Jenny Rathbone: First Minister, I'm sure you will want to celebrate the work of Cardiff and Vale health board, mindful of the well-being of their staff, and inviting them to take part in courses on how to grow vegetables on the Llandough hospital site, obviously funded by the Cardiff and Vale health board charity—something, I'm sure, close to both our hearts. But I also want to highlight their recent work...
Jenny Rathbone: I agree with what Jane Dodds was saying about the importance of the discretionary assistance fund and also the amount of money to be paid to care leavers. We've been able to get through this winter, just about. We have to remind ourselves that about one third of all households have been juggling with heating or eating. So, we've managed to get through this winter, but next winter is likely to...
Jenny Rathbone: No, I'm absolutely not suggesting that that is our policy aim at all. [Laughter.] I'm just saying that unless we keep control of this policy initiative, that is what could happen, because there's no shortage of multinational suppliers who would like to do that. So, the food security issues, we've all rehearsed recently. There's a shortage of chefs in schools. We are not going to be able to...
Jenny Rathbone: This raises quite a significant issue. Obviously, what the Plaid Cymru amendment aspires to is something that I regard as extremely important. But it also illustrates the limits of our powers. As a Welsh Parliament, we can legislate for the benefit of Wales, but we can't override international agreements, and some of the international agreements have already been mentioned today, namely the...
Jenny Rathbone: What is the Minister's strategy for strengthening community nursing?
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much, Sarah, for tabling this debate, which is indeed, as others have said, a very important thing that we need to consider, because, otherwise—. Technology is a wonderful thing in many respects; it can save lives. If somebody's gone into a coma with type 1 diabetes, they're not in a position to tell you what treatment they're going to need, but we absolutely have to apply...
Jenny Rathbone: A small history lesson. Roads weren't invented to accommodate the combustion engine. Roads were invented to get people from A to B, long before the combustion engine was around, and what this is about is re-purposing our roads to have multiple ways of getting around, and to be aligned with our climate change obligations. We all voted to reduce our climate emissions in support of today's and...
Jenny Rathbone: All right.
Jenny Rathbone: This is not about the airport—[Interruption.] Well, we don't have aeroplanes running on roads, and this is about roads. This is about having more coherent criteria for why we are going to invest in the carbon emissions created by roads. So, the new criteria: shifting transport to sustainable transport. So, prioritising—the hierarchy of sustainable transport is prioritising active travel...
Jenny Rathbone: Diolch. I just wanted to ask you whether you'd given much consideration to using the older Menai bridge for active travel, for cycling and walking, because I accept that the Britannia bridge would be a terrifying cycling experience? And we know that there are some issues with its structure, and that might be a better way of separating these two sections of transport, conceivably with public...
Jenny Rathbone: The authorities that have got electric buses are those that have applied successfully for UK Government funding, and we should be very grateful for that. But, on the electric charging points, I have to remind you that just as governments are not responsible for petrol stations, nor are they responsible for electric charging points. There is a responsibility, I agree, for us to ensure that...
Jenny Rathbone: I too was at the south Wales industrial cluster meeting that was held in the Millennium Stadium in my constituency, and a really interesting meeting it was, with lots of really important people there. However, I want to just ask about a slightly different route to achieving net zero, which is the increasing demand for renewable energy in our homes. Forty per cent of houses in Wales are owned...
Jenny Rathbone: I'd just like to associate myself with the concerns expressed by Heledd Fychan. Because I read today that sewage is being discharged into the river Taf, and who wants to have a toilet being developed just outside our building? So, this is a really serious concern, which we need to pursue elsewhere. Trefnydd, I wonder if we can have an update on the discussions that supermarket bosses were due...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much. Congratulations on the work you're doing to increase the number of people who are actually getting to see a dentist. That's really good news. I just wanted to go back to the mobile dental unit as the way of ensuring that all children get seen by somebody who’s appropriately qualified, because we know that the number of missing, filled or decayed teeth is a really good...
Jenny Rathbone: 7. What is the Welsh Government's strategy for sustaining swimming pools? OQ59327
Jenny Rathbone: We have half a million people actively using our swimming pools in Wales and so, they're a really important resource for ensuring that everybody's active as far as possible. But sustainability in the long term is only possible if they are using renewable energy to fire them up. I'd love to see Wales follow the example of Exmouth swimming pool, recycling heat generated from technology...
Jenny Rathbone: I very much welcome this Bill, although I hope we'll be able to find a slightly more Daily Mirror-ish title for it. Asthma is the third biggest killer after cancer and heart disease, and I completely associate myself with everything that Delyth Jewell has said on this matter. My constituents living in congested roads going in and out of our capital city rarely choose to live there, and if...
Jenny Rathbone: I think the access to all types of justice is hugely important, and the matters that tribunals deal with are obviously absolutely crucial for the individuals involved. Here we are again on the jagged edge of the justice system. Reading this annual report, I was very interested to learn that the president of Welsh Tribunals is conferred by the UK Parliament, whilst the civil servants...
Jenny Rathbone: I absolutely endorse your ambition, and also NRW’s ambition, to reimagine urban spaces. At a time when people’s mental health is quite fragile, this is a really important thing. In my experience, it isn’t local vandals who are the problem—it’s people operating on grass-cutting contracts who, basically, mow down trees and flowers that people have planted to make their own area look...
Jenny Rathbone: It is an absolute scandal, is it not, that over half our energy is now generated by renewables, yet we are still submitting poor people to this sort of treatment? The energy system is absolutely broken. I wanted to focus on how effective the method of getting payments to people was. So, I spoke to Ofgem, who assured me that companies are adding credit automatically, where possible, if...
