David Lloyd: It’s a pleasure to contribute to this important debate on the Legislation (Wales) Bill. May I thank the Counsel General for his opening statement in this debate? Naturally, we agree and welcome the intentions underpinning this Bill as a party. Because what are we talking about? Well, we’re standing in a proper Senedd now, which will be named a Senedd or a Parliament soon. We do legislate...
David Lloyd: First Minister, leisure services across Wales have taken a hammering over recent years and, obviously, as you've said, while Tory UK Government austerity has driven much of this, over recent years a lack of Welsh Government funding to local government has compounded the issue. Now, these concerns over funding have been well made by council leaders of all political persuasions by the Welsh...
David Lloyd: Trefnydd, you will recall that on 14 February last year, this Assembly unanimously supported a motion proposed by myself, and supported by colleagues across the Chamber, regarding the issue of unadopted roads in Wales. The motion called for the establishment of a taskforce to look at the issues facing residents across Wales who are living on these unadopted roads. These roads have often been...
David Lloyd: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee discussed the Welsh Government’s LCM in respect of the Rivers Authorities and Land Drainage Bill at our meeting on 1 April. On 18 April, over the Easter period, the Minister wrote to the committee advising us of her intention to lay a revised LCM, which would seek consent for clauses 3 and 5, in...
David Lloyd: 5. Will the Minister make a statement on the performance of Swansea Bay University Health Board? OAQ53744
David Lloyd: Minister, since being escalated to targeted intervention status in September 2016, Swansea bay health board, formerly, obviously, ABMU health board until recently, has made some progress in terms of its performance, as you outlined, and the work of the new leadership team has to be acknowledged. However, pressures do remain. There are challenges in delivering against the cancer pathway target...
David Lloyd: Will the First Minister make a statement on the potential development of a Swansea Bay tidal lagoon?
David Lloyd: Trefnydd, a report recently presented to Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council's Cabinet has threatened to withdraw from the Swansea bay city deal if sufficient progress isn't made over the coming months. Members will see parallels here with a similar threat to the education consortium, ERW, from the very same authority. Nevertheless, the loss of a local authority from the city deal, with...
David Lloyd: Can I welcome the Minister's report on the publication of the Fair Work Commission's report? Of course, on this side, here on the Plaid Cymru benches, as we've expressed quite recently, we believe in the fair work agenda because of all the background that the Minister's outlined in her statement—the growing concern about the quality of jobs, the growth of low paid, low skilled, insecure...
David Lloyd: Caroline, will you take an intervention?
David Lloyd: I don't know if I've landed in an alternative universe, here. Weren't you elected on a far-right ticket and haven't you recently met Nigel Farage?
David Lloyd: It's a pleasure to take part in this debate on the primary care model for Wales. I mean, I don't know if I've mentioned it before that I happen to be a GP myself, but—[Laughter.] Obviously, primary care is not just about GPs. Let me just put that out there for a moment. It's about practice nurses, it's about pharmacists, about district nurses, health visitors, dentists. Now, I count it a...
David Lloyd: The pharmacist is also vital to treat the kind of minor ailments that we used to see as GPs, but now that we see the complex cases in older people—. All I see now, and that’s fair enough, is those very ill people who need to see a GP only. Of course, there’s more demand on others to step in as full members of the primary care teams, as I've mentioned: the pharmacist, the optician, the...
David Lloyd: So, there are several major challenges, in addition to the need for increased recruitment and retention of health professionals across the board. The primary care estate—the physical state of the buildings—requires massive investment. It is starting to happen now after nothing much happening for many years, but the challenges of sub-optimal buildings remain. And, social care requires...
David Lloyd: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement on the development of tidal energy in South Wales West? OAQ53834
David Lloyd: 5. Will the Deputy Minister make a statement on domestic violence and abuse in South Wales West? OAQ53879
David Lloyd: Thank you very much for that response. As you know, in a meeting of the scrutiny of the First Minister committee recently, I raised my concern that the world's first test centre for the development of materials for tidal energy is now being built in Scotland. There is a risk that we in Wales are losing momentum, therefore, in terms of putting ourselves in the vanguard in this field. The...
David Lloyd: Thank you for that response.
David Lloyd: Now, figures released recently show that South Wales Police receive a phone call every 15 minutes about domestic violence or abuse—a truly shocking figure. One positive move in terms of the identification of domestic abuse has been the Identification and Referral to Improve Safety scheme, the IRIS scheme, which sees GPs and practice staff in Cardiff, the Vale of Glamorgan, Merthyr and...
David Lloyd: Trefnydd, in a written statement on 30 April, the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip expressed her concerns with regard to the findings of Her Majesty's Inspectorate report on the Western Bay Youth Justice and Early Intervention Service, published on 28 March this year. The report showed that the amalgamation of youth justice services from Swansea, Neath Port Talbot and Bridgend was poorly...
