David Rees: Cabinet Secretary, rehabilitation and the reduction of reoffending is something we all want to try and achieve. I will give you one hint now: stopping superprisons might actually do it a little bit, and therefore stopping the one in Baglan might help you a little bit. But, in the sense of how we help them to be rehabilitated, support services are critical and those support services are going...
David Rees: What actions is the Welsh Government taking to recruit GPs to practices in deprived areas across Wales?
David Rees: Diolch, Llywydd. I’ll try and be as short as I can. First Minister, I rise to speak following the leader of UKIP in the Assembly who, once again, seems to prefer his opinion to fact in this matter, and I will try and stick to the facts. The issues in your statement highlight two areas, which are about the processes and the progress of those processes, both in Westminster and in Brussels. In...
David Rees: Can I give one more?
David Rees: 1. How will the Cabinet Secretary assess the progress being made in relation to delivering the Swansea Bay city deal? (OAQ51240)
David Rees: Well, thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. Now, last month, in an answer to Jeremy Miles, you highlighted that, as long as the 11 projects were in preparation, not all business cases had to be prepared before they could start working. But there’s an issue still with the governance aspects of the city deal. Now, earlier this month—on 4 October—a paper to the cabinet scrutiny for...
David Rees: Llywydd, just one specific point I want to mention on that. The education starts here with young people coming in and schools coming in and the Commission does a fantastic job of encouraging schools to come to the Assembly to look at it. I had a school visit this morning from Awel y Môr; they brought 90 pupils—two busloads—and I had to book two slots for it. Because they’d booked two...
David Rees: Will you give way?
David Rees: I thank the Member for taking an intervention. I understand the evidence base you’re asking for, but there’s also a problem that there’s no evidence base to actually support—to analyse the impacts upon the environment. That’s what we need. We need to look at the impacts on the environment and, unfortunately, we have yet to get that, so we haven’t got it for, but we also haven’t...
David Rees: Can I thank Simon Thomas for bringing this forward today? Because I think it’s an important proposal that he is putting down, and I took part in the debate in February 2015 in relation to fracking. Michelle Brown has highlighted, and I agree with her, that there is a mix of energy generation that is required. We all accept that. But it’s also important that, when we do that, we balance...
David Rees: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on the future role of enterprise zones in Wales? OAQ51283
David Rees: Thank you for that answer, First Minister. In July, your Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure made a statement on enterprise zones in which he stated that the enterprise zone programme, 'continues to contribute to the Welsh Government’s objectives in our Programme for Government', and I fully support that. Last month, in a letter to me, he stated that the strategy for the...
David Rees: 5. What representations has the Counsel General made in relation to the covenant on land in Baglan industrial park? OAQ51327
David Rees: Cabinet Secretary, I fully appreciate that the former industrial areas in south Wales have been devastated in years gone past, but many of them—in fact, many former mining communities—are actually now turning to tourism as an agenda, to look at the economy of tourism, but they're struggling with support for that tourism business. The Rhondda valley and the Afan valley have linked...
David Rees: Well, can I join others in welcoming you to your post, Counsel General, and can I also put on record my appreciation to the former Counsel General for the work he did as well? Counsel General, the answer you gave me is obviously disappointing. I appreciate the legal side of things, but the covenant has a schedule that highlights matters relating to the usage of land, and states, in paragraph...
David Rees: Leader of the house, today we've seen the publication of the fifth state of the nation report from the social mobility commission, which actually doesn't give us good reading in certain areas, because it highlights the fact that austerity doesn't solve the problem; it creates even more problems for many of our deprived communities. Now, most of the deprived communities are therefore facing...
David Rees: What analysis has the Cabinet Secretary undertaken of the impact on public services if the Ministry of Justice goes ahead with its proposal for a prison in Baglan?
David Rees: I thank the Minister for her answers, in particular about Port Talbot, and identifying the actions you're taking. However, it's not just PM10s; it's PM2.5s as well. And knowing the area, it's not just the industry and the steelworks; it's also the motorway, which is caught on that narrow strip, and the roads on the side of it. So, one of the ways you can actually look at it is to actually...
David Rees: Cabinet Secretary, can I congratulate you on your promotion from the middle benches to the frontbench once again? But, also, you were talking about the Valleys taskforce, and you've highlighted two hubs, actually. You've put the Neath hub in and you've put the Llynfi valley one in now. Of course, the Afan valley is in between those two—
David Rees: And the Rhondda. Thank you. There are many of us who actually want it in our own Valleys, but the question that comes is how do you ensure you engage with those Valleys you have not identified will contain hubs and that are not in those particular areas, to ensure that those deprived communities—and they are deprived communities—are able to get benefits from these hubs and that we can...
