Andrew RT Davies: ...of the south Wales programme when it talks about delivering services for this particular part of the community that I represent as a regional member for South Wales Central. The Royal Glamorgan is not an old hospital; it’s a relatively new hospital. The surrounding area is expanding rapidly. I’ve heard the Member for Pontypridd talk of about 20,000 new houses being erected in that...
Helen Mary Jones: ...I think it's very important, as we move forward, that any package of business support can be really easily and effectively passed on to them. The fact that there'll be earlier access to sick pay is not going to solve the problem for people who are self-isolating not because they're ill but because somebody else is, and it certainly isn't going to solve the problem for somebody who's not...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm pleased to rise to take part in this important debate. In his contribution to this debate, Paul Davies twice used the word 'draconian', and this is a draconian measure; we cannot pretend it's anything else. I’m sure that most of us in this Chamber will not be supporting it with a light heart. We would have loved to see our fellow citizens comply with what they were being asked and...
Helen Mary Jones: ...'s statement about people with motor neurone disease who seem to have been missed altogether. Can I ask the Minister what would be the best way for us to proceed, as Members, if we are receiving representations—as Lynne Neagle has, and I have, and many of us—from constituents who are still being told as customers of supermarkets that they can't use the slots or that they haven't got...
Lesley Griffiths: ...raise about crops in the ground is very important, and I referred before to the thousands of people who come—you know, seasonal agricultural workers—and clearly that's a very big issue. It's not just about the horticultural part of agriculture; it's the other people who come and help us in sheep shearing, for instance. That's another area that's been raised. So, I meet weekly with the...
Mick Antoniw: ...legislation. Now, many of the powers taken are justifiable, but we were concerned to hear the Minister say that many of them allow the Welsh Ministers to respond to future circumstances that could not yet be foreseen. So, we do not consider it appropriate for the Welsh Government to take powers to deliver policy that has not yet been fully developed or foreseen. We consider this to be a...
Mark Isherwood: ...and hours of deliberation by committee members. The Bill provides that each principal council may decide for itself on the voting system to use, whether first-past-the-post or proportional representation using the single transferrable vote. However, 33 out of 35 respondents to its White Paper consultation disagreed and preferred to keep one voting system for the whole of Wales. Further, as...
Mark Isherwood: 'the majority of the evidence received oppose the provisions that allow principal councils to choose their own voting system.' The regulatory impact assessment also notes that an additional cost would be incurred should a principal council opt to change its voting system, but that these costs are currently unknown. It is therefore deeply concerning that the Minister rejected the committee...
Ken Skates: ...number of fraudulent cases, it made sense to apply the VAT criteria, but we were very clear when we launched ERF phase 1 that we were also looking at how we can assist in phase 2 those who are not VAT registered, and we will do that with the second phase. But I would want to make sure that we avoid widespread and significant fraud, because every £10,000 grant that goes to a fraudulent...
Mick Antoniw: ...and the reduced income, for example, as a result of leisure centres being closed. Local government is a critical front-line service that has, once again, stepped up. Rhondda Cynon Taf's response, not only during the pandemic, but during the flooding earlier this year, has been magnificent, and I want to congratulate the council and its leader, Andrew Morgan, and all the workers in Rhondda...
Mark Drakeford: ...95 million we've had in consequentials from the UK Government for the same purposes in England. We are working with the WLGA who, together with the Local Government Association, are jointly making representations to the UK Government for further funding to take account of the lost income issue—a very serious issue for local authorities—and we as a Welsh Government are playing our part...
Mark Drakeford: First of all, Llywydd, to assure the Member that individuals who have already received help will be able to retain the help that they have received; we're not looking to claw it back from them. We have changed the advice to local government about self-catering accommodation because of the representations we received from local authorities in Wales, including her own Conservative-led Conwy,...
Vaughan Gething: ...Ministers do then have a final form of advice about what that will look at in each of its aspects. I think the idea that Ministers are rejecting the advice that they're receiving on this issue is not to give a fair or accurate representation of what's being done. That draft report is being worked through, as you would expect it to be, with partners in the health service, local government...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: .... And the problem is that it looks like it's going to be a long-term issue, if you think about social distancing and the practical issues of getting people into hotels, of serving food—this is not going to be a quick fix by any means. And that's why we have been discussing in those COVID-19 meetings with those representatives—there are representatives, regional representatives, at...
Jeremy Miles: ...people who are isolated, and the speed, really, of our ability to introduce GP appointments online, over video, at scale. I think part of the challenge for all governments in the future, really, is not to unlearn that behaviour and to be able to make that kind of change into the future in, hopefully, more benign contexts, in more benign climates. But the point that you make is absolutely...
Mark Reckless: ...for Public Policy Research are all heavily represented, and I just wonder: is that accepted and intended, as a Government of the left, that you want to have advice externally with at least greater representation from people of a similar outlook? You spoke about the recovery document that was published on 24 April, and that seems to be driving, from what you say, a lot of what you're doing,...
Jeremy Miles: ..., which is really focused on recovery and the future, to make sure that those external reflections are fed directly into the work of the Government at large, really. And that will have a range of representation on it in the usual way. So, the objective is to make sure that policy development and planning for the future, as I mentioned to Darren Millar earlier, has a kind of common...
Rebecca Evans: ...worked with that sector, and I think that we've provided a settlement that does enable them to continue to do the vital work that they're doing at this moment. I haven't heard that the funding has not been sufficient for that, but certainly if Mark Isherwood has evidence or representations to make on that I'd be happy, of course, to listen to them. The funding that we announced very early...
Rebecca Evans: Yes, I'm happy to take that forward in terms of making those representations to secure Wales a fair share of any resource that goes towards the tourism industry. As I mentioned earlier, and as Helen Mary Jones has alluded to as well, it is a larger and more important part of our offer that we have here in Wales. Of course, whilst we're closed to tourists at the moment, we absolutely look...
Helen Mary Jones: ...delay has been necessary, which I do accept that it has been. Can he confirm that this slightly longer pause—I'm very pleased to hear, by the way, what he says about including businesses not able to pay VAT, but can he confirm that this slightly longer pause will enable him to give further consideration to some of the other missing businesses that he might be able to include where proof...
