Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Llywydd. Last weekend I was delighted to welcome Chief Chinamhora from Zimbabwe to Monmouthshire, who is responsible for over 280,000 people in his area. The chief, the mayor of Abergavenny and I led the 'march for Africa' at the Abergavenny Food Festival, invited by Martha and David Holman from the Gilwern-based charity Love Zimbabwe. I've known Martha and David for the past seven...
Nick Ramsay: Will you take an intervention?
Nick Ramsay: Thanks, Adam Price, for giving way. I was the Chair of the Enterprise and Business Committee in the last Assembly when we considered the initial active travel legislation. A certain Lee Waters, now the Member for Llanelli, came and gave a lot of evidence at that time in his role at Sustrans. We said exactly what you've just said in your speech there—that this shouldn't be a bolt-on. Active...
Nick Ramsay: The problem with speaking at this point in any debate—well, certainly this one—is that many things have been said. Half the Members have already put the boot into the poor Lib Dem scapegoat, or whatever. They were unfortunate words that they used, and they were not my words, Kirsty—they're words of other Members. And now David Melding has pulled the positive rug from under my feet by...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I will be brief; I know time is pressing. Leader of the house, I recently met with representatives of Moncare, a Big Lottery and Disability Wales-supported initiative to improve social care in towns and villages across Wales though a co-operative, co-production type model. It seems to me it's the type of project that ticks the Welsh Government's boxes, ticks local...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you. I agree with many of the points that Caroline Jones made about the need to move to electric vehicles, but would you agree with me that that electricity has to be made somewhere, and if we simply move away from diesel and petrol to electric charging, that charging is coming from fossil fuels and, actually, that can in the long run be less efficient than modern petrol engines? So, we...
Nick Ramsay: I’m sure you do, in your position, have to make difficult choices, but would you agree with me that, aside from whether it is right to reform the services in the way you’re proposing or not, there is a bigger issue that was raised by Neil Hamilton amongst others—that you’re not carrying people along with this process, hence we have this petition, which has been given in with all of...
Nick Ramsay: Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement today, presenting his bread-and-butter budget? Perhaps more basic labels are a sign of things to come. If he is successful in his bid for the top job later this year, perhaps we can expect a beer-and-sandwiches budget in future. The anecdotes go on.
Nick Ramsay: Can I also thank the finance Secretary and his staff, actually, for the briefing earlier today? It's always helpful in the budget-setting process, when time is limited. I should also thank you, of course, Cabinet Secretary, for the usual clamour of austerity. Where would we be without it, particularly on these benches? [Assembly Members: 'Oh.'] And to set—[Interruption.] And to...
Nick Ramsay: Okay. Turning to the all-important spending commitments, I welcome the news that the NHS is the top priority for the Welsh Government. I’m glad that the Welsh Conservative message has finally hit home after years of us saying—and Angela Burns saying—that the NHS should be properly funded, and not just in cash terms as in the past but in real terms that mean the proper protection of the...
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, an area where you do have power over is that of the infrastructure for charging electric vehicles—an issue that I raised with you last week and I'd like to return to. I recently visited the site of a proposed electric charging station adjacent to the A40 in Monmouth. The plan also, critically, includes two small-scale on-site power plants, so that the electricity that...
Nick Ramsay: Joyce Watson has covered most of the bases of this question with her supplementary question. I've also read the same report and I think it was interesting if you look at what is not causing this rise in domestic fires as much as what is causing it—e-cigarettes have been ruled out, an ageing population has been ruled out, and smoking. So, it's a very specific increase, from a low base...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Llywydd. I've agreed to give Dai Lloyd a minute of my time during this debate. This video that you've just seen, produced by the Royal National Institute of Blind People, is from the How I See campaign and raises a number of issues that I wish to put before you today. Sight is often cited as the sense that people would be most afraid of losing, and it can be tough. From...
Nick Ramsay: For people living with sight loss, it can impact on every aspect of life—physical and mental health, the ability to live independently, to find or keep a job, their family and social life. Timely access to support from social services is critical to help mitigate the impact of sight loss. Rehabilitation is a specialist service that helps a person with sight loss to adapt to the world around...
Nick Ramsay: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Welsh Government spending for 2019-20 in Monmouth? OAQ52709
Nick Ramsay: 1. Will the Leader of the House provide an update on superfast broadband in Monmouth? OAQ52708
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Cabinet Secretary, and you got the fact that I meant the constituency and not the town of Monmouth, as I assumed you would. Leaving aside whether or not Councillor Peter Fox wants to live in Wales or England, which does creep up in this Chamber every so often, I'm sure you'd agree with me—and certainly Peter Fox has said to me—that he would like Monmouthshire to get a bigger...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch. Cabinet Secretary, I'd like to ask you about procurement. When the National Procurement Service was first created back in 2013, your predecessor, the Minister Jane Hutt, described the NPS as a 'very Welsh way to meet Welsh business needs but also value for money for the Welsh pound'. Since then, however, the NPS has made significant losses and has had to be bailed out by Ministers,...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. You clearly knew there were problems because you did order that review, and of course it's not just me who's being critical, it's the auditor general as well, who found that public bodies only spent £150 million with NPS in 2015-16 and £234 million the year after that. In addition, although the NPS made savings for the councils and other organisations that...
Nick Ramsay: We are where we are now, Cabinet Secretary. If I can just pick up on the last part of your comments there, and looking to the future, and turning to the immediate future arrangements for procurement, you stated, and you've reiterated again, that following the announcement that the NPS would be wound down over time, a smaller operation would then be set up to manage a reduced portfolio of...
