Darren Millar: 8. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on actions the Welsh Government is taking to support the sustainability of environmental businesses in Wales? OAQ(5)0139(ERA)
Darren Millar: 7. What action is the Cabinet Secretary taking to prevent children in Wales from suffering adverse childhood experiences? OAQ(5)0147(CC)
Darren Millar: Thank you for that response, Cabinet Secretary. Some environmental businesses are based around the timber industry, and there have been concerns that I have raised about the sustainability of that industry in terms of its supply of timber for the future. Now, there have been many references this afternoon to the role of Natural Resources Wales and the functions that it undertakes, and I have...
Darren Millar: Cabinet Secretary, one of the concerns that have been raised is around the capacity of the workforce to meet this challenge of providing the additional childcare. It’s an ambition that you and I both share in terms of increasing the availability of childcare, but particularly Welsh-medium childcare provision in traditionally non-Welsh speaking areas. What actions, specifically, are you...
Darren Millar: The Cabinet Secretary will be well aware that one of the most prevalent ACEs in Wales is that of parental separation, which can have a hugely damaging impact on children and young people. Given that, what action is the Welsh Government taking to support couples to stick together for the benefit of their children, and will you comment on what support is available, funded by the Welsh...
Darren Millar: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement, and for giving me advance notice of it. I think we’d all agree in this Chamber that we want to see a rigorous assessment process here in Wales that is fair to the learner, that helps to inform teachers about how best to respond to their needs, but that also acts as a benchmarking system across the whole of Wales, so that we can compare and...
Darren Millar: 9. Will the First Minister make a statement on what the Welsh Government is doing to improve primary care services in north Wales? OAQ(5)0639(FM)
Darren Millar: First Minister, you’ll be aware that the British Medical Association was warning, many years ago—in fact, as far back as 2013—that we needed to be training more doctors in Wales, and they were warning of a crisis in general practitioner recruitment. You dismissed those assertions at that time, yet since then we’ve seen over a dozen surgeries across Wales handing in their contracts,...
Darren Millar: Can I ask you whether we can have a statement on the A55 trunk road? The Minister will be aware that there was an incident over the weekend that caused 13-mile tailbacks on the A55. This is in the height of the, sort of, tourism season in that part of north Wales. That tailback continued for five hours. It was so long a duration that people were literally doing line dancing on the A55 dual...
Darren Millar: Can I declare an interest at the start of this debate as a school governor at St Brigid’s School in Denbighshire? I want to thank the Minister for his opening speech. I think it is reassuring to know that he is listening to the concerns not just of the committees, but to the many other stakeholders who have been in touch with him in recent months. And I want to extend my thanks to him for...
Darren Millar: I fully appreciate and understand that, Minister, and I’m very grateful to you for giving way, but the reality is that when we are confronted with answers to our questions, such as ‘What about this issue? What about that issues?’, the stock response that you gave to committee was ‘Well, we’ll address this issue in the code.’ Well, unless you’ve got sight of the code, you can...
Darren Millar: I’m sure the Cabinet Secretary will want to join me in congratulating Councillor James Lusted in Rhos-on-Sea for his election to Conwy County Borough Council. Councillor Jay is the first dwarf councillor elected here in the UK. He’s got a very proud record on disability rights and activism. I wonder what you’ll be doing specifically not just to address this gender issue and problem that...
Darren Millar: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on the importance of seaside tourism in north Wales? OAQ(5)0644(FM)
Darren Millar: There are many of those seaside towns in my own constituency that benefit from tourism, including Towyn, Kimmel Bay, Llanddulas and, indeed, Colwyn Bay. But one of the things that puts that tourism industry at risk is the risk of coastal flooding, and I notice the publication of a report by the Public Accounts Committee today that criticised this distinct lack of leadership on the part of the...
Darren Millar: Leader of the house, can we ask for a statement from the Minister for health and social services on security in Wales’s hospitals? I had an e-mail from a constituent just a few days ago who unfortunately is a cancer patient at Glan Clwyd Hospital, and he remarked about the fact that he was able to walk around the whole of the hospital site at the weekend, in and out of individual offices....
Darren Millar: Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement and for an advance copy of the statement, which was distributed earlier on today? I want to welcome the announcement of the additional £5 million today in order to improve broadband speeds at our schools. We know that it’s only as recently as this year—earlier this year—that some schools have actually had a broadband connection at...
Darren Millar: Thank you, Llywydd. Thank you for your statement. I am a little bit concerned, actually, at the number of properties—I hadn’t realised it was going to be quite so high—that were going to be outside the current scheme. Many of those properties, as you will know from our correspondence in the past, are in my constituency. Some of them are paying through the nose, frankly, for satellite...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, on Friday, the day after the general election, there was a piece of news that suggested that your Government is cutting £28 million-worth of funding from the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, which is obviously going to have a significant impact on Welsh universities. Why did you decide to bury bad news on that day, and how can you defend those cuts?
Darren Millar: You didn’t answer my question, which was: how can you defend—how can you defend—the cuts that HEFCW is now having to deliver, because of the lack of funding from the Welsh Government, to Welsh universities? We know already that Bangor University, Aberystwyth University, Trinity Saint David, and the University of South Wales have all warned that they’re going to have to make...
Darren Millar: Well, I’m not surprised it’s very small, and it’s going to get a darn sight smaller, isn’t it, while you keep underfunding our Welsh university sector and the Higher Education funding Council for Wales. The reality is that this is going to widen the funding gap between Welsh universities and universities over the border in England, which is going to make it more difficult for them to...
