Janet Finch-Saunders: Here in Wales we are fortunate to have many adults who are prepared to selflessly give their time to provide stability and security to children when they need it most. These individuals include private foster carers, who make private arrangements with parents. Now, as you'll be aware, private foster carers and parents of children placed are required to notify the social services department of...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I would like to withdraw from any party political inferences on this very important matter, but I do endorse the calls by Siân Gwenllian for a new consultation, and the reason being that I believe there are a number of people very, very concerned about this. We've got a petition of over 5,000 signatures. I thought this was made on a clinical decision as you rightly point out. However, I'm...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will you reconsider and actually invest in those services at Ysbyty Gwynedd, so that those medical teams can feel confident that they can carry out emergency vascular services for those people who badly need them?
Janet Finch-Saunders: I would really like the Minister to provide a statement on the horrendous flooding that occurred in north Wales and other parts of Wales, actually, this weekend. We were really hit badly in Aberconwy and I saw things I've never seen in any other flood prior to. The A470 was closed the whole length of the Conwy valley and the reinforced railway at Llanrwst is now dreadfully damaged and it will...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Diolch, Deputy Presiding Officer. I have to start at the onset by saying that I really do respect the Member in question bringing this Bill forward for the work that you've done and you continue to do in safeguarding our children across Wales, and I share in your hopes, your aims and your ambitions on much of the work that we seek to work together on, but, I think, on this one, I would like...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Minister make a statement on the shellfish industry in Wales?
Janet Finch-Saunders: A really good question, and it is essential that accepting and promoting diversity is at the heart of local government in Wales. However, there is a major deterrent to this, and I do believe that our First Minister in his post as local government Cabinet Secretary tried addressing it: the fact that people who work for local authorities cannot stand to become county councillors. So, we have...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. Now, in 2017, Mark Drakeford AM consulted on electoral reform in local government, and section 6 asked if any council staff below senior level should be able to stand for election to their own authority, and 61 per cent of respondents agreed that they should. So, given that the previous local government Minister Mark Drakeford actually set the ball rolling on this and, from my...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. And, before bringing this debate to a close, I would like to thank colleagues across the Chamber for actually contributing to this very timely debate. After all, it is now when our constituents and hard-working families and pensioners will be receiving those hefty council tax bills. Now, local government underpins the delivery of our very vital public services, and is really in...
Janet Finch-Saunders: 4. Will the Counsel General make a statement on the work of the Welsh Government's legal services department? OAQ53700
Janet Finch-Saunders: 5. What legal advice has the Counsel General provided to the Minister for Education in relation to steps the Welsh Government could take to improve the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008? OAQ53699
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. Of course, the Welsh Government is fortunate to be able to turn to a team of legal advisers on varying matters. But I was quite surprised, through the results of an FOI recently, to find that external lawyers conducting work for Ministers have been instructing counsel at rather an astronomical cost to taxpayers. For example, I found out that, during the last three financial years,...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. The reason I've asked you this question is I've been dealing with a number of cases within my own constituency where school pupils are being denied transport directly from their home, despite the stress caused by sometimes quite a lot of walks along forest trails and quite isolated areas. According to section 3 of the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008, local authorities must take...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Trefnydd make a statement, please, on procurement in the Welsh health service in terms of its adherence, really, to local procurement in Wales? With health boards currently reporting a £90.4 million overspend for 2018-19, it is clear that finances are teetering on the brink. I was really disappointed, therefore, to learn quite recently that potentially more expensive blood glucose...
Janet Finch-Saunders: 1. Will the Commissioner make a statement on the Assembly Commission’s outreach service? OAQ53698
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for the 2019 National Eisteddfod?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Minister make a statement on budget allocations to the health and social care portfolio in relation to maintaining children's play facilities?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'm really pleased to endorse the work they do. I know they work exceptionally hard. Of course, here, we have the honour of drafting, debating and passing legislation that does impact on our own constituents across the length and breadth of Wales. I do have some minor concerns, and I thought I'd raise them here, as to how we, as Members, can be kept better...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I would like to thank the Member for bringing this motion to debate and reminding us all of the need to work towards the protection and safeguarding of our children and young people that are victims of the most horrific sexual abuse and exploitation. I am terribly concerned by the statistics on current sexual abuse, and the serious and often long-term...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I think it's fairly evident that, here today, many of our Members, cross party, recognise the urgency for continued improvement in our provision for mental healthcare support. We are all too aware that mental health problems do not discriminate; they effect mothers, children, fathers, expectant mothers, young people, adults, the middle age, the elderly generation and those with other ailments...
