Suzy Davies: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Simon Thomas.
Suzy Davies: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on access to education? OAQ(5)0004(EDU)
Suzy Davies: Unmet demand suggests that we need more primary Welsh-medium places in Penllergaer or Gorseinon in my region due to pressures at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Pontybrenin. Young children are being transported from the Cwmbwrla and Gendros areas of Swansea to access primary Welsh-medium education in other parts of the city because the council has earmarked the perfect site for a school for housing,...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much. I know that the issue of safe routes to school is of particular interest to you, Cabinet Secretary, having raised questions on behalf of your constituents before now. It’s something of an issue for my constituents, too. Even now, the walk route to the new Bae Baglan school is a case in point for the former pupils of Cwrt Sart school, which is closing shortly. Even...
Suzy Davies: Cabinet Secretary, a few weeks ago, I asked the First Minister whether the support package that Welsh Government had put forward, including the possible acquisition of a share—that package put together, of course, to encourage credible buyers for the Port Talbot works—would still be available to Tata were it not to sell. So, I’d like you to give a clear commitment today on what your...
Suzy Davies: Leader of the house, I was going to ask you if it was possible to have an update on Welsh language standards, but I see that the relevant Minister has had the power of telepathy and beaten me to it. However, I have read his written statement that was issued at lunchtime today, and it does not contain a timetable for bringing forward the necessary secondary legislation. I think that, as...
Suzy Davies: I appreciate what you say in your statement, for which I thank you, First Minister. Even though you didn’t have an awful lot of content to be able to give us today, there was an opportunity, which wasn’t taken, to highlight the Welsh Government’s mainstreaming of rights throughout the programme of government when we see it. I think a re-statement of that principle would have laid down a...
Suzy Davies: There’s so much to get through, so, just to save some time, I’ll say that I agree with what Sian Gwenllian had to say about the strategy and the need for a plan. We’ve had strategies and plans in the past, and they haven’t worked. We’ve seen a decline in the number of Welsh speakers in the heartlands, and there aren’t enough places in our local schools for children who want to...
Suzy Davies: Cabinet Secretary, the arts and creative industries can act as an important driver for thinking differently about solving problems in our communities, and the Art Across the City LOCWS programme in Swansea is a perfect example for regeneration. How does Creative Wales help meet the objectives defined in the Kay Andrews report, especially bringing creatives, public bodies, and communities,...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. I think it’s my first chance to congratulate you on your post; I know it’s the last day of term, virtually. Six years ago, the Scottish Government introduced the short-breaks fund to provide respite for carers and replacement care for those they care for. Labour pledged in its ‘Healthy & Active’ manifesto to: ‘Investigate the benefits of establishing a national...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that response. I’m not quite sure if it’s quite said that there will be a fund introduced as a result of the carers strategy, but I’ll watch out and hope for the best on that for now. Moving on, some good news from the Princess of Wales Hospital in my region and, indeed, from the Betsi Cadwaladr University Local Health Board as well: as a matter of course, they’re now...
Suzy Davies: Well, thank you for that answer as well. If I am hearing you correctly, there will be a sort of cross-over between the dementia strategy and the carers strategy, in terms of the input that goes into both from the Carers Alliance, for example. I know that what I’m going to ask you next is something that is of great importance to everybody here in the Assembly, and that’s the fact that, in...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Can I thank my own party for tabling this debate today and for not being afraid to put forward the first three points of this motion? Because these points are not motherhood and apple pie or sentimental hand wringing. Loss of life on this scale is both unimaginable and unconscionable, with consequences for every community. They remind us, as if we need reminding in...
Suzy Davies: Following representation by the Prime Minister, Theresa May, the G20 members agreed to set up a forum to tackle the issues of overcapacity and production in the global steel market, so the UK is moving ahead and getting world leaders to confront and answer the central question as well as dealing with the issues they’ve already been acting on until recently. Now, I accept that the Welsh...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Thank you as well, Cabinet Secretary. I found your answers quite helpful, actually, because I think we all share the same view on the quality and the effectiveness of the plant, but, despite that, any drop in investment is always going to be of concern to the workforce. The First Minister says that the problem is tariffs. You’ve said that there is a global drop in demand for...
Suzy Davies: It’s slightly tricky one here, but thank you very much, Dirprwy Lywydd. Cabinet Secretary, I appreciate that this statement is about major sporting events, but I wonder if you could give us some indication as to where there’s common ground with major cultural events, particularly in terms of sustained legacy, and on which I hoped your statement would have been a bit more detailed,...
Suzy Davies: Confidence and appropriate skills to help people join the workforce, of course, are key to tackling child poverty, and it’s important that children grow up in an environment that values their talents and their aptitudes and that helps them to develop those in order to expand their own horizons. But the adults in the lives of some of these children themselves may need some help to help...
Suzy Davies: Front-line capacity in the NHS is on the verge of turning from a weakness into being a threat to the sustainability of the service as it’s modelled today. While that threat might be manifesting itself across the UK to varying degrees, it’s mattering most here in Wales now. This debate is not tabled just to have go at Welsh Government, although we do invite you to be frank here. This...
Suzy Davies: None of this is instead of a robust front-line professional well-trained NHS workforce. But we will not stop inappropriate arrivals at A&E—choosing well will mean nothing—until people can get hold of a GP or a specialist nurse when they’re anxious about their health, however many helplines we have. We won’t stop people reaching mental health crises until we have more psychologists, as...
Suzy Davies: 2. Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government's response to the current refugee crisis? OAQ(5)0146(FM)
