Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I seek your advice as much as anyone's as to whether Standing Orders can help us actually get the correct answers to questions in this Chamber. You will have heard my question was very specific to the First Minister about whether he'd received any comments about the behaviour of his staff from Leighton Andrews, to which he gave no reply—[Interruption.]
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you. I think we'll listen to the current Presiding Officer in these regards, if we may. In the last 15 minutes, Leighton Andrews has issued his own statement saying as follows: 'In November 2014, I told the First Minister face to face that I believed that the Code for Special Advisers had been broken. I asked him to carry out a formal investigation. He said he would.' He said he would....
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Cabinet Secretary give way?
Mr Simon Thomas: Just on that point, just for clarification around this adjustment, is that specifically an adjustment under the fiscal framework to take into account the impact of introducing this tax on an England-and-Wales basis, before you have a chance to adjust as regards the new devolved powers next April?
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Llywydd, and as the Cabinet Secretary for Finance has just outlined, this is the first time for us to look at the budget in this way—a new approach for the Government and a new approach to budget scrutiny as well—because the Wales Act 2014 introduced fiscal devolution to Wales, meaning that the role of the Assembly now is to hold the Government to account, not only for its...
Mr Simon Thomas: In light of the changes to the stamp duty rates announced by the UK Government, the Cabinet Secretary said that he would consider changes to the proposed rates in Wales. I was half thinking that we might have an announcement from him today, but not quite. We'll hear in due course, it seems. What is important is that we give appropriate scrutiny to the final recommendations by the Government....
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Plaid Cymru, in moving these amendments, isn’t opposing the original motion or most of what the Minister for Environment said in what I think is her first speech in the Chamber, given her new duties. But what we are trying to do is to put a focus on where we believe action is needed urgently in order to tackle the public health problem that is...
Mr Simon Thomas: So, I think, in really taking this seriously, we need to move from a world of plans and a world of ambitions to one of actual statutory delivery and one where we can hold the Government to account. There's no doubt that air pollution is all the environmental problems that have been described, but it's also a real public health problem. It's the second cause of premature death in Wales. It's...
Mr Simon Thomas: I welcome the fact that the Government has done exactly what the Cabinet Secretary has set out—has held an open debate on these new powers, and I welcome the fact that these powers are to be brought to us. Could the Cabinet Secretary confirm the timetable because in the past he’s told the Finance Committee and the Chamber that he will make a decision on the tax that will progress in the...
Mr Simon Thomas: To give a flavour of the scale and pace of change in this industry, about 16 years ago as a Member of Parliament, I remember opening the first cashpoint in Llandysul—I get all the glamourous jobs. Sixteen years ago, I opened the first cashpoint in Llandysul. I took out the first £10 from the first cashpoint in Llandysul. At that stage, there were four high-street banks in Llandysul, 16...
Mr Simon Thomas: I'm still uncertain as to what's happened here. Can you, Cabinet Secretary, just confirm that you did ask for these powers to be postponed, and for the implementation to be postponed? The only thing we've heard as an Assembly, officially to date, has been that all these powers come into force on 1 April next year. And last week, or it might have been the week before—apologies—I asked both...
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Member give way?
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. First of all, can I welcome what the Cabinet Secretary has just said on behalf of the Government. I understand why the Government might do that, but I want to see the freely expressed views of her backbenchers on this issue, because this is not a motion in favour of Catalan independence, or even in support of the Catalan Government. It's a motion...
Mr Simon Thomas: 6. Will the First Minister outline the schedule for the devolution of energy powers under the Wales Act 2017? OAQ51486
Mr Simon Thomas: Of course, the service will be devolved before too long and you will be responsible for the new franchise. As Arriva themselves have withdrawn from that process, what assurance can you give people in mid and west Wales, through me, that the current staffing investment will remain, in terms of the maintenance depot in Machynlleth, and the staff in stations across the rail network? I do know...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you for that response, First Minister. When Plaid Cymru voted against legislative consent for this Act, we said that we were doing so because we were losing powers as well as gaining powers. I remember you saying, and the Government saying, that it’s important that we did this because we would get these powers that you have just outlined on energy powers in Wales. Why, then, aren’t...
Mr Simon Thomas: And therefore they have rights.
Mr Simon Thomas: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the reasons why the starting threshold for land transaction tax will increase for the residential main rates when the tax is devolved in April 2018? 92
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on hospital services for Powys residents?
Mr Simon Thomas: Can I return to the case raised by Llyr Gruffydd earlier, on Dylan Seabridge and the lessons we need to learn from that experience? I'll just quote from the case review, which specifically said, 'It is possible that had the child been seen or spoken to by a childcare or health professional in the later stages of his life, they may have been alerted to the fact that he had some health issues...
