Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Thank you very much for your statement today, and for the information that you’ve given us. I certainly appreciate that. One of the things I wanted to ask you about was one of the key actions in the heart conditions delivery plan, namely the plan to have an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest plan for Wales—something I’d certainly welcome. Now, that plan would ensure that...
Suzy Davies: You mentioned the forward look plan there, but, according to officials, Swansea council’s admittedly rather controversial local development plan is likely to be delayed now, and part of the twenty-first century schools programme aims to address the issue of capacity, of course, in schools that are both overcrowded and those that have surplus places. If the local development plan is delayed,...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Could I also thank the Assembly for the chance to be the first Member to make use of this new piece of business? I’d also like to thank my former office manager, Mark Major, who brought the whole subject to my attention when I first became an Assembly Member. A six-year campaign began with a statement of opinion in 2011, seeking support for the mandatory teaching of...
Suzy Davies: First of all, can I please say thank you to everyone who’s supporting this today, and thank you also to the Cabinet Secretary, because I’m not against what he’s planning to do? What I’m saying is it’s going to take way too long. It takes two hours to train a child to save a life; it takes 10 minutes to kill a cardiac arrest victim. So, I’m disappointed that you haven’t been able...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much. Well, sorry to disappoint you, Minister, it’s me who’s going to be winding you up—sorry, winding the debate up. Parity of esteem—that’s what we’ve been talking about today, until it sort of all lost its way in the last few minutes there. I think it’s an important point to make that this was quite a consensual debate, and for a very good reason as well:...
Suzy Davies: Okay. Thank you.
Suzy Davies: Good. [Laughter.] Minister, your point about removing barriers between school and college actually is very well made, and I would agree with you on that. You have been saying, actually, pretty much until the end there, all the right things, but we do need to see them happen now. Really, I’m just begging you: stop moaning and plan. Plan to spend that £400 million. Parity of esteem is not...
Suzy Davies: First Minister, I hope that the Cabinet Secretary’s meeting in April will be fruitful in promoting our shellfish to the whole of the world, not just to the European Union. But, as you know, the level of parasites found in cockles from the Burry inlet, just off the Gower coast, is higher than expected. Of course, if we are to meet the global demand, we need our cockles to survive. The...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. Can I just thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement as well? Any money going towards the arts is not going to find complaint with me, but I think there are some important questions that still need answering, despite your answers to various individuals who’ve asked them today. I completely take your point that the decisions about how this money should be spent...
Suzy Davies: Well, Members, I think we’re standing on the threshold of something really rather significant. I think it takes a certain level of courage to face global political shifts and then to determine to bring good from them. Sometimes, drawing out that good can be seismic in itself, and that’s an adoption of new thinking. Now, with some of my colleagues, I’ve just come back from CERN in...
Suzy Davies: Very briefly. It’s quite a long speech, sorry, Simon.
Suzy Davies: Well, that’s what I am coming to, because, in terms of value for money, I’m asking: why on earth don’t we just find out? Tidal lagoons are new thinking. Like CERN, this is a world first. This is a new industry, a global industry, with global implications, and it’s ours for the taking here in the UK. It’s not a question of ‘could’, David Melding; it’s a question of...
Suzy Davies: First of all, can I say that it’s not often I get very angry in this Chamber with the representations made by members of all parties, but I was angered by what Dawn Bowden said? This party has never, never criticised the paramedics and the service they provide. We have been critical of the times that weren’t met under the previous iteration of this policy, and justifiably so. As you say,...
Suzy Davies: 5. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on action taken by the Welsh Government to increase economic productivity in the Swansea Bay City Region? OAQ(5)0129(EI)
Suzy Davies: 5. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on accident and emergency waiting times in South Wales West? OAQ(5)0128(HWS)
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. Thank you for your replies to date, Cabinet Secretary but I’d like to try another couple past you again, as we haven’t had answers to these. [Interruption.] When did you hear first about this worst-case scenario? The MP for Bridgend confesses that she was completely blindsided by it, so I’m wondering whether you were. Can you give me an answer, a straight...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Lywydd. Neatly dealt with there, I have to say, Cabinet Secretary. I wonder whether you could give us an indication about when we might expect a full response to the report on Historic Wales. I’m hoping you can do that today, just to give us an idea. Until then, I’m also mindful of the fact that your predecessors, despite my coaxing on a number of occasions to think...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for that answer. I just want to move on now to something else that we’re waiting on a little bit, which is the small museum review, which reported in August 2015. It was received very well by the sector, and, despite the six-month delay in the Government responding to the recommendations, they’re eager to see progress. However, I’ve been told that some of the...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for that answer. I’ll certainly feed it back to the sector, if they haven’t already picked it up from this. I just want to move on to something a bit different now, and it’s the fact that Wales is a country of small businesses, many of which will be partnerships rather than companies, and so operating on income tax rather than corporation tax rules. I’m just...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for that answer, and obviously, locally, we appreciate your support for the Swansea bay city region deal. While attracting large employers to a region is important for jobs and the economy, 99 per cent of our businesses are small and medium-sized enterprises, and 75 per cent are actually microbusinesses, as you already know, which means that small businesses do play a very...
