Dawn Bowden: Indeed.
Dawn Bowden: Thank you. I think my contribution is more to do with how we get women involved in the first place, but I take your point about the necessity to encourage as many women as possible to come forward and to be used to the kind of rough and tumble of local authority contributions et cetera. But I think it is fair to say that political parties have a role to play in all of this. We’ve already...
Dawn Bowden: Apologies, Cabinet Secretary, for my inappropriate intervention. I will learn how this process works in due course. I think, to a degree, you’ve probably answered my question, but you’ll be aware from discussions in correspondence that we’ve previously had that I’ve talked to you about a number of schemes within my constituency that are playing an important role in engaging young...
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this very important debate? I think most of the points that I wanted to cover have now been dealt with. So, I’m going to confine my contribution to this particular debate to the part of the motion that deals specifically with community hospitals and, in particular, the importance of developing the integration agenda. I guess, like me, everybody...
Dawn Bowden: I totally understand and agree with that. When moving services or closing hospital services, there need to be services in place before other services are closed. I think the point I’m trying to make is that we shouldn’t use the closure of community hospitals, and oppose the closure of community hospitals, just because the community wants to oppose that, because I think everybody wants to...
Dawn Bowden: When I spoke in this Chamber a few days after the referendum vote, I expressed huge disappointment at the result, but added that we had to accept the outcome and that’s still my position. And that is despite the fact that 62 per cent of voters in Merthyr Tydfil either voted to remain or didn’t vote at all. Unfortunately, the trade union ballot threshold didn’t apply in the referendum,...
Dawn Bowden: Can I first of all thank Lynne Neagle for presenting the report and the committee for the work that they’ve done? It was clearly a very wide-ranging inquiry and the contributions here today, I think, setting out the work that’s been done have been quite exemplary, so thanks everybody for that. In many respects, I guess the whole thrust of the report is probably neatly summed up by the...
Dawn Bowden: And I’m sure that there are examples of that, and I don’t doubt what the Member is saying, but I think, as a general rule, if you keep starving a service of funds, then inevitably it begins to impact, and I would say that there are more examples of the opposite than the kind of examples that the Member refers to. But it is about local authorities having to prioritise, and there’s no...
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement? What I would say at the outset is that I do understand the Government’s position on Communities First, and your concern that, of itself, it hasn’t achieved its ambition to lift people out of poverty. In some areas, it really hasn’t delivered at all. As you recognised in your statement, I think it’s probably difficult to imagine...
Dawn Bowden: 3. What representations has the Counsel General made to the UK Government regarding the legal status of EU citizens in Wales? OAQ(5)0024(CG)
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank you, Counsel General, for your response? Last week, in this Chamber, I made reference to a specific case of the uncertainty facing a family of German nationals settled in Wales over the lack of clarity from the UK Government over the position of EU nationals living in this country. As we know, it’s not just the personal impact that the uncertainty has on thousands of families...
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank the committee Chair, John Griffiths, for bringing forward this report, and the committee for the work that they’ve done on delivering it? As Rhianon Passmore said, I think we should probably remind ourselves at the outset that this Act was a groundbreaking piece of legislation, moving into new territory where no other legislature in the UK had gone. It was therefore always...
Dawn Bowden: Can I also say I’m very pleased to be able to speak in this debate, and thank Hannah for bringing forward the motion—and the support from other Members? In the previous debate, a number of Members spoke on the importance of education in raising awareness among young people on the issue of gender-based violence. Well, the role of education in tackling prejudice and bullying around LGBT...
Dawn Bowden: 3. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for start-up businesses? OAQ(5)0479(FM)
Dawn Bowden: Thank you for your response, Cabinet Secretary. Last week, I met with representatives from Merthyr county borough council and Tydfil Training to talk about the support that they give to new businesses starting up in the Merthyr area, in particular their town centre enterprise development initiative, operating at the Merthyr Tydfil enterprise centre. One of their successes is the meanwhile use...
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement? Can I also say that I very much welcome this report, which identifies, I think, the real benefits that have accrued from the new emergency services model? I have only one question to ask, which I will come to when I’ve made a few comments that I do actually feel need to be recorded, because it wasn’t so long ago that I was a Unison...
Dawn Bowden: Diolch, Lywydd. They sought to shamelessly use the ambulance service as a political football and, as you indicated, Cabinet Secretary, continued to criticise when the clinical model pilot was actually proposed by Welsh Government. Working closely with those ambulance professionals, who were daily having to bat away largely unfounded criticisms, I could see that this was denting their...
Dawn Bowden: [Continues.]—and had the courage to take the decision to move towards a clinically led response model. My question to you, Cabinet Secretary—[Laughter.]—is do you agree with me that what this report highlights is the importance of ensuring that we listen to the voice of front-line staff when formulating policy, and it’s a great example of the benefits of the partnership approach...
Dawn Bowden: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on cancer screening services in Wales? OAQ(5)0134(HWS)
Dawn Bowden: Thank you, Minister, for that response. I’d just like to specifically refer to cervical screening, if I may. I think we all agree on the benefits of early diagnosis of cancer wherever possible, but this also raises the question of the appropriate age at which certain screening should start. I don’t know whether I’m alone in being approached by constituents calling for cervical screening...
