Jenny Rathbone: I wonder if you could just clarify: does the UK Government do a children's rights impact assessment when it's looking at its budget?
Jenny Rathbone: 2. What is the Welsh Government doing to help schools drive up attendance rates amongst the most disadvantaged pupils following the publication of the latest Estyn report? OQ57323
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Minister. I found one of the most significant statements in Estyn’s annual report was that nearly all school leaders have prioritised the well-being of their staff and pupils over their own. And I fully understand that headteachers and staff with safeguarding responsibilities are carrying a very heavy burden about the well-being of pupils, particularly those who have yet to...
Jenny Rathbone: —from the police that there's been a huge rise in domestic violence, a huge rise in the number of children being pulled into county lines or other forms of exploitation, which were exacerbated by lockdown. So, do you agree with me that, whilst numerically small, every unexplained absence from school, particularly if they've not been in school since lockdown, constitutes a major cause for...
Jenny Rathbone: I note in Estyn's annual report that Ceredigion had very interesting outreach work with home-educated students, which enabled a lot of those children to be reintegrated into schools. I'm very pleased that you're giving additional money to family support services for this really, really difficult subject, but I also just wanted to highlight the fact that Arthur Labinjo-Hughes was not in school...
Jenny Rathbone: I'm very pleased to hear that you have faith in the new chief executive and the chair, but I just wondered if you would reflect on whether or not it is helpful to them, to improve the services that need to be improved in north Wales, by your shouting about things that occurred somewhere between six to eight years ago, when I have no doubt that the Welsh Government is working very closely with...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much. Thank you very much for mentioning these people who are unable to turn on the cooker, because that’s something that I was told about when I visited the Building Communities Trust project up in Trowbridge and St Mellons recently—that some people are having to spend so much money on heating their damp homes that they don’t have enough money to pay for the cooker....
Jenny Rathbone: I will bring my contribution to a close. This is a complex problem and there's a great deal more that we need to do, but at least feeding children in schools—all children—is going to at least ensure all children are properly fed.
Jenny Rathbone: 3. What discussions has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government regarding waiving the patents of COVID vaccines? OQ57377
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you. First, I'd like to refer Members and the public to my declared shares that I still have in AstraZeneca, although not for much longer. I'm disappointed that neither AstraZeneca nor Pfizer have responded to my request for an explanation as to why, in the middle of a global pandemic, these multinational drug companies haven't waived their patents on these life-saving vaccines. There...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Minister, for your statement. Neither of us is likely to be around to be scrutinised by 2050, so—. Even your 2035 target for improving the healthy behaviours of young people is 13 years away. So, I'd like to ask you to expand a little bit on how we're going to get nine out of 10 children adopting two or more healthy behaviours. I appreciate that free school meals for all primary...
Jenny Rathbone: —it's the beginning of the debate, but, I think, if you can say a bit more on how we're going to really improve the health and well-being of young people that would be helpful.
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Llywydd. Minister, I know you're aware of my enthusiasm for tightening Part L of the building regulations so that all new buildings are fit for purpose in our climate-threatened world. It's the biggest investment that most people ever make, and they really don't deserve developers dumping hidden costs onto them and encouraging them to buy buildings that aren't fit for purpose in...
Jenny Rathbone: I respectfully disagree with Darren Millar. I think it's really, really terrible for children's rights if they don't know what's happening to them when they're going through puberty. Why is it that so many girls have no idea what is going to happen to them when they start their period? And that is just shocking, and very frightening and unnecessarily slow. And we really do live in the worst...
Jenny Rathbone: 8. What assessment has the Minister made of how well local authorities have embraced public services boards as a way of making service delivery more efficient? OQ57376
Jenny Rathbone: Obviously, it's a key plank of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to ensure that all public services named in the Act are collaborating together in order to eliminate duplication. And I've just heard you tell Peter Fox that, once we disregard the additional money we've got for COVID, which is obviously a very special set of challenges, the UK Government is actually planning...
Jenny Rathbone: I just wanted to pick up on what you said earlier about the scale of the infection rate and the strain it's going to be putting on public services just because of sickness absences. I've managed to get around all the care homes in Cardiff Central just to thank them for the fantastic dedication they have to looking after our vulnerable citizens and also to highlight the role they're playing in...
Jenny Rathbone: 6. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the most equitable way of assessing the quality of learning at the end of key stage 4 and key stage 5 in light of the latest wave of COVID-19? OQ57434
Jenny Rathbone: Well, that money is very welcome. Yesterday, I had an e-mail from a very anxious young lady about the possibility of having to sit exams after having had so many of her lessons delivered by supply teachers rather than the normal subject teachers. Clearly, with the rise of COVID again, it's beyond the control and best efforts of school leaders and learners to be able to ensure that they're...
Jenny Rathbone: I'm delighted to hear, Trefnydd, that we are going to have a debate next week on cervical cancer, which happens to be Cervical Cancer Awareness Week, so great timing. Thank you very much. I just wanted to ask for a statement from the economy Minister about the way in which the extra £120 million he announced in December to cope with the restrictions that have had to be imposed as a result of...
