Llyr Gruffydd: Well, thank you very much, Llywydd, and I have to say it is a pleasure to bring this short debate before the Senedd today, to take this opportunity to outline and underline the significant contribution that the horse-racing industry makes to Wales not just in sporting terms, but economically too. And I'm very pleased that contributions to this debate will come from Alun Davies, Sam Kurtz,...
Llyr Gruffydd: Now, it would be remiss of me not to highlight in this speech today the support that the Welsh Government has provided, of course, to the Welsh racing industry during the period of the pandemic. The shutdown of racing for a number of months, and then continued restrictions on crowd numbers, of course, that continued intermittently here in Wales afterwards, all of that put considerable...
Llyr Gruffydd: As a Member for North Wales, of course, my first trip racing, as a new convert to the sport, was to where else but Bangor-on-Dee racecourse within my region, to which I was actually invited by the British Horseracing Authority, along with some other Members of the Senedd, who I'm glad to see are here this evening. The day started, of course, with a trip to Oliver Greenall racing to visit a...
Llyr Gruffydd: We've heard already today, of course, many references to Qatar's wholly unacceptable record on human rights, reflected in the way that many football supporters have been treated in the last 24 hours. Human rights abuses perpetrated by the Iranian Government, of course, are ones that we must also highlight and condemn, and, given that Wales is playing Iran on Friday, and given now that Welsh...
Llyr Gruffydd: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Last week's autumn statement by the UK Chancellor, I think confirmed, didn't it, really, what we've feared for some time. In response to the absolute mess that they've made of the economy, the Tories have decided to unleash a new wave of austerity, with devastating consequences for communities across the length and breadth of Wales. After a decade of cuts, under...
Llyr Gruffydd: 7. What support is the Government providing to ensure that leisure activities through the medium of Welsh are available to children and young people? OQ58756
Llyr Gruffydd: There's been much focus, of course, on floating offshore wind. It feels a bit like it's the flavour of the month, but it's hugely valid, of course—nobody is challenging that—particularly with the focus on the Celtic sea. But we mustn't forget, of course, there's still huge potential to be realised from fixed-base turbines in the Irish sea. I see that as very much a key driver for the...
Llyr Gruffydd: I think you meant 230,000 children, rather than 230. I just want to highlight quite a serious issue, a case of a constituent of mine who has been waiting over three years for Welsh-medium swimming lessons for his children. A complaint was made to the language commissioner in 2017, and it was decided that the proper actions hadn't been taken. The council was given an order to provide lessons...
Llyr Gruffydd: Would you take a short intervention?
Llyr Gruffydd: Will the First Minister make a statement on treatment waiting times at Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board?
Llyr Gruffydd: 8. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of the devolution of setting income tax thresholds to Wales? OQ58797
Llyr Gruffydd: Diolch, Llywydd. Good afternoon, Minister. There was reference in this Chamber last week to work by the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee, scrutinising the Welsh Government's accounts for 2020-21, which found that there'd been an underspend of £526 million and, as a result, £155 million of funding allocated to Wales had been returned to the Treasury. I'm sure you'd wish to...
Llyr Gruffydd: Okay, thank you for that, but I think we can surmise, therefore, that it isn't true to say that there isn't any at the moment. I respect your wish not to offer a running commentary, but when we have different messages coming from different people, I think we need a degree of transparency around that. I fully concur with the point you made about end-of-year flexibilities, and this, again,...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you for that. Of course, it's devolved to Scotland. That allows them to create thresholds that better reflect the profile of taxpayers in Scotland. And if you look at the taxpayer profile in Wales, of course, the vast majority of them are in the basic rate band, which is different, if you look at the figures, to the rest of the UK, in terms of the ratio of taxpayers, which then means,...
Llyr Gruffydd: I thank the committee Chair and members for their work in this important area. For me, the starting point is to remind ourselves of some of the pledges made by the UK Government as we left the European Union, and just to evaluate to what extent those pledges have been delivered six years down the line. We were told, as we've just heard, that we wouldn't be a penny worse off here in Wales. We...
Llyr Gruffydd: And let's contrast what we have and what we have, is what I'm trying to say, because the shared prosperity fund is an unashamed political construct, hastily cobbled together to fill a vacuum left behind after Brexit, forcing, effectively, the recreation of a wheel that was already in place. The Welsh Government had a framework, co-developed over a number of years with the Organisation for...
Llyr Gruffydd: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on the increased use of private health care by patients awaiting treatment on the NHS? OQ58843
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you for that response. I want to share with you the experience of a constituent of mine who's a nurse and suffers with carpal tunnel syndrome on both hands. That causes the hands to swell, it brings a burning pain and shooting pain up the arms up to the elbows and, as she is a dental nurse, that has an impact on her ability to work. It also has an impact on her quality of life and...
Llyr Gruffydd: This Bill, as we've just heard, has received cross-party support during its journey through the Senedd, but it's also been slightly contentious because of the Welsh Government insisted on using an expedited scrutiny process for it. Now, I'm not suggesting that Senedd procedures have been misused, but what we have seen is far from being good practice. The Climate Change, Environment and...
Llyr Gruffydd: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. At the start of the sixth Senedd, the committee agreed to scrutinise the ongoing operation of the interim environmental protection measures that we have here in Wales. Members will recall, I'm sure, that these measures were put in place to address widespread concern about the impending environmental governance gap in Wales following the UK's departure from the...
