Mike Hedges: Will the First Minister make a statement on progress made by the Welsh Government in reducing obesity levels?
Mike Hedges: 4. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on progress towards making the Swansea Bay city region an energy self-sufficient area? OAQ52123
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her response? Last week I attended an event run by the Institute of Welsh Affairs regarding the harnessing of renewable energy in the Swansea bay city region. I want to stress again the importance of the tidal lagoon to the region, and ask what support the Welsh Government is giving to improving battery storage, because that really is the answer when...
Mike Hedges: Will the Cabinet Secretary join with me in congratulating Welsh local government on the way they have coped with reducing Welsh Government support year on year and the quality of provision that they are providing despite those reductions? And will he commit to working collaboratively with Welsh local government in the manner of his predecessor?
Mike Hedges: As someone who was made redundant by British Steel in the 1980s, I have huge sympathy and huge empathy with those who have been affected, many of whom are my constituents, and some of whom I actually know and will meet over the next week or so. I thank the Cabinet Secretary for the action that he has taken. I don't think that we could ask for any more. I'm very pleased about the taskforce,...
Mike Hedges: Diolch, Simon. Would you not agree that if all we do is copy everything that's done in England in terms of rates, we might as well not have taxation devolved?
Mike Hedges: Perhaps I will start by making a defence of taxation. Taxation exists to pay for public services. Too many people seem to believe that we can have the same quality of public services as Scandinavia but have a taxation system that is more like that of the USA. When you look at the cost of private education and private healthcare, it puts into perspective the value for money we get from our...
Mike Hedges: Certainly, I was waiting for it.
Mike Hedges: I wish you'd waited for the next page. What I'll say is this: taxation is our membership fee for belonging to a civilised society. I think perhaps you need to remember that. For multinational corporations, corporation tax is an optional payment whose value can be reduced by things such as intra-company charges, paying for intellectual property rights, transferring charges for goods and...
Mike Hedges: —for good planning permission land? Is it £1 million an acre in Cowbridge and the Vale? That's the difference—I'm coming to the end of this sentence—that's the difference. So, if that land had absolute value, you'd never put it out to auction, because you'd know what its value was and people would have to pay that. Thank you.
Mike Hedges: I think the point I was making was the land. The land price will not increase. The money people will pay for the land will not increase. What will happen to that share of that market price is that more of it will go into taxation, and less of it will go into large profits for the owner. I think that's the difference. I believe that people shouldn't have this bit of serendipity or, 'I'm very...
Mike Hedges: Can you give me an example of a sector asking to pay more tax?
Mike Hedges: But all sectors ask to pay less tax.
Mike Hedges: Will the First Minister make a statement on the effect of exercise and diet on health?
Mike Hedges: I would like to ask for two statements. The first one—I would like a statement on the Welsh Government's proposals to improve public health, this to include the relationship between health and lifestyle. It should also include action to reduce obesity, increase exercise and improve diet, including what is being done to replace Communities First activity in this area. The second one, which...
Mike Hedges: Can I welcome the statement? Going back to the basis of taxation, we have two types of taxation, that which is there to raise revenue for public services, such as income tax, and then we have taxes that are behaviour taxes. And the Cabinet Secretary brought one of those in this year, which is the landfill disposals tax, which makes recycling cheaper than landfill disposal in order to get...
Mike Hedges: I very much welcome this debate. I think that planning is something that impinges on everybody's lives and I've actually seen petitions coming in where more people have signed the petition in a council area than voted in the previous council election. It really does—it's an issue that gets to people. I don't think that anybody who's sat as a councillor would not be able to tell you of the...
Mike Hedges: 5. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the innovate-to-save fund? OAQ52163
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that response? I very much welcome the innovate-to-save scheme. It's something I've been asking for for some time. But, of course, not all innovations will work or provide long-term solutions, but those that do can produce improved services and/or savings to the Welsh public sector, which can be quite substantial. Are there any successful schemes that can...
Mike Hedges: Will you not accept that progress has been made with Flying Start in actually getting children from two to three? And what you said at the very beginning is something that I've written about and said for the last seven years: too many children are starting school and are a year or two years behind, and they've got to try and make it up in the next seven. But surely Flying Start must be seen...
