Janet Finch-Saunders: Diolch, Lywydd. Assembly Members, I am blessed to represent a constituency that is home to Snowdonia national park, providing a unique visitor experience, a safe natural habitat for much of our nation’s rare flora and fauna, all whilst protecting and enhancing our natural beauty and cultural heritage, and its own local development plan. A fifth of the park is statutorily protected for its...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Member take an intervention?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Member take an intervention now, please?
Janet Finch-Saunders: I actually welcome the Cabinet Secretary’s final local government settlement for 2017-18, and we also welcome the commitment to a funding floor for local government settlements, as outlined in the programme for government. This, of course, complements the Barnett formula funding floor introduced by the UK Government and we hope that this will lead to some longer-term financial stability for...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. I appreciate you taking an intervention. You’ve heard so many times about the integration of health and social care. Moving forward, after the social care and well-being Act, nothing has changed. The amount of wasted resources at the moment, through bedblocking and delayed transfers, it’s just really unbelievable. I would ask you: which one of your Government Ministers is...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. We appreciate that trade unions are valuable institutions in British society, and that many dedicated trade unionists have a strong history of working hard to represent their members, campaigning for improved safety at work and providing support to their members where needed. However, it is only fair that the rights of unions are balanced equally with the rights...
Janet Finch-Saunders: [Continues.]—of being held to ransom by a small minority of union members who could disrupt the lives of millions of commuters, parents, workers and employers at short notice, and without clear support from the union’s members. Cabinet Secretary, if a teacher or a public service manager on high salaries—£40,000 or £50,000—strikes, many parents on much lower salaries are then...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m just trying to think whether I can find a nice poem about bins, but there we are. [Laughter.] Last September, and much against the wishes of my constituents, Conwy County Borough Council halved bin collections from fortnightly to monthly in some wards. Thousands of residents since have taken to signing online petitions and have taken to Facebook, on...
Janet Finch-Saunders: In reducing bin collections, my authority, though, now allows cherry-picking as to what items the company operating the local recycling and waste disposal centre will accept, often turning people away, with simply nowhere to dispose of their residual waste. Introducing the four-weekly scheme in Conwy, the cabinet member boasts of having surveyed and consulted with residents. Yes, they did...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I can assure the Member that I have very much consulted on this, as has my colleague Darren Millar. We will work to deter and prosecute those guilty of fly-tipping. Gwynedd and Blaenau Gwent have seen a 30 per cent increase in spend on tackling their fly-tipping problems, all as a result of reducing the frequency of collection services. Fly-tipping incidents of small van loads have risen by...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Can I just intervene quickly? Thank you.
Janet Finch-Saunders: I was very proud to be a member of Conwy County Borough Council and its cabinet, but I’m no longer a member of Conwy County Borough Council.
Janet Finch-Saunders: A tiny, further intervention—
Janet Finch-Saunders: A tiny intervention—
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the First Minister make a statement on the current special measures status of the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board?
Janet Finch-Saunders: First Minister, in the allocation of Welsh Government funding grants to our businesses and our organisations, one hopes that there are sufficient checks and monitoring process on the use of our taxpayers’ money. Now, questions have arisen recently over Kukd, Kancoat and the AWEMA scandal, and I am aware of £900,000 in north Wales where two directors of a bus company faced criminal action,...
Janet Finch-Saunders: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the potential economic benefits of a north Wales tidal lagoon? OAQ(5)0114(EI)
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on current orthopaedic treatment waiting times in Wales?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, and I’m sure you would agree with me in welcoming the Hendry review, and the positive support therein for tidal lagoon developments across Wales. For us in north Wales, such a project would provide essential flood protection, deliver significant employment and economic inward investment opportunity, and contribute towards helping Wales to become a world leader...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Wales’s population is expected to increase dramatically over the next decade, with the number of elderly persons over the age of 85 expected to double. The suitability and practicality of our urban design, our housing and the transport connections of our towns and our cities to fit this demographic need must continue to evolve in line with growing need and greater expectation. Age Cymru...
