Jenny Rathbone: First, I'd just like to associate myself with the concerns expressed by Nick Ramsay on e-vaping. It's interesting to note that Peter Black, who opposed the legislation on e-vaping that was presented by the then health Minister, now First Minister, to give it the same regulatory controls as smoking cigarettes—. So I'd be keen to understand clearly why the regulations in the UK protect us...
Jenny Rathbone: I'm not a lawyer, so I'm keen to understand why you decided to retain section 173 in its revised form when landlords still have section 21 to call on when they need to get rid of tenants who are destroying their property. That's No. 1, and then, secondly, because like others, I want an end to no-fault evictions, because, otherwise, private tenancies are simply not a viable alternative for...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you. One of the contingency plans mentioned in the Welsh Government’s statement published recently is on this potential disruption to chemicals that are used in the water industry. I wonder if you could tell us what discussions you've had with the UK Government on this and what discussions with Dŵr Cymru. Could you elaborate on what these chemicals are and why they can't be...
Jenny Rathbone: Will the Minister make a statement on the revised free swimming concession?
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you. I can't say I disagree with anything that the speakers have said so far and I think there is a huge measure of agreement on the emergency that faces us and the action needed. So, I hope that the Minister will in her response tell us why she thinks there are only 1,400 people in Wales dying of air pollution when the British Lung Foundation says it's 2,000, because that's quite a...
Jenny Rathbone: Will you take an intervention?
Jenny Rathbone: I'm just struggling to understand how you think it's a major issue, but you still resist 50 mph, which obviously reduces the amount of—
Jenny Rathbone: You could have everybody running around at 100 mph, but it would just increase the pollution, because there'd be even more vehicles.
Jenny Rathbone: I very much welcome the report because of the ambition it demonstrates, because it isn’t sufficient for us to just be third best in the world. We do need to move to a position of zero waste Wales. As we've seen in the last few days, young people going on strike—they are demanding that we do something serious to save the world from the climate emergency. So, we have to ensure that all our...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Deputy Minister, for your statement. It's good to know that we are making solid progress on delivering the offer that was in the manifesto. Co-location is incredibly important because otherwise there's a danger that people have to keep their child in a nursery that doesn't offer the early education that all three and four-year-olds are entitled to as well. So I'm particularly...
Jenny Rathbone: I think this is an important debate, and one that we are going to have to decide on when we legislate on the future franchise for Assembly and local government elections. So, this is not some airy-fairy matter; this is something that we are going to have to make decisions about. Frankly, if prisoners had the right to vote, politicians might pay more attention to the disgraceful conditions in...
Jenny Rathbone: —and expect them to come forward, with all the other issues they have. Everybody needs to be registered to vote. That is the law, and it is not being upheld in our prisons, and it's something that I hope the Minister might speak about in terms of ensuring that the Prison Service and the electoral registration officers are working to ensure that every single person entering the prison, even...
Jenny Rathbone: Will you take an intervention?
Jenny Rathbone: I just want to point out that, already, those with more than four-year sentences are already categorised separately by the Prison Service. So, this is something they already do.
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Minister, for your statement, which paints rather a grim picture. I just wanted to pick up on a couple of points. You say that the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has assured you there are no significant risks to the supply of electricity, gas or fuels. I wonder if I could probe that a bit further and ask on which basis are they giving that assurance. What...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you for all the information you've given us about extra money for community cohesion, for the social housing grant, and the First Minister has announced money for food banks. But I suppose, looking at all these statements in the round, I just wonder where all the money's coming from, because Philip Hammond laid aside £26.5 billion to deal with Brexit, but his successor, Sajid Javid,...
Jenny Rathbone: Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's role in developing the new Cardiff bus station?
Jenny Rathbone: We are in danger of comparing apples and pears. In my constituency, in the secondary schools serving my young people: 65 per cent of pupils at Llanishen High School got five As to Cs, including language and maths; 76 per cent at Bro Edern; 86 per cent at Cardiff High School. So, which one did better? Well, superficially, Cardiff High did, but what proportion of this school has special...
Jenny Rathbone: Yes.
Jenny Rathbone: I think we need to hear from the education Minister. I think it's very important that we have set what's called the level 2 plus benchmark—that we need all pupils to achieve five GCSEs where possible, including language and maths. I think that's absolutely right. You can see how, in previous years, when that wasn't the benchmark, there was less attention placed on the language and maths. I...
