Caroline Jones: Thank you for the update, Minister, and my thoughts are with everyone affected. The fact that the independent review found that two thirds of the women affected would have had vastly different outcomes if only they had better care is a travesty, and this finding must place further stress on those affected, and I hope that those affected by this finding are receiving the additional support...
Caroline Jones: 3. What action is the Welsh Government taking to support the convention on biological diversity? OQ56228
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Minister. As the species champion for the fen raft spider, I'm acutely aware that Wales has experienced a startling decline in ecosystem resilience. I'm grateful that the Welsh Government have made commitments to tackle the decline in our biodiversity, but this is a growing issue worldwide, and needs legally binding targets to be set. The conference on the convention on biological...
Caroline Jones: I would like to thank the Welsh Conservatives for tabling this important debate, and of course we support the motion. Death is one of the only inevitabilities of life. Enabling each of us to die well is a hallmark of a compassionate society. Unfortunately, we haven't always provided the best end-of-life care, and this has been exacerbated by the arrival of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Last year, we...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Minister. I would like to, once again, thank all those who have made this enormous task possible and all those who will move heaven and earth to vaccinate us all in the coming months. I'm pleased to say that, last Thursday, in Margam, they had 100 per cent turnout, which is a tremendous result. In a few weeks, we will have delivered vaccines to all those in the...
Caroline Jones: While we agree with the sentiment behind Plaid's motion, we cannot support it. We do need to end child hunger, however, we will not do that by extending free school meals to all children, which is the logical conclusion of the motion before us. We have limited resources and they have to be targeted at those most in need. We will, therefore, be supporting the Welsh Government's amendment. I'm...
Caroline Jones: 8. What plans does the Welsh Government have to improve cancer diagnostics in light of the coronavirus pandemic? OQ56376
Caroline Jones: Thank you, First Minister. The tragic consequence of the measures to control the spread of COVID-19 has been the dramatic fall in the numbers of people with symptoms of cancer seeking treatment. The study conducted by Cancer Research UK found that almost half of people with potential cancer symptoms did not contact their GP during the first wave of the pandemic. Apart from reinforcing the...
Caroline Jones: I will be supporting the amendments in this group. The climate crisis and ecological emergency may be the biggest challenge facing us, but it is younger and future generations who will have to deal with the impact and the costs of our inaction to date. For future generations, the impact we have had on our climate and upon our ecosystems is not just an environmental issue. They will have to be...
Caroline Jones: It has been this part of the Bill that has given me the greatest concern. If the Bill had not removed the rights of parents to be able to remove their children from relationships and sexuality education lessons, I feel it would have had less opposition. I thought long and hard about tabling amendments to enable parents to remove their children from RSE lessons, but I was informed that such an...
Caroline Jones: Like RSE, the teaching of religion, values and ethics generated a large amount of correspondence from concerned parents, particularly from those whose children attend faith schools. Once again, the Welsh Government has ignored the wishes of parents who wanted to be able to remove their children from lessons that went against their religion, values and ethics. And it's not the job of the...
Caroline Jones: What steps is the Welsh Government taking to help small businesses in South Wales West to recover from the coronavirus pandemic?
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. I formally move the motion tabled in my name. From a young age, I learnt a valuable lesson—that bigger is not always better. I was perhaps 12 when my small community school was merged with a much bigger one. We lost the personal relationships with our teachers, becoming just another face in the sea of faces. Thankfully, back then, such mergers were rare, and community...
Caroline Jones: First Minister, whatever your plans for helping Welsh businesses, will you ensure that they are fair and equitable? I've previously raised the plight of high-street arcades, which your Government refuses to help. These businesses have suffered the same losses as other leisure businesses, and yet you are denying them any recourse to business support. Welsh Government will gladly collect their...
Caroline Jones: Whilst there are some aspects of the Welsh Government's budget that are welcome, such as the additional moneys for the NHS, overall there is much to dislike in this spending plan. One of my major concerns is regarding the lack of business support. The coronavirus pandemic has not just been a health crisis; it has been an economic disaster. Wales experienced the greatest increase of economic...
Caroline Jones: Minister, while it's vital that we decarbonise our energy and transport infrastructure as quickly as possible, it's also equally important that we don't create other problems in our bid to cut carbon emissions. While biomass is carbon neutral, it can also create problems with air quality due to increased release of particulates. The move to electric transport will both tackle rising carbon...
Caroline Jones: Minister, while your Government is on track to meet its affordable homes target for this Senedd term, do you accept that this target was woefully inadequate? I congratulate you for doing more than previous Welsh Governments, but I'm disappointed that you have failed to address the real need that exists for social housing. The new homes that have been built had been snapped up before the first...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the amendment tabled in my name. Before Christmas and for five weeks after, my husband was critically ill in hospital with coronavirus and he saw first-hand the stress on all NHS staff. We owe them a huge debt. We have discussed many times the need to recruit and train doctors and nurses from the local population, and here in Wales, this is doubly important, because of...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. I ask the public to listen to my contribution in its entirety, as David Rees has deliberately tried to misinterpret my contribution for his own political gain.
Caroline Jones: 3. What action is the Welsh Government taking to combat the rise in dog thefts in Wales? OQ56467
