Joyce Watson: I'm pleased to be speaking in this hugely important debate today. We've heard about the number of diseases that are unique to women and also a whole host of other diseases that disproportionately impact women's health and well-being. One of the key focuses of the Welsh Government's 'A Healthier Wales: our Plan for Health and Social Care' is preventative healthcare, and a number of the...
Joyce Watson: I welcome, of course, this statement today. I want to focus particularly on three areas that I think are critical to any justice system. The first is ensuring the separation of the justice system from any political interference or influence. And, of course, that's playing out in Westminster, as we speak. That is hugely important if people are going to have faith in the system: first in...
Joyce Watson: 2. Will the Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government's cost-of-living financial support package? OQ58104
Joyce Watson: What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact the UK Government's Northern Ireland protocol Bill will have on the Welsh agri-food sector?
Joyce Watson: I thank you for you answer, Minister. The Welsh Government is of course using every tool in its box to put money back into people's pockets, but the UK Government doesn't seem to realise or care about the scale of the emergency my constituents and people up and down the country are facing. Do you agree with me that it should bring forward an emergency budget now, including a windfall tax on...
Joyce Watson: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I thank you for the statement today, Deputy Minister, and I want to completely dissociate myself from the comments of Joel James and his anti-trade-union stand, and accusing them of all sorts of unsubstantiated statements. I'm a proud member of a trade union myself. So, I do welcome this Bill. It is a key component of a wider push to make work in Wales much fairer, and...
Joyce Watson: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I'm really pleased to have an opportunity to speak on the statement today, and I really, really do welcome it. If we're going to look at—and this plan is—ending institutional racism and systemic racism, then we clearly have to tackle those institutions where we find the prevalence. Of course, that will be in education and it will also be in health. We've seen...
Joyce Watson: —about 'us', and that is all of us.
Joyce Watson: Minister, we're waiting to see what happens today with the scheduled flight of asylum seekers to Rwanda. But I would be grateful for a Welsh Government update on its discussion with the UK Government on this particular matter. The Counsel General provided a useful account last week, but it would be good to have an oral statement that Members might have an opportunity to speak to. It's an ugly...
Joyce Watson: I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome the appointment of the endometriosis clinical nurse specialist in Hywel Dda. Some 163,200 women in Wales live with this debilitating and painful condition, and 19,625 of those live in the Hywel Dda area. Endometriosis is a condition that often has gone undiagnosed for many years, and it's fantastic that each health board now has a nurse specialist...
Joyce Watson: May I thank Llyr and my committee colleagues for their work on this extremely important piece of work? From the conversations I have, and the correspondence I receive, I would suggest there is a growing public concern about the quality of our waterways. There's been a lot of media attention, rightly, on the Severn and Wye rivers, and the impact of pollution from chicken farms, for example. I...
Joyce Watson: Yes.
Joyce Watson: I would absolutely agree with that, because it's not just about the surface water that they create, but it's about the micro particles of plastic that will be going down the drain as well. So, I'd absolutely agree with you and you just caught me, because I was about to finish urging the Minister to be bold in her policies coming forward, which she has been in the past, so to be bolder than...
Joyce Watson: We now move on to item 3, a statement by the Minister for Social Justice: Refugee Week 2022: Healing. I call on the Minister for Social Justice, Jane Hutt.
Joyce Watson: John Griffiths. If I could have short questions and short answers, please, because we've got a long day ahead. Thank you.
Joyce Watson: Thank you.
Joyce Watson: I move on now to item 4, a statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership on Pride and progress on the LGBTQ+ action plan. Hannah Blythyn.
Joyce Watson: Thank you. Before we move to the Stage 3 debate on the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill, I will suspend proceedings for 10 minutes, in accordance with Standing Order 12.18. The bell will be rung five minutes before reconvening. Please, could all Members ensure they return promptly, so that voting preparations can take place?
Joyce Watson: What is the Welsh Government doing to raise pupils' attainment levels in Mid and West Wales?
Joyce Watson: We move on to item 3, topical questions. There were no topical questions accepted.
