Rhun ap Iorwerth: I think what we're starting to realise is the importance of gender-specific healthcare in its widest meaning, and the need to tailor healthcare for the needs of more than half the population. It's not just specifically about gender-specific conditions or illnesses, it's the fact that women have not featured enough in our thinking about conditions that affect both men and women, but where...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 5. Will the Minister provide an update on fuel poverty levels in Ynys Môn? OQ58308
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for that answer, and it is astonishing, isn't it, and we see how costs in terms of energy and fuel, as part of the cost-of-living crisis more broadly, are deepening from day to day, nearly, and the financial hardship that some of my most vulnerable constituents are seeing. We see it in the increasing demand for foodbank services. We've see this week Ynys Môn council, in partnership...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 5. What is the Government doing to protect the long-term rental sector in the face of growth in the short-term rental sector? OQ58338
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Llywydd. The first census results have been published; they’re headline figures so far. The population is reducing in many areas—Ceredigion seeing the greatest decrease at almost 6 per cent. There is a suggestion that the population is also growing older, which emphasises the need to keep hold of our young people, and that means making them want to stay here in Wales....
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Without doubt, we want to attract the best brains to Wales, as well as keeping our own talent here. The current financial pressures, the highest inflation for 40 years, is having a great impact on young people. You only need to look at recent NUS research to see that more students than ever are reliant on foodbanks or are borrowing beyond their means. The wage level for apprentices is a...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I wasn't looking for division here today; I was looking for consensus, frankly. Having a daughter in Paris currently, a graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, having lived in Italy myself, having spent time living in London myself—. We're not about closing the doors for our young people and telling them not to leave, but the truth of the matter is that too many do...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Now, on top of houses being sold as holiday homes or lets, I've become aware recently of the practice of long-term tenants being evicted so that their homes can be turned into short-term holiday accommodation. Constituents tell me that it's happening across our coastal communities. The actions of one landlord are particularly worrying. Through historic privilege, the Bodorgan estate is a very...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I'd like to ask for a written statement on the steps that the Welsh Government is considering to take to help care workers in the wake of a big increase in fuel costs. I discussed the issue with officials in Unison yesterday. Care workers in rural areas, in particular, have to drive distances between the houses of the people they care for, and the money they receive is not enough to pay for...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Llywydd. There is so much that I could, and I do regularly, criticise the Government for. I take my role seriously as health and care spokesperson for my party, holding Government to account on the health service, and I will continue to do that until I see that the people of Wales are getting the health and care service that they deserve. But in the spirit of the end of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'It seems obvious that doing things better within the current non-devolved system can surely only lead to marginal improvements'.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Although we are doing our best for the people of Wales in this Senedd, the failure to integrate policy decisions and fiscal decisions at the highest level has prevented real transformational change. In the context of railways, transport may be devolved for Wales, but whilst Westminster still holds the power for rail infrastructure, we will continue to suffer underfunding of billions of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 8. What assessment has the Minister made of the importance of re-establishing a marina in Holyhead to the town's economy? OQ58343
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It's over four years now since storm Emma devastated the marina in Holyhead. The marina's owners did set about a plan to rebuild immediately, and although it was inevitable that that was going to take some time, the plans are being frustrated by the fact that there's another development that's long been in the pipeline for the waterfront in Holyhead that also includes plans for a marina. I...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Diprwy Lywydd. I want to focus on long COVID. Recent figures by the Office for National Statistics suggest that some 60,000 people in Wales could be living with long COVID, and the wave we're currently in makes me concerned that the numbers will increase. Now, many of those suffering are people who acquired the virus whilst working in health and care services. Since the...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I'm very pleased to hear that, and I do hope that Members here, in representing their constituents, will remind their health boards in their constituencies and regions that they have that discretion. I'm also pleased to hear the Minister mention long COVID and its impact on children particularly. I am concerned that there is a lack of support for children and young people with long COVID....
Rhun ap Iorwerth: If we can listen to the response. Diolch yn fawr iawn.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: No, I'm afraid there's no time. We've allowed some interventions, but the clock is against us. Janet Finch-Saunders.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Could you draw your comments to a close, please? Diolch yn fawr iawn.
