Suzy Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Suzy Davies: You mentioned influencing decisions in other places as well, and I wonder whether you’d agree with me that there’s an option we should be considering as well for youth councils, sort of shadow councils, because, if we’re talking about young people not getting involved in politics at our level, really we need them involved at council level as well.
Suzy Davies: How companies and organisations engage with the Welsh Government, of course, and the transparency of those arrangements, is of course very important, but your own website states: ‘We aim to be open and responsive to the needs of citizens and communities’. With this in mind, what more do you think the Welsh Government can do, particularly with its consultations, to reach a wider and deeper...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Thank you, too, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement. I, too, am pleased to see the reference to existing research, although obviously work needs to be done on the back of that rather than just accepting it as it is. I was at a recent King’s Fund conference in London and I had the opportunity to engage with local authorities from different parts of England—there was...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Two questions, one of which is not unfamiliar to you. I mentioned in the last Assembly the possibility of you speaking to landlords in areas of oversupply of HMOs in order that they might be considering converting them into more permanent homes for one and two-bedroomed families, if I can call them that. I wonder if you could update me on progress on that. Secondly, Help to...
Suzy Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on dementia training in schools?
Suzy Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on dementia training in schools?
Suzy Davies: At the moment, the Welsh Government is investing in the region of £1.6 million in the sabbatical programme to enable teachers to develop their Welsh language skills. To date, the scheme has attracted fewer than 250 teachers. What was the target? Generally, is the cost of £6,400 per teacher good value for money, and has any one of those teachers moved to work in a Welsh-medium school?
Suzy Davies: Thank you, once again, Llywydd. The Mudiad Meithrin lost £470,000 last year, and is going to close its crèche in the Old Library centre in Cardiff because of a lack of take-up of the service. Now, at the same time, I hear from the staff of the ‘cylchoedd’ themselves that they receive less than the living wage on a practical level because they can’t complete all of their preparatory...
Suzy Davies: I’m delighted to hear that, and we also share your aim to develop the use of the Welsh language in daily life, even in areas that have traditionally been non-Welsh-speaking. A former Mudiad Meithrin worker has opened a bilingual bookshop in Caerphilly indoor market, where she hopes to develop coffee mornings, after school clubs and reading sessions to encourage the use of the language at a...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that response, too, but it’s not quite clear how much money will be provided to those two organisations. But I look forward to hearing more on that. Mae gwneud yr achos dros sicrhau bod sgiliau iaith Gymraeg yn fantais yn yr economi hefyd yn nod rydym yn ei rannu. Cynhelir Sadwrn y Busnesau Bach ymhen mis, ac wrth ei hyrwyddo i fusnesau yn Abertawe yr wythnos diwethaf, roedd...
Suzy Davies: The issue of language impact assessment would also have an effect on planning applications more generally. This question of training and guidance as to how to carry out these assessments is relevant to both sectors, I think. Can you explain who is responsible for planning the training and the guidance in this area, and if it is the Government, from which budget line is this cost met?
Suzy Davies: Will the First Minister make a statement on the investments that Finance Wales makes?
Suzy Davies: Some families freely choose home schooling while others feel they have no alternative because the alternatives to school education for a troubled child are limited. While the number of the latter has dropped, the number of the former has increased from over 1,000 five years ago to over 1,500 last year. What does that say about the confidence in our school education system that they choose to...
Suzy Davies: Can I thank you as well, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement today? We prefer statements in this Chamber, rather than written statements, particularly when we have matters that are, as you alluded to, rather controversial. I think we’re all proud of the institutions—you’re not unique in that—and I think we’re pretty proud, too, of the people who populate those institutions and...
Suzy Davies: 4. Will the Minister make a statement on the tourism investment support scheme? OAQ(5)0057(EI)
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for that update, Cabinet Secretary—I should’ve said that earlier. But, in 2012 the Government did give the Ruthin Castle Hotel £0.5 million, more than three times higher than any other TISS grant in that year, and just £5,000 of this has been recovered for the Welsh taxpayer after the company failed to meet the TISS criteria. I appreciate in this specific example...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Good afternoon, Minister. The draft budget shows a £3.6 million cut to direct social services funding. Where is that money going and, if it is still for social services purposes, how will I be able to find it in order to scrutinise how it’s spent?
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that answer. Obviously, we would support the final point that you made regarding the pension. But, effectively, what I’ve heard there is that I’m then to look for this money in wages. Perhaps you can tell me then—. You issued a statement last week, indicating that the recurrent transfer of £27 million a year from the UK Government to meet the cost of providing support to...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that answer. I don’t think I heard that the money was going to be ring-fenced for its original purpose and, from my point of view of as a scrutineer, I think it’s going to be difficult for me to follow the money. Perhaps I can move us on now. You may have heard, Minister, that, after court action for breaching statutory time limits, Swansea council faces further potential...