Darren Millar: Leader of the house, can I ask for a number of statements, please, the first from the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs on waste collection services? One thing that is exercising the minds of lots of my constituents, particularly in Conwy, is the roll-out of four-weekly bin collections, which of course has been supported by Labour, Plaid Cymru and independent councillors in...
Darren Millar: Will the First Minister make a statement on the performance of the Welsh NHS?
Darren Millar: I’m pleased to take part in this debate. It’s important that we have strong local government in Wales, and of course we’ve got some great examples of local authorities that are working for all of the people who live in those local authority areas, including, of course, Monmouthshire County Council in particular. We all know that there have been significant pressures on public finances...
Darren Millar: I’m well aware of the pilots, and I want to thank the Government for making the statement about those very recently, but I am concerned—very concerned indeed—at the National Day Nurseries Association’s comments this week regarding the capacity of the private sector who want to work with the Government, as you will know, to achieve the delivery of this very important commitment. I am...
Darren Millar: 7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the Welsh Government’s commitment to extend entitlements to free childcare? OAQ(5)0129(CC)
Darren Millar: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and can I thank the Minister, also, for his statement? Can I put on record the fact that my party welcomes the appointment of Margaret Jervis to undertake this review of ‘Extending Entitlement’? I think that that’s an excellent appointment, given her experience with Valleys Kids and other organisations. I think she’s a very strong person to take on...
Darren Millar: First Minister, will you agree with me that one of the ways to improve child health is to ensure proper access to school nurses across Wales? Will he congratulate the school nursing workforce that we have here in Wales that do an excellent job in terms of immunisation and public health messages in our schools, and, in particular, the unique Judith Jerwood in your own constituency, who serves...
Darren Millar: I fully concur with those views. We’ve got to promote and we’ve got to persuade because there are some people who need more persuading than we’ve done to date. It’s not just in our schools; it’s our pre-school system as well here in Wales that needs to have the opportunity to grow the number of places and its capacity. It’s our further education sector in particular that isn’t...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Llywydd. I want to move amendments 4 and 5 on the order paper, but I will not be moving amendment 2, as we intend to withdraw that amendment, with your permission, Presiding Officer, because we will be supporting amendment 1 on the order paper. I have to say I’m a little bit disappointed that this debate is being used to home in on one particular issue in one part of Wales. I think...
Darren Millar: One hundred and twelve weeks is the routine waiting time.
Darren Millar: Can I just ask you, Minister, given that this health board is in special measures—? We are almost two years into those special measures and one of the reasons it was put into special measures was because of the performance against referral-to-treatment waiting times, including on orthopaedic waiting times. Over the period it’s been in special measures, run, effectively, by the Welsh...
Darren Millar: Leader of the house, I wondered whether we could have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure on the trunk road maintenance programme in north Wales. Many of my constituents and visitors to north Wales were massively inconvenienced over the weekend as a result of some of the roadworks on the A55 in the Conwy tunnels and, indeed, in Old Colwyn, in my own...
Darren Millar: It’s in special measures for its management of finances.
Darren Millar: It’s one of the things that it was put in special measures for.
Darren Millar: I’ve listened very carefully to your answers to these questions about the problems being faced by health boards, and I have to say I find it a little rich that you’re sitting there criticising the health boards, telling them that they need to get their act together in terms of the finances, when you’re responsible for one of those health boards that is in special measures. One of the...
Darren Millar: First Minister, one thing that can be done is to develop more mindfulness practice in schools. The Cabinet Secretary for Education visited Ysgol Pen-y-Bryn in Colwyn Bay in my own constituency late last year, where she met some of the children and staff in the school that had been practising mindfulness, and they spoke passionately about the impact of mindfulness in their lives in helping...
Darren Millar: What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the adequacy of coastal flood defences in Clwyd West?
Darren Millar: The Minister will be aware that the legacy of Gordon Brown’s failed economic policy and mismanagement of public finances is one that our country is still trying to get to grips with. And notwithstanding the pressures on public finances, the reality is that the cuts that you have made in the further education sector in Wales are larger than the cuts that have been imposed on the Welsh block...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Lywydd. Is the Minister concerned that almost half of Welsh further education colleges are in significant financial deficit?
Darren Millar: From that reaction, at least you’re acknowledging that there are problems here in Wales, unlike the leader of the house when I questioned her on this point last week. This isn’t fake news. These are true financial figures from colleges here in Wales. We’ve seen huge cuts in terms of funding for part-time courses in particular—71 per cent in recent years, and a reduction of 13 per cent...
