Sioned Williams: With Westminster denying Wales the resources and the powers that we need, yes, there is a need for difficult decisions to be made. The Welsh Government makes those decisions even harder by failing to secure the resources it needs through fair, proportionate and just taxation to help us overcome the shameful hardship that scars our communities. I urge Members to support our amendment.
Sioned Williams: In the cross-party group on consumer rights, which I chair, we heard on Monday from Which?. Their latest report, published this week, showed that 92 per cent of Welsh consumers are worried about energy prices higher than in England and Scotland, and that consumers are engaging in cost-saving behaviours that may be detrimental to their health. We know it's detrimental to their health: 78 per...
Sioned Williams: Yesterday in the debate on the Welsh Government's draft budget, I spoke about how the people of Wales are facing multiple crises, unprecedented crises since the advent of devolution, and I agreed with the Welsh Government that this was a difficult budget in a difficult time, and outlined the support that is needed for those who need it most, why the services providing this support must be...
Sioned Williams: Will the First Minister outline the Government's response to the current significant increase in household bills?
Sioned Williams: Thank you for the statement, Minister, and we welcome this investment in digital skills, particularly in light of the fact that there is increasing demand for digital skills in the jobs market, and this is demand that isn't currently being met, with a lack of advanced digital skills being a concern too expressed by employers. 'Digital 2030' was launched in 2019, so we're now four years into...
Sioned Williams: As we approach the anniversary—the grim milestone, as you called it—of the illegal and barbaric invasion of Ukraine, I want to echo your thanks to people all over Wales who have provided sanctuary to people from Ukraine. When we in Wales say, 'Refugees are welcome', when we declare ourselves a nation of sanctuary, when our Government declares itself a supersponsor to aid those forced to...
Sioned Williams: We are a nation of sanctuary.
Sioned Williams: Minister, do you agree that the terms used by those in power when discussing refugees especially and all those marginalised in our society count, because language has consequences? And we saw this in Knowsley this weekend—despicable and potentially terrible consequences. One hundred organisations have signed an open letter to call on all political leaders to condemn Friday's attack on...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you for letting me come in on this. The chief executive of Neath Port Talbot council wrote to me regarding the possible devastating impact of the Government’s decision around this on a number of local bus services, and I just want to make the point that it’s not just rural bus services, but services in counties like Neath Port Talbot, and she’s...
Sioned Williams: The cost-of-living crisis is going to do exactly what the COVID crisis did. I've heard so many witnesses to inquiries held by both of the committees of which I'm a member—equalities and social justice and children, young people and education—repeat this, or words to that effect, when referring to the undeniable evidence that not only will the impact of this crisis again be deeper in the...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Llywydd. Plaid Cymru welcomes this debate today, and we will be supporting the Conservatives' motion, and that's because it's clear that many of our young people and children in Wales with vision impairments are being failed in the sense that they are not being supported to live as autonomously, independently and freely as they are entitled to, as noted in article 26 of the UN...
Sioned Williams: I'd like to declare an interest, namely that my husband is employed by Swansea University.
Sioned Williams: I would like to talk a little bit in more detail about how the strategy will mitigate the impact of the withdrawal of UK structural funds on Welsh universities specifically. You just mentioned the warning that we've had from Swansea University that up to 240 researchers are facing redundancy in that institution alone. I'm sure you'd agree that redundancies on this scale—and many of them are...
Sioned Williams: 2. What progress has the Commission made towards fulfilling the recommendations of the digital news and information taskforce's report? OQ59164
Sioned Williams: Thank you for that response, Llywydd. Clearly, our democracy has progressed a great deal, even since 2016, with young people of 16 and 17 years of age now having been given the vote in Senedd elections, but it appears that other aspects have made retrograde steps—more local newspapers and journalist positions having been lost. And on the basis of a survey carried out by this group recently,...
Sioned Williams: Minister, we on the Equality and Social Justice Committee have heard very serious evidence about the depths of debt in Wales and that energy costs are fundamental to that. I've raised with you in the past the lack of progress in terms of delivering on the fuel poverty targets of the Welsh Government. The target was 5 per cent of Welsh households living in fuel poverty by 2035, but 45 per cent...
Sioned Williams: I'd like to thank the Conservatives for bringing this motion forward and to congratulate them on their contributions in the Welsh language. You mentioned the fact, and took pride in the fact, that S4C had been established by a Conservative Government. Of course, we would like to remind you about the stand taken by Gwynfor Evans, the former leader of Plaid Cymru, which led to the u-turn that...
Sioned Williams: As Plaid Cymru's spokesperson for equality and social justice, I'd like to support the points made by Jane Dodds on the investment in the DAF and also echo the comments made by Llyr Gruffydd and Heledd Fychan on the importance of the investment in universal free school meals and expansion of free childcare as a result of the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru. Jenny Rathbone's point on...
Sioned Williams: But, Dirprwy Lywydd, would we need to spend as much on these measures if Wales were free of this unfair and unequal union of nations? Plaid Cymru has been raising concerns about the impact of underinvestment in research and development in Wales for some time, and we heard about that from Mike Hedges. It's disappointing, therefore, to note that this budget, once again, doesn't do much to...
Sioned Williams: Will the Minister provide an update on the Government's strategy for supporting research and development in South Wales West?
