Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for taking the intervention. You touched on what our constituents and viewers receive across the whole of Wales. One of the real concerns, irrespective of what we’re talking about here today, is the diminishing audience that BBC services are actually reaching across Wales, from current affairs to its news outlets to its radio outlets. Sadly, in both languages, their audiences are...
Andrew RT Davies: I was just saying, it was going so well and I had hoped that you would have supported the very sensible Conservative amendment that was put down in the name of Paul Davies.
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It’s a pleasure to move the motion on the order paper this afternoon in the name of Paul Davies. I had hoped that the First Minister would be here to respond to the debate. I presume it must be the leader of the house who is responding to the debate instead this afternoon. The motion on the order paper looks at the First Minister’s programme for...
Andrew RT Davies: The junior doctors are developing a seven-day NHS that will get rid of premature deaths on weekends, that will deliver a service that acute hospitals will deliver, and that will make sure that waiting times come down in England, because they’re already under what we have here in Wales. Just in case you haven’t caught up with the news, actually the courts have judged today that the UK...
Andrew RT Davies: I’m grateful to the Member for taking the intervention. Would the Member consider withdrawing his amendment tonight, because, obviously, I do take the point that you want to progress your alternative vision and obviously your programme for opposition, but by submitting your amendment the opposition will fragment and we will not be able to obviously cast a joined-up view to show our lack of...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you to the Member for Cardiff North for taking my intervention. I agree with you entirely: childcare is a really important offer that the Government can make and it’s something that all parties had an offer on the table for. You, obviously, were the biggest party, so your offer will be the one that you’ll be charged with delivering. But, this document doesn’t say how it’s going...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. It’s a pleasure to stand and respond to the First Minister in moving the debate. I formally move amendment 1 in the name of Paul Davies on the order paper today. It was only six days ago that we ourselves moved a motion about the programme for government, and obviously we spent some considerable time looking at that. The Government could only put up one...
Andrew RT Davies: Will you take an intervention on that?
Andrew RT Davies: I’m grateful to you for giving clarity that the Secretary will make a statement and hopefully give clarity on the issue of the critical care centre by the end of this year. But, would it be your hope that that critical care centre will at least be in construction phase by 2021, the end of your mandate, or can you see real issues progressing on that particular issue?
Andrew RT Davies: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on economic and infrastructure development in South Wales Central? OAQ(5)0045(EI)
Andrew RT Davies: I thought that you’d turned into the First Minister there with your very brief answer of ‘yes’, Cabinet Secretary. [Laughter.] Thank you for that statement, Cabinet Secretary. One thing I’d like to point out is the need for a Dinas Powys bypass. In fairness to the Welsh Government, they have two large infrastructure projects on the drawing board at the moment in Vale of...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, there have been various tensions in the system, obviously, depending on where you live in Wales, as to exactly when you might be seen. There are some examples of excellent practice and then in other areas, there are delays in actually progressing through to the treatment path and cancer services. We have put forward, on several occasions—and it has been proven in practice...
Andrew RT Davies: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the debate this afternoon, and in particular the way David Melding opened the debate, because, obviously, mapping it out, there were two parts to this debate. The first part is obviously the ideological argument, and I appreciate the position that the Government has taken around the right to buy, but it is a fact that it has been most probably one of...
Andrew RT Davies: I take the point that there is not one silver bullet to solve the housing crisis that we face, just like actually passing legislation to stop the right to buy is not going to be a silver bullet to stop the housing crisis that we face, in that we’re just not building enough houses. And, if you do not build enough houses, you create pent-up demand for that, the house price goes up, and...
Andrew RT Davies: There is an issue around house repossessions. There’s an issue about the ability for people to access the housing market more generally. But you can’t use just that piece of data to actually bring a piece of legislation to this Assembly to outlaw a practice that has been so socially empowering. Far better for the Minister to use his time and his resources and the Government’s time to...
Andrew RT Davies: I’m grateful to you for taking an intervention, Cabinet Secretary. You said that the stock had been lost. As David, who introduced the debate, said, that was a flaw of the scheme that came in—that the money was not used to replace it. Why do you, therefore, acknowledging that there was that deficit in the original scheme, not just make the scheme more adaptable to what is required in the...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, I ask these series of questions as a supporter of alleviating the traffic congestion around Newport. But, last week’s announcement was bitterly disappointing, in connection to the potential delay of finding a solution around the traffic problems in that part of Wales. There was a clear letter issued last week to a Member in the Assembly here,...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that very detailed answer, First Minister. I don’t think there’s very much curiosity around any of this. We have been highlighting for the last 12 months that the methodology did need to be revisited so that the blue and black route could be evaluated on the same methodology, so that, ultimately, the two routes could be compared favourably, and that you could take forward...
Andrew RT Davies: Well, I disagree with you about the strange and unusual process. I mean, as I’ve highlighted, this process has been going on for two years, clearly identified that, in 2016, this change would be coming down the road at you and, obviously, your Government didn’t respond. Traffic Scotland were involved in the negotiations and the Northern Ireland Department for Infrastructure were...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, is it possible to have a statement from the transport Minister, please, in relation to lighting on trunk roads? Obviously, trunk roads are the responsibility of Welsh Government, but the pass the day-to-day management over to local authorities in many instances. I’ve noticed, particularly on the A48 through the Vale of Glamorgan, but also in other areas where the trunk...
