Mick Antoniw: Minister, thank you for that answer. There is growing recognition across the whole of the UK and further afield of the epidemic emerging of gambling addiction, partly as a result of the massive expansion of online gambling. And it was at least encouraging to notice that within NHS England, 14 clinics are being set up with a view to providing addiction advice, but what is noticeable is, of...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. This is a major piece of Welsh constitutional legislation, and it was given very careful and serious attention by the committee, as would be expected. The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee scrutinised the Bill between February and June of this year. We undertook a public consultation and we heard oral evidence in formal meetings. We also...
Mick Antoniw: We noted that the Counsel General is considering amending the Bill using wording that may carry the risk of challenge and for that reason and for the avoidance of doubt we believe that the Welsh Government should ask the UK Government to bring forward an Order in Council under section 109 of the Government of Wales Act 2006 to modify the National Assembly's legislative competence such that...
Mick Antoniw: I get a bit annoyed sometimes when I hear everyone going back to 20 years ago and so on, because some of us actually go back to the time of the Kilbrandon report and remember the contribution leading up to the first referendum in 1979—a referendum that we lost very, very substantively, in a very demoralising way. At the time there were various reasons given for that; either what was on...
Mick Antoniw: Minister, the Welsh Government has taken a very significant lead in agreeing to implement section 1 of the Equality Act 2010. There's been a campaign for many, many years to try and get this implemented with England and is still awaited. I wonder if you could outline the extent to which the socioeconomic duty will be at the core of Welsh Government policy, bearing in mind the scale of working...
Mick Antoniw: First Minister, I will confine my comments, I think, to the references to the social partnership part of the legislative programme, because I think this may be one of the most underplayed parts of what is, I think, a very visionary agenda. One of the prime objectives of any Government is the well-being of its people. In Wales, we have unemployment falling from 7.7 per cent eight years ago to...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. The committee considered these regulations at its meeting on 8 July 2019 and we reported one merits point to the Assembly under Standing Order 21.3(i). Devolved taxes are paid into the Welsh consolidated fund, in accordance with the Tax Collection and Management (Wales) Act 2016, which states that the Welsh Revenue Authority must pay amounts collected in the...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you. Again, we considered these regulations at our meeting on 8 July 2019. We noted that these regulations amend the provisions of the Allocation of Housing and Homelessness (Eligibility) (Wales) Regulations of 2014, the function of which is to prescribe the classes of persons subject to immigration control who are eligible for housing assistance under the Housing (Wales) Act of 2014,...
Mick Antoniw: 8. Will the Minister make a statement on engaging communities in protecting biodiversity? OAQ54263
Mick Antoniw: Minister, thank you for that answer. There’s a bit of a buzz in the air in Pontypridd, because Pontypridd has been named by Natural Resources Wales—it’s been given the status of official bee-friendly town with support of Pontypridd Town Council and the Pontypridd business improvement district, as a result of all the schemes. But there is a sting in the tail,...
Mick Antoniw: Minister, I have asked on a number of occasions with regard to the planning system, particularly with regard to large housing planning applications, about the issue of broadening the statutory number of consultees, particularly, for example, those that would have to deliver, for example, GP services and so on. Now, local health boards haven't been very efficient at this, but clearly, there...
Mick Antoniw: Minister, within this austerity context, if could we have some clarity as to the financial situation, perhaps you could tell us how much money we've lost since 2010 when the Tories came into power, perhaps you could tell us what guarantees you've had in respect of European Union funding were we to leave the European Union, and, in respect of the additional money that's being promised, have we...
Mick Antoniw: He said so.
Mick Antoniw: Minister, there are a few questions I'd like to ask with regard to the issue of trade, not just Welsh trade but UK trade, and the relationship with international trade. Now, during the unlawful prorogation of Parliament—and, for those who doubt it, the Supreme Court is the supreme legal body; if they determine it was unlawful, then that is the law of the land, that is what the rule of law...
Mick Antoniw: 9. What discussions has the Counsel General had with the UK Government about holding a second referendum on Brexit? OAQ54422
Mick Antoniw: Minister, I've been contacted, obviously, by a number of disabled people for whom access to railways does relate to, often, the availability of toilets, and I'm aware of the comments you made in the answer to the last question. Where the issue seems to arise now is that what you seem to be saying is that, certainly on heavy rail, there will be toilets, but that, as with buses, on light rail,...
Mick Antoniw: Counsel General, in the light of what we now know about everything that has happened on Brexit, what the implications would be for the Welsh economy, do you agree with Jeremy Corbyn's position that it is absolutely right that that choice should now be given back to the people to take a decision in the form of a second referendum?
Mick Antoniw: I will be brief, Deputy Presiding Officer, because the part of this resolution, which I welcome, that is most important to me is the bit that talks about regaining control over some of the industrial infrastructure that we have. I particularly refer to the network that still exists on an enormous number of old railway lines all around south Wales and certainly many other parts of Wales as...
Mick Antoniw: Minister, I'm sure you would have been delighted on Saturday night to receive the news that the Cory brass band have again become the national champions of Great Britain, that they've now completed a grand slam of major brass band titles held in the same year, a feat achieved on only two previous occasions, one of which was theirs, and that this confirms their position now as the No. 1 brass...
Mick Antoniw: First Minister, can I very much welcome the paper and also the extent to which the paper also draws on, I think, considerable amounts of work and debate that's gone on within the various committees and this Chamber, and also the various constitution committees across the various UK Parliaments? You'll be aware of the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee report, 'UK governance...
