Janet Finch-Saunders: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Welsh Government support for rural schools? OAQ(5)0158(EDU)
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. As part of your twenty-first century schools programme, and on the promise of an amalgamation with Ysgol Dolgarrog, two rural schools in the Conwy valley in my constituency—Tal-y-bont and Ysgol Trefriw—have been closed for a year now. Yes, they were closed with the support of the Welsh Labour Government and Conwy County Borough Council at that time. The new school site at...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Local authorities across Wales, according to your Government, are expected to provide some form of cold weather provision for homeless individuals and rough sleepers, irrespective of whether there is a statutory duty owed to them. Guidance on this policy, First Minister, though, is very ambiguous. Certainly, in my own authority, there are no set temperatures or indications of what kind of...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you to the Cabinet Secretary. I know we have met and we have had conversations on these proposals going forward, and I have to say that I’m certainly very supportive of a lot—. There’s a lot of ambition here, and, of course, with ambition and legislation and making it deliverable comes resource, and I fear that you will have resource implications, but I don’t think anyone could...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Llywydd, there is little left to say on this Bill that has not already been said in this Chamber. However, I shall have one more go. The Welsh Conservatives remain thoroughly disappointed that the Welsh Labour Government’s first piece of legislation in 2017—yes, in the fifth Assembly term—sets out to back their trade union paymasters, responsible for 91 per cent of registered election...
Janet Finch-Saunders: [Continues.]—grave concern for our Welsh educational standards, and underachievement in many other aspects of Welsh Government delivery. The proposals laid out in this piece of proposed legislation seek to rob the Welsh taxpaying public of protection from undemocratic strike action. They seek to undermine the values of transparency, accountability and openness in the public sector, and this...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Cabinet Secretary outline current Welsh Government support for small businesses in north Wales?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you to the Member from Ynys Môn for raising this once again in this Chamber. Now, according to the latest Welsh Government figures, the number of patients left waiting over 36 weeks, which is twice as long as long as in England, for trauma and orthopaedic treatment in north Wales now stands at 3,336. This is the highest it has ever been. Anecdotally, an 84-year-old female constituent...
Janet Finch-Saunders: First Minister, the anti-slavery co-ordinator for Wales, Stephen Chapman, has admitted that there could be cases of modern-day slavery within the Welsh social care sector. He’s actually stated that, somewhere down the line, this is going on. Across such a large sector in Wales, problems may well be further down the public supply chain. What action are you taking to ensure that, where...
Janet Finch-Saunders: 7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the use of public spaces protection orders to ensure community safety? (OAQ51017)
Janet Finch-Saunders: That’s a bit brave. Okay. With the introduction of public spaces protection orders going forward, you’ll be aware of the media outcry, actually, in Conway, with the previous cabinet, I might add, where it has been proven that enforcement officers—external ones—have been very overzealous in terms of targeting my constituents and visitors. Now, with the public spaces protection orders...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I’m really pleased that Sian Gwenllian has actually raised this again, and I would urge all north Wales AMs to make similar calls and to hold you to account, First Minister. This has been going on for years. Sian is quite right to mention there are 141 long-term vacancies. We have hospital wards in north Wales that have closed down for several months. We’ve met with the British Medical...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Yes, okay, thank you. We want a long-term solution. You’re the one who has the levers to do this; please, can we have a training school in Bangor?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. And I move those amendments, as mentioned. Of course, openness and transparency are key things that my Welsh Conservative colleagues and I have long expounded the virtues of in this Chamber. A debate on increasing openness and accessibility of data is long overdue. Our first amendment aims for the Welsh Government to work with public, private and third sector organisations to...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Only yesterday here we spoke about the importance of open data collection, and recording useful data to inform and develop strong policies. So, how bizarre is it, then, that this strategy is so lacking in measurable targets, giving such little allowance for Assembly or public scrutiny. We are sixteen months into the fifth Assembly term, and the people of Wales are quite right to be...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I would say that’s a job, actually, for the First Minister, and for your party. [Interruption.] Housing waiting lists in Wales are a national embarrassment, with 90,000 people currently on a housing list in Wales, the same figure as in 2011. Even more worrying, 8,000 families in Wales have been on an affordable housing waiting list for more than six years, and a further 2,000 have been on...
Janet Finch-Saunders: [Continues.]—were assessed as facing homelessness within 56 days, increased by 29 per cent of households, temporary and bed-and-breakfast accommodation by 75 per cent—[Interruption.]
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. You might not like these facts, these figures, these stats, but they are true. We know we have 23,000 empty properties in Wales. Conwy alone has over 1,500. Yet the ‘Prosperity for All’ document doesn’t even mention this. This is a national resource, the use of which is a no-brainer. On infrastructure and transport, seamless infrastructure is key to economic growth in Wales....
Janet Finch-Saunders: 2. Will the First Minister make a statement on patient advocacy services in Wales? (OAQ51134)
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. During our debate recently, your Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport was very much in favour of abolishing community health councils and replacing them with a new body. This is despite an inordinate amount of public objection. How ironic then, First Minister, that, in my most recent correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary regarding a problematic constituent case,...
