Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, obviously the ability to attract staff into the Welsh NHS is a critical component of providing a modern and dynamic NHS here in Wales. The Royal College of Physicians brought forward their survey recently that indicated that of the jobs advertised at consultant level, at least 40 per cent went unfulfilled, and many of them didn’t even have any applicants applying for...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. I’m sure you, like me, would have been pretty horrified by the number of ambulances that are outside the A&E department at the University Hospital of Wales and the pressure that puts on the staff and the concern it puts in patients’ minds. I know I’ve asked for an urgent question on this particular matter because the issues around the A&E...
Andrew RT Davies: Surely the most devastating critique of Welsh Government’s action to date on public services is the critique that came forward yesterday on education, which shows that a policy area where Welsh Labour have been in control for 17 years has delivered abject failure when benchmarked internationally against the best in the world? That, surely, is the fundamental critique of where Welsh Labour...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, before I start my questions, can I wish you the compliments of the season, and best wishes to your family over the festive period, and best wishes for the new year in particular as well? Last week, we had the really good news about Tata Steel and the announcement of the agreement that seemed to have been reached between the unions and the company....
Andrew RT Davies: I do want to push you on this, First Minister, because I do think it’s important to get a signal from you of endorsement for that deal. And in the response to my first question, you clearly haven’t given that endorsement. Rightly, you’ve pointed to the support that Welsh Government have given, and the UK Government has given as well, and also the change of direction from the Tata main...
Andrew RT Davies: And thank you for that unequivocal endorsement of the deal; I think that’s important to be on the record. As I said, it is the final piece of the jigsaw that does need the agreement of the workers, going forward. But what was important as well in the negotiations were the issues around business rates. Again, I appreciate the comments that you’ve made on that. That’s a very complex area,...
Andrew RT Davies: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government’s report ‘Understanding the Economics of the Park Home Industry’? OAQ(5)0090(CC)
Andrew RT Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on what the Welsh Government is doing to assist the agricultural industry in South Wales Central?
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, in your response on tidal lagoons you highlighted how they could play an important part in delivering green energy and part of the renewables mixed basket of opportunity that you as a Government will be promoting. But also in that basket of mixed energy opportunities is the ability for smaller land-based renewable projects. The real issue is about getting connection to the...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for that answer. You are quite right to identify the Welsh Government put in significant resource—I think in the region of £50,000—into this report, and there were key recommendations, which I'd be pleased to hear how you’re going to be taking those recommendations forward. But I met with some residents from park homes last week who made the point that one...
Andrew RT Davies: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate today on a motion, in fairness, that is merely pointing out the obvious, really. Last week’s PISA results were deeply, deeply disappointing, and I think across the political spectrum in this Chamber, all Members—. David has made the point today about how unsatisfactory and upsetting, I would suggest, those results were, because...
Andrew RT Davies: I’m sorry if you might not have been listening, but literally 10 seconds ago I made that very point, I did, and really it couldn’t have gone much lower, so if that’s what the Labour Party are celebrating about their strategy for education then poor you, because, as I did say in my remarks, we are still behind in maths where we were in 2006. So, I go back to the gambit that I put down in...
Andrew RT Davies: I do regret you using the word ‘disrepute’. This morning, I travelled to three schools across my region to celebrate Christmas with the kids there and the teachers and the excellence that’s going on in those schools, but you cannot—. [Interruption.] What are you saying about time? You cannot deny the lamentable record of Welsh education when it is benchmarked between 72 countries...
Andrew RT Davies: Since devolution, it has been the Labour Party, with your party and the Liberals, who’ve run education here in Wales, and have a responsibility for these results. I’m not quite sure where you get the Conservatives from.
Andrew RT Davies: [Inaudible.] I’d like to ask the Deputy Minister, given the indignation that has been shown by Adam Price today—politicians in this Chamber and the public, in fairness, would be surprised, because we have been told right the way through this parliamentary term that Plaid Cymru and the Government are working hand in glove to develop these infrastructure projects, and, indeed, the...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, over the Christmas period and recently over the last couple of days, there’s been considerable speculation over the merits or not, as the case may be, over the deal that is before the steelworkers at Port Talbot and other plants across Wales—Trostre, Llanwern and Shotton. Before we broke for the Christmas recess, you clearly said to me in a...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that clarity, because I think it is important to understand the gravity of the decision that the steelworkers do face, and it is their decision, in fairness, because they are being asked to give up something in return for assurances around the long-term future of the steel industry here in Wales. We understand now from Plaid Cymru that it is their opinion that this deal should...
Andrew RT Davies: I believe we have a very supportive UK Government, First Minister, when it comes to this issue, and I’d be interested to know how many requests have gone to Downing Street to seek that meeting on the specific steel issue. Do you agree with Stephen Kinnock, and very often—[Interruption.] I can hear the Deputy Minister chundering from a sedentary position, but he might well like to listen...
Andrew RT Davies: Do you agree, First Minister, with Stephen Kinnock, that the proposals put forward on the table by Tata Steel are impressive proposals, and actually these do unlock significant investment for the steel plants across Wales, and offer a secure future, certainly in the short and medium term, for the many thousands of jobs that depend on this investment being unlocked? Seven thousand jobs—
Andrew RT Davies: Seven thousand jobs depend on this deal. Do you agree with that?
