Jenny Rathbone: The Wales Bill is currently in the Committee Stage in the House of Lords, and, in its current form, it would devolve energy planning powers to Wales for all generation projects up to 350 MW, and that is very welcome because, unlike Neil Hamilton, I’m sure we’re both aware that there are many, many opportunities for the economy of south-east Wales and elsewhere. There have been some...
Jenny Rathbone: It’s very interesting to hear the explanation of Andrew R.T. Davies about the work he’s doing in this area. As Huw Irranca-Davies and Andrew have pointed out, it is a way of maximising yield without the use of chemicals, and intelligently harnessing the power of nature. According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, food production must increase by 60 per cent...
Jenny Rathbone: 5. In light of the measures announced in the Autumn Statement, will the Welsh Government consider joining England and Scotland in banning letting agency fees? OAQ(5)0306(FM)
Jenny Rathbone: The leader of Plaid Cymru has already stolen my question, but I’ll ask it for the record anyway. In light of the measures announced in the autumn statement, will the Welsh Government consider joining England—
Jenny Rathbone: Just to put some details on the bones of that issue, I’ve got information that Citizens Advice says the average tenancy fee is £337, Shelter says that 15 per cent of renters are using an agency where they’ve had to pay up £500 or more, and tenants in Cardiff have said that fees are around £450. Too many agents, certainly operating in my constituency, are charging exploitative levels of...
Jenny Rathbone: I very much welcome the proposals to tackle tax evasion, because it’s obvious that that is one of the things that people will do. Residents around Wedal Road disposal site report commercial operators giving residents a tenner to dispose of commercial waste to avoid them having to do that. So, I suppose my question on that one is: will the resident who accepts the tenner—who therefore...
Jenny Rathbone: I, too, think this is a really excellent report, because it sets out so clearly the challenges that we face in Wales, not just within the health service, but across all public services. So, I really would like to congratulate the authors on it, as I think it provides loads of food for thought. It's perfectly clear from this report that the NHS can't tackle health inequality on its own, and...
Jenny Rathbone: This Saturday, as part of Small Business Saturday, I’ll be visiting a range of small businesses that enrich my constituency, starting with the Headmistress hairdresser at the Maelfa shopping centre in Llanedeyrn, celebrating 40 years cutting and shaping the hair of local residents. I’m sure that, during that time, she has listened to all the achievements and disappointments, including the...
Jenny Rathbone: Okay, I understand that. But there is also a further fund to assist with transition where businesses have seen a rate rise. We have to remember that the valuation office is an independent body, as is highlighted in amendment 1. It is independent of both Welsh Government and the UK Government. While some rateable values have increased, overall they have fallen as part of this revaluation....
Jenny Rathbone: I’m also very proud of the work that’s done to regenerate town centres through Vibrant and Viable Places—£110 million to bring town centres back to life, since 2014 up until next year—new affordable housing, upgraded community facilities, creating jobs, supporting people into work and securing additional investment, mainly through the EU. Car parking—I just want to highlight the...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much for that. Just to point out that the whole purpose of raising the money from parking charges is to give councils the money to introduce safer roads for cyclists and pedestrians. That’s an important source of revenue, otherwise we won’t be able to make advances.
Jenny Rathbone: As the scheme is entirely aligned with prudent healthcare, I wonder why it’s taking so long to implement. Where is the resistance coming from, and what are the ways in which the Welsh Government can get over them?
Jenny Rathbone: Diolch, Lywydd. One quarter of the adult population in Wales is obese, and nearly 60 per cent are overweight: a combination of too much alcohol, too little exercise and too much food laden with fat, sugar and salt. The consequences are serious in terms of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and many cancers. These three conditions are the overwhelming causes of early death and they threaten to...
Jenny Rathbone: We’re in the grips of an obesogenic culture and we need to act now. Treating people wo have life-threatening levels of obesity is extremely difficult and complex. We must focus on prevention. And unfortunately and tragically, this is not just an adult disease. Over a quarter of our four and five-year-olds in Wales are overweight or obese, and that compares badly with 22 per cent in England....
Jenny Rathbone: The people who suffer most from these letting agency charges are those who would, in the past, have been housed in council or housing association properties. It’s the shortage of social housing as a result of the right-to-buy legislation and the failure to replace those homes with new homes that has driven people eligible for employment support allowance into the private rented sector....
Jenny Rathbone: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on the pace of change needed for transforming rail services in Wales? OAQ(5)0341(FM)
Jenny Rathbone: Given that Network Rail has said that it’s going to take 28 years to bring the rail industry up to the standard required in Wales, which seems to me much too long in the light of the discourse we had about road congestion earlier on, I’m pleased to hear you mention the importance of light rail in that context. Looking at the south Wales metro, I just want to look at how light rail can run...
Jenny Rathbone: One of the hotspots for air pollution is in Cardiff, so I’m very keen to find out exactly what monitoring the Welsh Government is doing of the levels of air quality in the Cardiff urban area. How confident are you that you will manage to satisfy Mr Justice Garnham by the end of April that you are able to take measures to deal with the illegal levels of air pollution that we are suffering?
Jenny Rathbone: Diolch. I am grateful to Plaid Cymru for raising this issue, because I think it’s an extremely important one. I want to talk about two changes in the law that are likely to make the problem worse, not better: one is the universal credit and the other is the new immigration rules. I fully acknowledge, as indeed has Bethan Jenkins, that the Welsh Government has made supporting communities and...
Jenny Rathbone: [Continues.]—the UK Government implements section 42, I assume it will then fall on local authorities to accommodate those children under the UN convention on the rights of children, unless, of course, they too fall under the section 42 exclusions from the right to rent. It would be useful to have the Government’s guidance on this matter, as there’s a huge burden, potentially, on local...
