Darren Millar: Can I thank the Minister for his statement this afternoon? I think it is important that statements are made in this Chamber. I was very pleased that he didn’t reveal his hand on things like the tax issues up until immediately before Plenary. I think that’s really very, very good of the Minister to take his responsibility so seriously towards this Chamber. Now, that’s not to say that...
Darren Millar: I think that the Wales Tourism Alliance is absolutely right, and you don’t have to just speak to them. You can speak to any individual business that relies on tourists in terms of its viability and you will know that many of them have been on the brink for many years. We’ve enjoyed some success in tourism. [Interruption.] We’ve enjoyed some success in tourism—I haven’t got time....
Darren Millar: Will you give way?
Darren Millar: The reason it’s had to borrow more money is because of the huge record-breaking deficits that Gordon Brown left in the Treasury—
Darren Millar: [Continues.]—and in the public finances. That’s why we’re trying to turn that around. You actually want to borrow more. It would have accelerated under you.
Darren Millar: The deficit adds to the debt—
Darren Millar: I did.
Darren Millar: Eluned, will you take an intervention?
Darren Millar: I have to say that, after the first dog’s breakfast of an RIA, where we saw figures that were wholly inaccurate in parts of that paper, I am surprised that the Welsh Government has been able to get this thing into such decent shape. It does appear that there has been better discussion, shall we say, with stakeholders, and that we now have a set of accurate figures that are very robust and,...
Darren Millar: 7. What arrangements are in place to ensure that there is adequate support for pupils facing or experiencing homelessness? (OAQ51093)
Darren Millar: Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, this summer saw the worst Welsh GCSE results in a decade, with the pass rate falling to its lowest level since 2006. It provides us with further evidence that successive Welsh Labour-led administrations—and now this coalition Government—is failing children and young people here in Wales. What are you going to do to turn this situation around?
Darren Millar: You haven’t specifically said what you’re going to do to turn the GCSE results around. One thing that would be helpful, of course, is having GCSE textbooks that are available in the Welsh language for those pupils who wish to sit their exams through the medium of Welsh. But, as you will probably be aware, the new specification for religious studies GCSEs, which has already been...
Darren Millar: One excuse for the poor GCSE results that you didn’t rattle off, of course—you’ve tried to make this point on a number of occasions—is that these are new GCSEs. But, of course, we’ve got new A-levels, and the results improved on the A-levels, whereas they actually, as I said earlier on, went backwards in terms of GCSEs here in Wales. We’ve heard promises about this issue of the...
Darren Millar: Well, we can’t hang around waiting for you to make a decision here. A decision was actually made by the previous Cabinet in the previous Government and was simply not followed through in terms of extending the remit of the Education Workforce Council, which is the profession, effectively, in Wales. You say that the profession should own these things. Why can’t you give responsibility to...
Darren Millar: Thank you for that response, Cabinet Secretary. You’ll probably be aware that in 2016-17, 16 and 17-year-olds made up around 3.33 per cent of households that were regarded as homeless in terms of the priority groups that we have, and, of course, we know that that age bracket is a very tough time because they’ve got exams, very often, falling in that period. Can I just ask you whether...
Darren Millar: One of the things that has the potential to damage heritage tourism is, of course, the proposals that your Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government unveiled last week for a potential tourism tax here in Wales. Whilst that might not affect you and your Cabinet colleagues so much given the luxury hotels that you must frequent on a regular basis, it could significantly impact on the...
Darren Millar: Cabinet Secretary, can I ask for a statement from your colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Environment and Rural Affairs on the review of pay arrangements and the job evaluation scheme at Natural Resources Wales? Obviously, this is an organisation that has been formed for over three years now, but as I understand it, the review of the salary scales and the job evaluation schemes of the legacy...
Darren Millar: You probed earlier on Russell George in respect of the Conservative costings in relation to the free transport for young people offer that we announced last week, and I can assure you that they are fully costed, and I’d be very happy to share those costings with you. In fact, those costings are based on the costings of the existing concessionary fares scheme and directly applying them to...
Darren Millar: Sixteen to 24.
Darren Millar: Can I thank the Minister for his statement and for advance copy of the statement, which I received this afternoon? Like him, I was very unimpressed to see the lack of ambition in some of the local education authority proposals and plans that were published. I was very pleased to welcome the rapid review that he announced earlier this year, which has now been completed by our former colleague...
