Suzy Davies: Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd, and thank you, Huw, for bringing this short debate forward today. Obviously, we’ve been having parallel conversations with the individual bodies you mentioned, so I won’t repeat anything you’ve said except to encourage the Cabinet Secretary to consider some of the suggestions that Huw Irranca-Davies put forward. One of the points that was put to me is that some...
Suzy Davies: I’m a bit short on time, so if you could keep it quick. Thanks.
Suzy Davies: What it informs me of is that the Welsh Government hasn’t made it easy for anyone to build social housing during that time. Developers like building big housing estates, except when there are downturns in the economy and they are left with a lot of risk. What they like, and especially the smaller sort of developers that we have here in Wales, is the steady work—the sell and build again...
Suzy Davies: I’m very grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you to everybody who’s taken part in the debate today. This debate was about supply—much-needed affordable housing supply. I acknowledge and, of course, appreciate that there are different views on this, some based on ideology and some based on experience, but none of the contributions I’ve heard from the other parties today...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for taking the intervention. It was just on your last point there that a 50 per cent discount means that the house is only worth half its original value. Inevitably, the value of a house on sale is going to be more than its building costs, so, while you may have a general point that a discount needn’t be too generous, to equate a building cost with the sale cost is just...
Suzy Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Suzy Davies: Cabinet Secretary, recent reviews of the literature have confirmed that telepsychiatry is as effective as in-person psychiatric consultations for diagnostic assessment, is at least as good for the treatment of disorders such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, and may be better than in-person treatment for some groups of patients, notably children, veterans and those with...
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Just give me a second to find the question.
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that response, Cabinet Minister, and for your written statement last week. Thank you, Llywydd, also, for allowing the urgent question so that the statement could receive early scrutiny. As Welsh Conservatives, we would have no objection to sponsored bodies or bodies within Government making the most of their opportunities to improve all operational activities, including...
Suzy Davies: First Minister, you’ll be aware from questions last week that Assembly Members were getting a little bit restless that we weren’t hearing much from the city deal board, but I’m pleased to say that we’ve had a modest briefing from them now. From that, it seems that their major concern at the moment is the issue of governance in the short to medium term, and they’ve been working with...
Suzy Davies: 4. Will the First Minister provide an update on the Swansea Bay City Region? OAQ(5)0180(FM)
Suzy Davies: Will the Minister make a statement over plans to merge elements of National Museums Wales with Cadw? EAQ(5)0053(EI)
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Minister. That brings today’s proceedings to a close.
Suzy Davies: I call on the Minister for Social Services and Public Health to reply to the debate.
Suzy Davies: Thank you. Would you like to give a minute of your time to other speakers?
Suzy Davies: Okay. I call on Mike Hedges.
Suzy Davies: I now move to the short debate, and I call on Eluned Morgan to speak on the topic she has chosen.
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Llywydd, and thank you for that, Bethan. Mewn gwirionedd, gobeithiaf fod y Cynulliad wedi ei ysbrydoli gan y ffordd y mae’r pwyllgor hwn yn ceisio ymgysylltu’n ehangach, ac wrth hynny yr hyn rwy’n ei olygu yw bod ymgysylltu yn broses ddwy ffordd. Mae’n un o’r geiriau jargon hynny rydym yn eu cymryd yn ganiataol, mewn gwirionedd, ond nid yw hyn yn ymwneud yn unig â’r...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that response, and I’m very pleased to hear that, but, recently, I contacted the company Ynni Cymru, which has received quite significant financial backing from Welsh Government to help support new business in Wales, and that would actually include useful vocational qualifications. The company doesn’t have any Welsh language policy or any understanding of your ambition as a...
Suzy Davies: Professor Sioned Davies’s report recommends that post-16 qualifications should be reformed to develop better oral language skills that would be appropriate for the workplace, and, following that, the Welsh Government have said that you ‘will work with Awarding Organisations and other stakeholders’. Who are those? Have you been speaking to Tata Steel, Tidal Lagoon Power, Aston Martin or...
