Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Commissioner for his statement? And I very much welcome what he's said today, although, in one respect, I don't, because it's altered exactly what I was going to say in my speech this afternoon. I was a member of the Finance Committee that scrutinised the budget of the Commission. On the information before the Finance Committee, the decision made was, I believe, the correct...
Mike Hedges: There are huge variabilities between surgeries' access. There are some excellent surgeries in my constituency, including Clydach and Strawberry Place, neither of which is my surgery. Over 90 per cent of my constituency complaints regarding GP surgeries' access is about one surgery. When people are unable to see a GP, they either go to A&E or wait until their condition deteriorates and are...
Mike Hedges: I'm asking for two Government statements. The first is an update on transport proposals for the Swansea bay city region. I've been told that, from December 2022, timetable changes for west Wales to Cardiff mean that there are no trains calling in Llansamlet station from 2.06 p.m. until 4.58 p.m. on Monday to Friday. How are we supposed to attract passengers to the service? Also, can the...
Mike Hedges: Will you take an intervention? Can I say what you've heard me say a number of times? It would help if both the Welsh Government and the Westminster Government showed their workings rather than just giving us a number at the end.
Mike Hedges: Can I recommend Members read the full report? Because there are some very interesting things in there, not just the recommendations and the committee views and conclusions, which normally most of us read in reports of committees we're not on. On 1 January 2021, the trade and co-operation agreement took effect and established the UK's future relationship with the EU. The UK's access to future...
Mike Hedges: 5. Will the First Minister provide an update on the provision of social housing in Wales? OQ58811
Mike Hedges: [Inaudible.] [Laughter.]
Mike Hedges: I thank the First Minister for that response, but there is still a shortage of houses for rent and there's a serious problem with homelessness, including people who are inadequately housed. The only time that we have had, since the second world war, housing that reached the scale that we needed was between 1945 and 1979, when we had large-scale council house building across Wales. This was...
Mike Hedges: What proposals does the Welsh Government have to improve access to public services for people with sight and hearing loss?
Mike Hedges: I speak Welsh every day, but, as Members here know, not very well. I also know that children in primary schools across Swansea also speak Welsh every day at school. Two questions: are we asking the right question on the census? Should we ask how often people speak Welsh?
Mike Hedges: And, in English, what is the correlation between the number of pupils attending Welsh-medium schools between the ages of three and 18 and those who are showing as being able to speak and write Welsh?
Mike Hedges: I will be supporting this legislative proposal today, and I urge all other Members to also support it. BSL is the first language of people in the deaf community. BSL is more like Chinese than English, where there is the use of hands as descriptors, rather than spelling words. Sign language interpreters are meant to be available in both health and other Government settings, but I have heard of...
Mike Hedges: Can I also thank Mabon for giving me a minute of this debate and for what he said previously? We have, since Calder Hall in 1956, gone through a large number of nuclear-reactor types—Magnox, pressurised water reactor, advanced gas-cooled reactors, and now the generation 3 plus nuclear reactor proposed at Sizewell C. When technologies develop, costs should reduce. They should reduce rapidly....
Mike Hedges: 5. What action is the Welsh Government taking to develop the Swansea economy? OQ58857
Mike Hedges: On 1 December, I, alongside the First Minister, was at Veeqo's official office opening at Technium 2, following their being taken over by Amazon—a success story of bringing highly paid employment into Swansea. This happened at least in part due to the graduates being produced and the support of the local universities. What further support can the Welsh Government give to the university...
Mike Hedges: Will the Welsh Government make a statement on the effect of Airbnb on the rental housing market? Whilst there are some controls—I would argue not enough—on the development of houses in multiple occupation, there are no controls on Airbnb. What analysis of the effect of Airbnb on the housing market has been made, and is the Government considering curbs on the number of Airbnbs in any area,...
Mike Hedges: It's obvious that the UK Government has not provided Wales with adequate funding to meet the current pressures. I appreciate that Welsh Ministers have had to make some very difficult decisions during the budgetary process. There was initial funding for Wales of £1.2 billion over two years in the autumn statement. Over half of this came from a decision made about a non-domestic rates policy...
Mike Hedges: 3. Will the Minister provide an update on the SA1 development in Swansea? OQ58856
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Minister for that response? As I mentioned yesterday in a question to the First Minister, there have been a number of high-tech successes in SA1. Also, SA1 is a further development in Swansea that combines residential, high-skilled employment and commercial activity, with development being driven by, as the Minister said, the University of Wales Trinity Saint David. And I...
Mike Hedges: 7. Will the First Minister provide an update on Welsh Government action to improve public transport connectivity from Swansea? OQ58897
