
Andrew RT Davies: Is that it? Is that the answer—the sum total of your answer? You’ve got you saying one thing—that a target exists—and you’ve got the Cabinet Secretary confirming in front of a scrutiny committee of this Assembly that it is not her target. Who’s taking ownership of education here in Wales? Is it any wonder it is such a complete shambles under your leadership? Again, I ask you: will...
Andrew RT Davies: That is a slap down, in fairness, First Minister, to your Cabinet Secretary. You either have a target that the department and the Cabinet Secretary work to, and the education system here in Wales works to—and we welcome the target, because it gives a direction of travel—but it is a fact that twice, now, a target has been disowned by successive Cabinet Secretaries on education here in your...
Andrew RT Davies: I feel as if I’m intruding on a bit of a domestic here, and we’re seeing the coalition of chaos right in front of us, believe it or not. When—[Interruption.] Hopefully when we get to agenda item 4 this afternoon, you might give a bit more clarity to the position, First Minister, because if your partners don’t understand it, what hope has anyone else got to understand it? But I would...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, could we have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for transport on two matters, if possible, please? One is about the maintenance of the A48 running through the Vale of Glamorgan. I have raised this on several occasions with you, and it is now becoming ridiculous that we have collapsed manholes and we have potholes on a main A road that is the main link between...
Andrew RT Davies: Again, on the second time of asking, I still have not got a date when cancer patients and people connected with cancer services will know when this commitment is going to be met. It is a fact that Public Health Wales have said it’s not mandatory for them to collect the data to identify where the shortfalls are in the system. So, you can read all you want from your script, First...
Andrew RT Davies: You can have the pot shot, First Minister, but people would’ve listened and heard that you didn’t give an answer why people don’t get a key worker. So, you can carry on with the pot shots, but people who get a cancer diagnosis deserve all the assistance they can get, and as someone who’s lost family members, along with other Members in this Chamber, we welcomed that commitment that...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, one of the stories that came through at the general election and, because of the campaigning, didn’t get the coverage it deserved was the lack of this Government’s ability to meet its commitment from 2010 that all cancer patients in Wales would have a keyworker. Can you explain why, seven years on, so many cancer patients are not getting that...
Andrew RT Davies: I wouldn’t disagree with much of what you’ve just said there, to be honest with you. It goes back to the point that I’ve been making: it is a supply-and-demand situation that we face. That’s why I hope the Cabinet Secretary will use his opportunity today, when I’ve talked about the national development framework that I believe is quite central to the way the Government is going to...
Andrew RT Davies: I’ll take the intervention in a minute, Jenny. I hope the Cabinet Secretary, in his contribution today, will talk—because it has been brought forward about the spatial planning that was brought forward by the then Minister, Andrew Davies, but I think now has moved into the national development framework—about how that is developing, to look at planning on a regional basis. Because it is...
Andrew RT Davies: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate. I could spend my whole contribution trying to take apart the Member for Merthyr’s various accusations. I do think that one accusation is beneath her, in fairness: the accusation she put to the Conservatives that the reason people sell their bodies for housing is because of Conservative policies. I do think that is something that I hope...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, is it possible to have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for regeneration, in relation to the Vibrant and Viable Places funding that the Welsh Government brings forward, obviously for regeneration across Wales? As I understand it, I think there’s a second tranche of that funding being made available, and I’d be very interested if the Cabinet Secretary would agree...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, you were very clear last night in that you were saying you were scrapping the Barnett formula, full stop. There was no equivocation around that. You were saying that last night on the television and through the news. Scottish Labour Party are saying, quite clearly, there will be no scrapping of the Barnett formula. How on earth can anyone take any of the pledges that you are...
Andrew RT Davies: The Labour Party might mock, but, ultimately, the funding of public services is a vital consideration for the electorate on Thursday. We have put a funding floor in place, with agreement of the Welsh Government, that guarantees that funding in Wales will not go under £115 for every £100 that is spent in England. You, yesterday, said that Labour Party policy was to get rid of the Barnett...
Andrew RT Davies: Well, as well you know, the agreement between the Welsh Government and the Westminster Government put the funding floor in place, which was warmly endorsed by your Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government only in December of last year. Thirteen years—you did nothing. But that’s not quite what the Scottish Conservatives are saying, and I offered you the opportunity to actually...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, could I identify myself with the comments that you made about the tragedies in London earlier on in the week? Obviously, we do stand shoulder to shoulder with the citizens of London and Manchester, and, ultimately, by getting about our normal way of life, we are defeating these terrorists—these thugs—who are inflicting such terrible, terrible...
Andrew RT Davies: I’m grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for taking the intervention and, in particular, his emphasis on the whole of Wales—mid and north Wales as well. If I could draw his attention back to south-east Wales, it is excellent news that the Conservatives—and, indeed, I think there’s a consensus now, politically, that tolls need to be got rid of on the Severn bridge across parties. But...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, welcome back to the Chamber. The point about 2,000 people dying prematurely in Wales through poor air quality—that’s five people a day—surely is one of the biggest public health challenges, dilemmas that we do face. I’ve listened to several of the answers that you’ve given and I welcome the action the Government is taking across portfolios. But, what confidence...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. If I may, Presiding Officer, I will not take my three questions today, given I think we need to stand shoulder to shoulder and face down this act of evil, this atrocity that happened in Manchester last night. As a father, I cannot think of anything more horrific than being separated from your children, separated from your loved ones, in the uncertain knowledge of...
