Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, I wonder if you'd give way on that.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, you will know that the co-operative Senedd group, actually, produced a report on this within the last two years and, indeed, it very much supported that grass-roots, co-operative approach to developing a stronger food network, where, indeed, there were local food networks, where primary producers, as well as co-operative producers, as well grass-roots organisations, could be part of...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. In this debate, I will set out the urgent need to produce a Government-backed and co-funded scheme to remediate the sub-standard installation of external and some internal wall cladding to homes in Caerau in my constituency under the 2012-13 community energy savings programme/Arbed 1 programme, and to make good the damage done to people's homes and lives. This is an...
Huw Irranca-Davies: The report highlighted that Wales has some of the oldest and least efficient housing in western Europe, and that around one in eight of Welsh homes is in fuel poverty. It noted further that Citizens Advice reports that more than 66,000 households in Wales have fallen behind on their energy bills since the start of the pandemic, and that disabled people are four times more likely to be in...
Huw Irranca-Davies: So, Minister, the Welsh Government guidance that I refer to is aimed at correcting previous mistakes by strengthening guidance on the use and commissioning of retrofit energy efficiency measures. It's very, very welcome. But, it carries an implicit recognition that things have been going wrong, even if the majority of installations across Wales have gone well. And, it comes as little comfort...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Sorry, Minister, I just wanted to give you the opportunity, before you finish, just to scope out what sort of timescale we might be looking at in terms of any final budget deliberations, whichever way they go, and hoping that the UK Government will actually step up on this, but also a rough timescale—I know that she can't say it to an absolute date—of when she might be likely to make a...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank the Minister for the statement today, and I'll be supporting these. These are difficult decisions, but we have to acknowledge as well that they are temporary but emergency measures, and their purpose is not only to protect public health, but also, indeed, to try and keep businesses open with the minimum of measures that will protect the public health not only of their customers, but...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I genuinely do appreciate the point that has just been made by Russell that, sometimes, these are finely balanced and they're taken in the round of a range of measures. But my point would simply be, Russell and Minister, that if it's a fine balance, that fine balance should be then exercised in the interests of public health and safety, and avoiding what we're seeing happening now on the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much, Llywydd. We reported on the memorandum last week. We also reported on the Valuation for Rating (Wales) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021, which are also relevant to this afternoon’s debate.
Huw Irranca-Davies: My thanks, at the opening, to my fellow committee members, and our clerking team as well, for their diligence and scrutiny. We may be few, but we are mighty in our deliberations. Llywydd, the memorandum that was laid before the Senedd was, in our view, poorly drafted. The Bill that was originally introduced to the UK Parliament was indeed an England-only Bill, and the Minister petitioned the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Llywydd, thank you very much. A brief intervention, Minister. We will check the records of correspondence and whether the questions have been answered or not, and we’ll get back to you. If it’s an error on our part, we’ll take that on the chin, but we want to check that and come back so that the record is accurate. But we take the points made by the Minister, and, Llywydd, for accuracy...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much, Llywydd. We considered the Welsh Government’s memoranda in relation to the Armed Forces Bill in September. In doing so, we noted that our predecessor committee in the fifth Senedd had scrutinised the Bill. Our report drew two conclusions and made one recommendation, and I thank the Deputy Minister for responding to our report ahead of this afternoon’s debate.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Again, my thanks to my committee colleagues and our clerks and the support team for their work on this as well. Now, as the Deputy Minister has set out, clause 8 of the Bill makes provisions relating to the armed forces covenant by amending the Armed Forces Act 2016, and we noted the Welsh Government’s assessment that clause 8 of the Bill requires the Senedd’s consent. We were...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Our committee welcomes today’s debate and the Welsh Government’s commitment to schedule debates on future annual reports by the president of Welsh Tribunals. We look forward to seeing this debate become a routine part of Senedd business.
Huw Irranca-Davies: I only have a few short comments today, but I would join indeed the Minister and Counsel General in his comments on the record on Sir Wyn, and also the future work of Sir Wyn as well. I think we are blessed in having people such as him, of his calibre, to actually guide some of this work in Wales. On 1 November, as the Minister has said, the president of Welsh Tribunals, Sir Wyn, attended our...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Can I really welcome the Minister's opening remarks in response to Russell's question on violence to women, and particularly in this White Ribbon Week, the need for men also to speak out against violence to women—I'm sure it's something that all Senedd Members here will want to do—and to commend the work that's been done by campaigners outside, but also inside the Senedd, by Joyce Watson,...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 3. What is the Welsh Government doing to help small businesses to grow in Ogmore? OQ57300
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Prif Weinidog. Over the whole of this month, in the lead up to Small Business Saturday, I and my good colleague Chris Elmore MP have been showcasing dozens upon dozens upon dozens of incredible, diverse businesses in manufacturing, construction, professional services, high-street retailers and more right across the length and breadth of the Ogmore consistency. We've been...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Just a few brief comments in welcoming the statement today, and recognising as well that many actions are being taken right now as we speak by Welsh Government and by other agencies to respond to the many findings and recommendations of the 'Locked out' report. But that's very much to the heart of what I want to ask the Minister. In the work that she is carrying out and the work that the...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I really welcome this debate today in the run-up to Small Business Saturday. Small Business Saturday—as has been remarked already, we should be celebrating the best of our businesses not just on one Saturday in the year but throughout the year, and urging people to use their small businesses, diverse and myriad as they are, every single day of the year. But, this does give an opportunity,...
