Sioned Williams: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Prif Weinidog, you've rightly outlined the crucial importance of getting what support is available into eligible people's pockets. So, could I ask you: what evaluation of the last round of the winter fuel support scheme across local authorities has taken place? Because I'm sure that you agree with me that we need to know what worked well and what needs to be improved,...
Sioned Williams: According to the Electoral Commission report on the last Senedd elections, although the Democracy Box partnership project, which was supported by the Senedd and the Government, was a positive step, we need to extend the reach and impact of these programmes. They acknowledged that we need not only to improve current resources, but also to develop support programmes for those working with these...
Sioned Williams: A second issue specific to the implementation of votes at 16 in Wales was that the legislation did not include concrete statutory measures of political education, something that had been discussed in the reform process in Wales and identified as crucial in previous experiences of voting age reform elsewhere. This meant that, despite school-level commitments to citizenship education, when the...
Sioned Williams: Our young people have been able to vote at 16 now in two elections—the Senedd elections and the local elections this year. That, of course, is a cause of great joy and pride on a national level. My own daughter voted for the first time in the Senedd elections, and of course she voted for her mother, and my son in the local elections this year, and they clearly come from a family that...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I'll give a minute of my time to Heledd Fychan. I grew up in Gwent, and I would go shopping in Newport. The famous mural that told the story of the Chartists, which now, unfortunately, has been destroyed, was a wonder to me. I learnt of their battle and their sacrifice through the graphic and dramatic images of that mural. I would insist on being told the story...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. It's midsummer, and when the clouds rise, it is a time to wear light clothes, T-shirts, to open the windows, sit in the garden, hang the clothes on the line, enjoy a barbecue and to know, usually, that the energy bills won’t be as high as usual, and that the meter won’t spin quite as quickly as the heat of the sun warms our skins and our homes. But this year,...
Sioned Williams: One of the first pieces of casework that I had after being elected was an appeal for help from a woman who had been relocated and rehomed as a result of escaping from domestic abuse. She was in an extremely vulnerable condition, having had to move from her home and community to a new town, having had to move her daughter to a new school, having to try to make new friends and cope with the...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Weinidog. It's good to hear that there will be an announcement on the baby bundles. As we brace for a serious worsening of the cost-of-living crisis as the autumn and winter months begin to loom over an already grim horizon, I was wondering whether the Minister could update the Senedd on how effectively the current financial support being provided by the Welsh Government is being...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Llywydd. Prynhawn da, Weinidog. We know that families with children are among the poorest households in our nation. Following the success of the baby box scheme in Scotland, a scheme was piloted in the Swansea Bay University Health Board area to provide baby bundles to 200 families to reduce the need for expenditure on newborn essentials. The pilot appeared to be successful, according...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Brif Weinidog. Providing more affordable, convenient and reliable public transport is essential, of course, if we're going to improve access to education, employment, public services and leisure, and create the more prosperous, greener and more equal society that we all wish to see, especially given that 20 per cent of households in my region of South Wales West don't have access to a...
Sioned Williams: 3. Will the First Minister make a statement on the work that the Welsh Government is doing to improve public transport in South Wales West? OQ58305
Sioned Williams: Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this debate. We've broken new ground in collaborating on this Bill. It's the first piece of legislation that's part of our co-operation agreement with the Government, and I'm pleased to have been able to represent Plaid Cymru as spokesperson on post-16 education as we scrutinised and amended this Bill in a collaborative and positive manner with...
Sioned Williams: Thank you for the statement, Minister. It’s a little over a year now since I took up my role as Plaid Cymru spokesperson on social justice and equalities, and as you know, I’m also chair of the cross-party group on violence against women and girls, and I’ve heard and I’ve described several times now the starkly worrying statistics that speak of the terrible experiences, the appalling...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Weinidog. I fully support the pilot as a step towards a permanent universal basic income. On 4 May, during social justice spokespersons' questions, I raised with you that young people leaving care often access semi-independent accommodation, such as flats in a complex, where a young person has their own independent space but has access to significant support to help make the...
Sioned Williams: Thank you. School reorganisation in the Pontypridd area has been a contentious issue for years now. One of the main concerns is the closure of Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pont Siôn Norton in Cilfynydd, which will mean that the children living in Ynysybwl, Coedycwm, Glyncoch, Trallwng and Cilfynydd will have to travel miles further to receive Welsh-medium education. Campaigners presented evidence...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Llywydd. Prynhawn da, Weinidog. Wales's level of research and innovation investment is significantly below that of the UK and EU averages, and this picture will get worse as Welsh universities are disproportionately disadvantaged by the losses of EU structural funding given the high level of historical dependency on that funding. By now, gross expenditure on research and innovation in...
Sioned Williams: This group of amendments includes amendments related to sixth forms. We will support amendments 76 and 77 whilst voting against the rest. The reason for that is that we believe that the proposals that will come before the commission will require approval—I couldn't remember the Welsh term—
Sioned Williams: —by Welsh Ministers as a result of amendments made at Stage 2, which we supported. I'm glad that improvements have been made in this regard when it comes to sixth forms during Stage 2, and that a whole range of concerns raised by Plaid Cymru and others in this area have been addressed by the Minister.
Sioned Williams: Sixth forms play an important and unique part within Welsh-medium education, safeguarding elements of immersion and securing a crucial contribution to the skills of learners who have been taught through the medium of Welsh, and to allow them to contribute to the Welsh language ethos of their schools and to be linguistic and cultural role models for younger pupils. It is crucial that the...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Llywydd. I'm pleased to have the Government's support and the support of the Conservative Party for my amendment 78, and I would like to put on record that I am grateful for the constructive collaboration that there has been throughout the journey of this Bill, in all of its stages, and that that constructive relationship with the committee and the two opposition parties has led to...
