Nick Ramsay: 2. Will the First Minister provide an update on Welsh Government plans to improve trunk roads in Monmouthshire? OAQ53683
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, First Minister. I think you’ve anticipated that I was going to ask about the A466 in Chepstow. Actually, I wasn’t on this occasion, for once. [Laughter.] Yesterday, I was delighted to attend the topping off ceremony at the new Grange university hospital in Cwmbran, along with the Minister, Lynne Neagle, Alun Davies—I think we all had time for a selfie atop the new building...
Nick Ramsay: Mike Hedges has mentioned the use of natural predators to remove species such as knotweed. Minister, if I can take a slightly different angle on this, both native and non-native species are, potentially, good environments for wildlife, a point that is made on the Bee Friendly Monmouthshire website. The Monmouthshire natural assets project is a collaboration between the Gwent Wildlife Trust...
Nick Ramsay: Minister, I applaud you for talking about sustainable communities rather than just sustainable housing and affordable housing. I do agree with the point made by Leanne Wood, and she used a good example that we need to make sure that, yes, we do need new social housing, new affordable housing, but there needs to be sustainability around that. With that in mind, there is great pressure on local...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Cyclone Idai was the worst storm ever to strike the southern region of Africa, affecting Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe, leaving behind a trail of destruction and broken lives. The storm has created an inland ocean in Mozambique the size of Luxembourg. It has killed 700 people and affected around 3 million more. That's almost the same as the population of Wales....
Nick Ramsay: Will you give way?
Nick Ramsay: Thanks for giving way. I don't disagree with you, and we wouldn't disagree with you, that any review of the funding formula would have to take all those factors into account, and maybe in some areas it would be decided that amounts of money going to seats like yours, it's right that that should happen, but at the same time we believe that issues such as sparsity in rural areas like Russ...
Nick Ramsay: Can I make an intervention?
Nick Ramsay: Would you also accept that people don't understand either that because council tax is a smaller proportion of the amount that is spent locally—say it's, I don't know, 15 or 20 per cent, whatever it might be—a 1 per cent reduction in the RSG going to a local authority will actually result in a disproportionate increase in that council tax of 5 to 10 per cent?
Nick Ramsay: 5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the future of NHS services at Nevill Hall Hospital in Abergavenny? OAQ53716
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, First Minister. As you know, I attended the topping out of the new critical care centre in Llanfrechfa last week. You mentioned Gwent clinical futures. That new critical care centre at Llanfrechfa only works as the top of the Gwent clinical futures pyramid, with general hospitals operating, such as Nevill Hall, at the second level, and community services as the base level—at...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Llywydd. Finance Minister, the Federation of Small Businesses report on creating a new tax system in Wales has highlighted some concerning facts about the lack of awareness on devolved taxes. Perhaps most shockingly, their August 2018 survey found that 66 per cent of FSB members said that they were not aware of devolved taxes when questioned, with some stating that there'd been little...
Nick Ramsay: I resisted the temptation to say it was a momentous week in Welsh taxation because we tend to say that during every set of questions with all the changes that have been happening with devolved taxation over the last months and, indeed, the preparations over longer. When he was the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, the First Minister said that he was sceptical about the extent to which taxation...
Nick Ramsay: My colleague on the Finance Committee, Mike Hedges, is always keen to point out the cyclical nature of LTT and property transactions, and what you've just said about it being early days and having had exceptional years is certainly something that we've looked at on the Finance Committee. I welcome what you said, that people buying properties at the lower end should have less of a tax burden....
Nick Ramsay: Minister, we know that local government pension schemes have invested in a huge range of companies, including fossil fuel companies as well. We know the sort of pressures that local government pension schemes are under and look like they will continue to be under, so it's not just a question of what the Welsh Government is going to invest or disinvest in. What advice are you giving to local...
Nick Ramsay: I think I'm fast becoming my party's Africa champion, Minister. I seem to always be asking you about Africa or Love Zimbabwe in my questions to you. Can I concur with the comments that John Griffiths has just made? As you know, I do have links with the Love Zimbabwe charity, which has strong links with the town of Abergavenny. As I told you last week, Martha Holman, one of the volunteers, has...
Nick Ramsay: 'On time, within budget, and in a successful manner.' It's not always that we hear those descriptions of projects. This was very—. I don't have much to add, actually, to what the Chair of the committee has said. This was a very interesting inquiry to be involved in. Can I also thank the witnesses who came before the inquiry? We've managed to deliver, I think, a very efficient and timely...
Nick Ramsay: Can I firstly concur with the comments made by Joyce Watson and the Minister regarding the netting of trees? I first became aware of this over the last few weeks, and it does seem to be a cynical circumventing of the rules. It's not what the rules did intend originally, and I do hope the Welsh Government will look at it, and I'm happy to support that campaign, Trefnydd. On a lighter, more...
Nick Ramsay: As you said, Minister, we need to ensure that funding reaches the front line. To be fair, programmes such as twenty-first century schools have provided much-needed funding for local authorities to improve school buildings and other aspects of school life, but, of course, that doesn't help the revenue situation of existing schools, particularly when they don't always tick the right funding...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Rightly, the announcement of the arrival of Pinewood in Cardiff in 2014 was met with excitement and anticipation that such a world-renowned brand was coming to Wales and could bring an estimated £90 million to the Welsh economy and boost the Welsh film industry on an international level. Pinewood’s arrival offered opportunity and hope but, just four years later, the...
