Mark Isherwood: Will you give way?
Mark Isherwood: Do you recognise that the points that I made—and I'm not going to talk about another place—had they been implemented or were they to be implemented, it would actually save money for secondary services because they are preventative interventionist proposals as opposed to additional costs in dealing with symptoms?
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. As this annual review begins, the Equality and Human Rights Commission is here to make Wales a fairer place, and as it states, one of its key challenges is to eliminate violence, abuse and harassment in the community. Working alongside Plaid Cymru’s Jocelyn Davies and Liberal Democrat Peter Black, I was one of the three AMs in the last Assembly who took the Welsh...
Mark Isherwood: Thanks for that statement and you indicate or refer to the auditor general's critical report, 'Community safety in Wales', published last October. When the communities and children Secretary, Carl Sargeant, announced his review of community safety, actually on 7 February, he said he was establishing an oversight group to review the current arrangements, and said it would help to develop a...
Mark Isherwood: Can I call for two statements? Firstly, on the impact of winter weather on transport after the weekend of disruption that we've had. Yesterday, along with thousands of others, it took me seven and a half hours, with multiple train changes, to travel from Wrexham to Cardiff. The staff, I have to say, on the train were fantastic, offering free coffee and goodness knows what else. They can't be...
Mark Isherwood: The UK Government has also allocated—. Time's a bit short now, I'm afraid, Mick. I'm a bit worried that I'll run out, but if there's time at the end, I will. The UK Government has also allocated £8 million over four years to develop evidence over what works to help people progress in work. Department for Work and Pensions officials have been working with the devolved administrations...
Mark Isherwood: Where proper engagement between the different agencies involved has not worked—particularly local authorities and the local Jobcentre Plus offices—that has arisen—and also housing associations—but where it's worked well, it has worked well. And it's about more than just money: it's about helping people get into work, stay in work and live independently. From next month, claimants will...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch. Universal credit is designed to help people into work and support people who need help or cannot work. It replaces a system that discouraged people from working more than 16 hours a week, and saw nearly 1.5 million people trapped on out-of-work benefits for nearly a decade. Unlike the disastrous roll-out of tax credits, which saw millions of people facing clawbacks after overpayments...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. And, finally, on this theme, in fact, the Haven of Light organised a conference in St Asaph cathedral, which I took part in on 28 October, with police representation, local authorities, voluntary sector and others presenting. The Salvation Army told us that seventh out of the 94 nationalities they worked with were British victims, people who originated within the United Kingdom and...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you very much. One of the other concerns they raised with me was that the manifests used on the ferries are inaccurate, with names being made up by traffickers, and, of course, there's issues around access to ports in the context of Brexit, and so on. But, nonetheless, this is leading to people being able to exploit the system. North Wales Police have produced a report and a systematic...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. Modern slavery, clearly, affects or impacts across Wales, but there's a particular west-east issue in north Wales, where human trafficking through Holyhead port is a huge issue. North Wales lost its anti-slavery co-ordinator after three years of funding expired, when a charity was established—Haven of Light—to liaise with statutory partners, the voluntary sector, North...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch Llywydd. A pregnant pause; I was a little bit worried there, but thank you very much indeed. I've been contacted by the Travelling Ahead service, which is supporting the residents association of the Back Bangor Lane Gypsy and Traveller site in Conwy, expressing concern that residents are experiencing physical and psychological ill effects from the level of noise from the adjacent...
Mark Isherwood: Will you give way?
Mark Isherwood: Were you not listening? Did you not hear me say that what I was proposing would save further money for the Welsh Government and local services—money that should be helping the people who actually need it?
Mark Isherwood: As the January 2009 Institute for Fiscal Studies publication, 'The public finances under Labour' stated, 'Labour entered the current crisis with one of the largest structural budget deficits in the industrial world and a bigger debt than most OECD countries, having done less to reduce debt and—in particular—borrowing than most since 1997.' In terms of Keynesianism therefore, they broke...
Mark Isherwood: In his letter yesterday to the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee, the UK Parliament's Under-Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union said ‘The Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union has held numerous discussions with the Welsh Government—including a number of bilateral discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government’ but...
Mark Isherwood: Clearly, as successive Welsh Governments know, working in coalitions, which you are a de facto head of, and we've had two previous Governments in coalition, that is the reality of coalition government. But, last night, the Taoiseach said, 'We don't want a border in the Irish sea.' At lunchtime today, David Davis stated in the House of Commons that they are now close to concluding the first...
Mark Isherwood: Will you give way?
Mark Isherwood: Clearly in the context of north Wales and the budget, at the end of September, the chief executives and leaders of all the six north Wales councils wrote to each council, inviting them to participate in a committee to develop the growth bid to go to the UK Government. Surely, as a Government Minister, you appreciate that governments can't respond to things until they've received them.
Mark Isherwood: Given your comments about the banking crisis, how would you respond to the January 2009 IFS publication, which said that 'Labour entered the current crisis with one of the largest structural budget deficits in the industrial world and a bigger debt than most OECD countries, having done less to reduce debt and—in particular—borrowing than most since 1997.' In other words, it broke the...
