Vikki Howells: Thank you, Minister, for that very encouraging reply. Since Animal Aid released their disturbing footage of cruelty at the Farmers Fresh slaughterhouse in September, another investigation by Animal Equality released last week has revealed similarly appalling evidence of horrendous suffering being inflicted on animals in the same slaughterhouse. Covert cameras have shown animals being thrown,...
Vikki Howells: 9. Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government's priorities when allocating funding as part of the Second Capital Investment Package? OAQ54702
Vikki Howells: 5. What actions is the Welsh Government taking to increase the numbers of tourists visiting the south Wales valleys? OAQ54701
Vikki Howells: Thank you for that answer, Minister. I was particularly pleased to see within that the investment of £7 million to support and protect our environment. Building it into our capital spend is an important part of tackling the climate emergency that the Welsh Government has so rightly declared. Can you provide any further details for us today on how you'll work with colleagues across Government...
Vikki Howells: Thank you, Deputy Minister, for that very detailed answer. Just last month, there was a very welcome announcement that, along with your ministerial colleagues, you jointly agreed to fund Sustrans to lead a partnership bid for assembling external funding for the reopening and running of both the Abernant and Rhondda tunnels. As I have said previously, I believe that reopening those tunnels...
Vikki Howells: 8. Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government’s response to the findings contained within the State of the Coalfields 2019 report? OAQ54734
Vikki Howells: Thank you, First Minister. One of the standout findings from the report for me was the link between the former coalfield communities and deprivation, with 42 per cent of communities being amongst the 30 per cent most deprived in Britain, and the figure is even more pronounced for the south Wales coalfields area, where it stands at 52 per cent. How is the Welsh Government ensuring that...
Vikki Howells: Deputy Minister, as you know, I've always been a leading proponent of the foundational economy, and it's really great to see you now, as a member of the Welsh Government, working to embed some of the ideas that we worked on so closely as backbenchers. So, I'm holding here the draft national development framework, which the First Minister, in the foreword, describes as setting out 'where we...
Vikki Howells: 9. What consideration has the Welsh Government given to the findings of the unadopted roads taskforce? OAQ54799
Vikki Howells: I thank the First Minister for that answer. And I've arrived here at Plenary today straight from a meeting with Persimmon, where it looks as though we are very, very close to getting three estates adopted, some of which were built almost 18 years ago. But I'm very well aware that, for every family who I've been able to help with regard to that, there are many, many other home owners out there...
Vikki Howells: 5. Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government's priorities for improving public transport within the northern valleys? OAQ54802
Vikki Howells: 9. Will the Counsel General provide an update on discussions regarding the future working of the shared prosperity fund? OAQ54783
Vikki Howells: Thank you, Minister, for that overarching answer. Now, this wasn't the supplementary I planned to ask, but recent disruption to rail services within my community has changed my focus today. I must say, I've had a good relationship with Transport for Wales since they've taken over the services, but the events last week were nothing short of chaotic—trains cancelled, passengers turfed off at...
Vikki Howells: Thank you, Counsel General. A successor scheme to European structural funding is absolutely crucial to the Welsh economy, and this was underlined again just two weeks ago in a joint statement by Universities Wales, CollegesWales, the National Union of Students Wales, the Learning and Work Institute, the Federation of Small Businesses, the South Wales Chamber of Commerce, the University and...
Vikki Howells: Although I'm not a member of this committee, I would like to commend them for what I think is a really important piece of work. We'll have all seen the shocking findings from Shelter that, across Britain, the highest number of children for 12 years will be in temporary housing this Christmas. Now, Welsh rates are lower than elsewhere in the UK but are still up over a quarter over the last...
Vikki Howells: I'd like to thank you, Minister, for your statement here today. As you will know, Penrhiwceiber in my constituency was earlier this year identified as having the highest rate of child poverty in Wales, and I think that's a shameful indictment of a decade of Tory austerity. In the fifth-richest country in the world, there is no need for such suffering, but it's a suffering that's been...
Vikki Howells: 6. Will the Minister provide an update on preparations for the new Welsh Government fuel poverty strategy? OAQ54829
Vikki Howells: Thank you, Minister, for that answer. Obviously, there's a myriad of things that you can look at when looking at fuel poverty, and I appreciate that many of the levers are not devolved. I recently met with Smart Energy, which told me all about the work that it is doing to encourage the take-up of smart meters. Forty per cent of households in the Cynon Valley have already switched to smart...
Vikki Howells: As a member of the Economy, Infrastructure and Skills Committee I'd like to thank all those who contributed to our inquiry as well as the Chair and the clerking team for their excellent work on this vitally important topic. The list of stakeholders who contributed is lengthy and extremely diverse and I think that's not surprising, really, because we all know how important access to banking...
Vikki Howells: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. For my short debate, I'll be examining some of the challenges related to the delivery of social care in the twenty-first century. With this being such a wide topic, I cannot cover every aspect of the debate. For example, I will focus my remarks largely around the provision of adult social care. However, I hope to provide sufficient illumination for some key challenges...
