Suzy Davies: I call on the Cabinet Secretary for Energy, Planning and Rural Affairs to reply to the debate.
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, and that brings today's proceedings to a close. Could I wish everyone a merry Christmas and a happy new year? Please enjoy.
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Minister. Good to see you're still here—that helps with continuity, I must admit. First of all, something that has actually become clearer from this statement today in terms of this assessment tool is something that's—and I think you used the word a couple of times—ongoing. Because one of my early concerns about this test, and I completely recognise that this isn't...
Suzy Davies: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on 21st Century Schools funding? OAQ53139
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I'm sure you're expecting me to return to the Western Mail report today, Minister, which I do. Darren Millar mentioned that school leaders are feeling exhausted and under threat and particularly 'unable to cope with impossible demands set from on high by a range of bureaucratic people'. After citing funding, which you probably would expect, and retention and...
Suzy Davies: Well, we wouldn't disagree with you on that, of course, because a similar academy was in our Welsh Conservatives manifesto, and we would like to see a very successful version of that providing the results that I hope we would all see. My question was: who is actually driving that? Is it going to be civil servants who design it or is it going to be teachers? You heard from me about the...
Suzy Davies: Well, I'm thinking that this should be an area of concern for you, then, because if the WLGA doesn't seem to understand what a teacher-designed system is going to look like, how on earth are they going to be able to help distribute the money that you're giving them now, through this ring-fenced system, to help encourage teachers to learn how to deliver a system that they themselves have...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for that summary, actually. You've previously told Mike Hedges that £34 million of the £51 million that went to Swansea under band A, for which—I just want to make this plain: I completely welcome that investment. But it showed that 66 per cent of the money that went into the Swansea city area went to Swansea East, and, actually, nothing at all went into Swansea West....
Suzy Davies: When we talk about housing generically in debates like this, I think it's quite easy to avoid the specifics of the types of housing that we need, where it's needed, and maybe even thinking about where we don't need it any more; we might want to change the use of some of our existing stock. I think it's also helpful to move away from this kind of whiff of goodies and baddies, which are...
Suzy Davies: Yes, very briefly, if that's okay.
Suzy Davies: Do you know what, Leanne? I don't have ideological obsessions, but I do think that our councils should have the ability to use the money that they raise from Right to Buy to build new houses, or indeed invest them in older housing stock that needs bringing up.
Suzy Davies: But I'm not interested in the past; I'm interested in the future. Can I just say, as well, incidentally, that Penyrenglyn is a really good example of where the community has taken control of housing use there? I mean, you know the estate that I'm talking about; Valleys Kids and their friends have made a huge difference to community housing there. So, that's the type of thing I would rather...
Suzy Davies: Will the First Minister make a statement on high street regeneration?
Suzy Davies: Thank you for the response to the question on this. Just a couple of questions from me, based on promises that you made back in 2016. At that point, when Ford was potentially in trouble at that stage, you said that Welsh Government would be prepared to invest in the plant, and I'm glad to hear you praise it yet again for the high level of commitment of the workforce there, but that you would...
Suzy Davies: Actually, I share Helen Mary's concerns about this, about the invisibility of things that might be being investigated there. So, time is marching on, so thank you for your answer on that. Since scrapping the cap on the number of Welsh students going to Welsh universities, do you know whether we have seen more Welsh students with the top grades now entering Welsh universities, or applying...
Suzy Davies: Well, of course, both the councils that David Rees mentioned are in different city regions, which are taking very different approaches to their future transport needs. So, how that would progress is really very interesting. But, in the short term, in March 20i8, you confirmed that you'd issued guidance to local authorities to commit no less than 5 per cent of their bus budget to community...
Suzy Davies: Counsel General, during a debate on the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee's report into its post-legislative scrutiny work on the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, a number of Members spoke out saying that healthy relationships should be part of the curriculum, with the now Deputy Minister for social services saying, 'that it’s...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. You will see that that's a very snappy title. Members will be relieved that the purpose of this brief debate is not to examine the policy intention of the Marine Environment (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2018 or, indeed, to really challenge the assertion of Welsh Government that it's appropriate for this Assembly to agree to this statutory instrument...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you for allowing me a couple of extra seconds on this. First of all, thank you very much to the Minister and to Dai Lloyd for their contributions. Part of having this debate was to give the Minister an opportunity to explain to us all quite what the volume of this work looks like, but that doesn't let Ministers off the hook either from giving us the fullest...
Suzy Davies: I thank the Minister very much for taking an intervention there. What I've just heard is about aspiration, and you've said that if your reforms don't work you'll consider legislation, but you need to see if the work that you're doing now embeds. Yet, you introduced the minimum alcohol pricing Bill and insisted it was necessary—that legislation was necessary—without any evidence to back up...
