John Griffiths: Diolch, Prif Weinidog. I think, Prif Weinidog, that if we are to effectively tackle the climate emergency, we must properly protect areas such as the Gwent levels, and I thank you very much for your commitment, and indeed your colleague Julie James's commitment, to those levels, and indeed I've been very pleased to chair the Gwent levels working group. Would you agree with me, First Minister,...
John Griffiths: 5. How is the Welsh Government working with media outlets to promote Welsh-based journalism? OQ58153
John Griffiths: First Minister, last week was the 130-year anniversary of the South Wales Argus, a paper that's long been rooted in our local communities. As with many local people, the South Wales Argus was always in my house when I was growing up, and in fact, in my early teens I delivered the South Wales Argus on my bike as a paperboy. And now, of course, as a Member of the Senedd, it's still a vital...
John Griffiths: Minister, I was very grateful for your meeting with Urban Circle, a grass-roots arts and cultural organisation in Newport who do a great deal of good work in the community around music, dance and culture to bring communities together and to support diversity and equality. Just this summer now, as you would know from our meeting, they're taking forward a very ambitious programme to have a...
John Griffiths: I would like to start by paying tribute, as others have, to the committee, to Huw and his colleagues, to Mark Drakeford for his leadership and the way he's driven this forward, working in partnership with Adam Price and Plaid Cymru, but also to pay tribute to all of those who campaigned for a parliament for Wales for so many years—generations who had that as an objective, as an ideal,...
John Griffiths: There is further progress to be made, Andrew, but, come on, if you look at the diversity on the Labour benches now and throughout the history of devolution and compare it to your benches now and before, there's absolutely no comparison. [Interruption.] Darren, there's no point labouring the point, just look to your own performance and your own party, organisations and structures. Dirprwy...
John Griffiths: Minister, thank you very much for your statement today, but also thank you very much for your commitment and Welsh Government's commitment to taking forward protection and sustainability for the Gwent levels. As you know, a great deal of good work has already happened through the Living Levels partnership, and we really need to build on that through a body that can take forward that work, and...
John Griffiths: Okay. Diolch yn fawr.
John Griffiths: 3. Will the Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government's work to increase access to primary care services in south-east Wales? OQ58184
John Griffiths: Minister, in the Severnside area of my constituency of Newport East, we've seen a great deal of growth in housing over recent years, in the Magor, Rogiet, Undy and Caldicot areas and around, but we haven't seen the sort of growth in primary care services that would reflect that increased population. And many people in those areas now feel that they're not sufficiently served by GPs and...
John Griffiths: What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of social class on life chances in Wales?
John Griffiths: Indeed. Thank you very much, Minister, for your statement and your work. I think Wales has made great strides in the way that we welcome asylum seekers and refugees here and look after them and provide the necessary services when they are in our country. It's very good to see, and I think the nation of sanctuary provides a very good framework and focus for that sort of work. Minister, Newport...
John Griffiths: Minister, thank you very much for your statement today. I just wanted to say a little bit about local authorities in Wales and the important role that they have, and ask if you would agree with me that Newport City Council are actually doing a lot of good things at the moment and making real progress on these issues. I know they're fully committed to supporting the Welsh Government's LGBTQ+...
John Griffiths: Will the Minister give an update on how the Welsh Government's discretionary cost-of-living support scheme is supporting local authorities to tackle the cost-of-living crisis?
John Griffiths: What are the Welsh Government's priorities for improving animal welfare in Wales?
John Griffiths: Diolch, Llywydd. Knowledge is power: education is a route out of poverty. Llywydd, Mike Hedges, Luke Fletcher and Laura Anne Jones will contribute to this short debate. Llywydd, on Pill library, there is a keystone at the top of the building that states that knowledge is power. I'm very pleased to say that having been born and brought up in Pill, now so ably represented as part of Newport...
John Griffiths: The power of education is very precious to me, Diprwy Lywydd, because my own route out of what I guess was relative poverty was through education and lifelong learning. I went to secondary school, Dirprwy Lywydd, but unfortunately didn't take any exams, and I was then for a period of time out of work with a young family, living on a council estate in Newport, and thinking about not just my...
John Griffiths: And we do note that there is a great need to provide whatever opportunities we can to allow people to help make Wales a more equal country. I was looking at the paper that Dr Mark Lang did for ColegauCymru that really was looking at these issues of social mobility and if current education provision in Wales supports that social mobility and adequately enables young people to secure a life of...
John Griffiths: As far as the new curriculum is concerned, this is seen as providing a very important opportunity to make the sort of progress we need to see in Wales. It's very exciting and has great potential. And of course, it's built on four purposes and aims to develop learners who are ambitious and capable, enterprising and creative, ethical and informed, and healthy and confident citizens. So, it's...
John Griffiths: I'm a strong supporter of 20 mph, and I do believe it's right that we turn on its head the current position, so that instead of 30 mph being the default limit and councils having to take forward exception orders in order to put 20 mph in place, 20 mph becomes the default limit and 30 mph would be the exception. I think it's very important for road safety, as we've heard, but also very...
