Alun Davies: I very much welcome the statement we’ve heard from the Minister this afternoon, and I very much welcome the vision that you set out, Minister. I’m also very grateful to you for what you’ve just said in answer to the previous question, because I think a number of us were curious, if you like, about what Ynni Cymru would actually do. I think there are other barriers beyond those that...
Alun Davies: I welcome the Minister's statement this afternoon, and I do think it is important that the Minister does respond to the census results and I'm pleased that he's done so, and I welcome what he's outlined this afternoon. I think it's important that he does respond in the way that he has. There are three things that I would like to say this afternoon—three priorities, perhaps, would be a...
Alun Davies: 7. What discussions has the Minister had with the UK Government on the progress of the police covenant? OQ58993
Alun Davies: Thank you very much, Minister. I had a meeting with the Police Federation of England and Wales in the autumn, just before Christmas, and I was quite disturbed to hear that they felt there was a great deal of inertia involved in the delivery of the covenant and that there are a number of services that are not being delivered, which should be delivered to police officers as part of this...
Alun Davies: Minister, the programme broadcast this week was a very distressing programme, and we heard some very distressing testimony. And I think we should all join together to applaud and to commend the women who spoke out then, and also, of course, the journalists who have told this story and who brought this to our attention. To me, what this speaks of is not an individual HR issue, but a...
Alun Davies: Like others, I'd like to start my contribution this afternoon by thanking those people who gave evidence to the committee, and thanking the committee secretariat for the work they've done in producing this report. I think the report is very timely. It deals with some of the more fundamental issues that we face as a country, and, like Tom Giffard, I'm very grateful to the Minister for...
Alun Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Alun Davies: I'm listening to your speech. The Government has already responded to the report; I was hoping that the Minister would also respond to the debate. One of the issues I tried to raise in the debate was the issue of equality, and I think it's important that that and the matters that other colleagues have raised—very important issues—in this debate this afternoon—I think it's important that...
Alun Davies: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on how health and social care providers are working together to manage hospital discharges effectively? OQ59043
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to the Minister for that response. It's certainly true to say that partnership working is a feature of the response of the Welsh Government. I'm not convinced it's a successful feature, I have to say. There's almost the equivalent of a whole hospital full of patients in the Aneurin Bevan health board area who, at any time, are able to be discharged into the community, but we're...
Alun Davies: There we are. I'm very grateful to you, Presiding Officer, and so is the Chamber. [Laughter.] Home rule, of course, was one of the founding principles of the modern Labour Party, and those people who haven't read 'In Place of Fear' will chart Aneurin Bevan's search for democracy and search for power from the miners' lodge in Pochin colliery, through Tredegar town council and Monmouthshire...
Alun Davies: I welcome very much the Minister's speech this evening in asking and recommending that this Senedd does not give consent to this LCM. I think we should be doing that for two reasons: for the constitutional reasons, but also for policy reasons. I agree with my friend, the Chair of our committee. I keep forgetting the name of the committee, but it's a very good committee. [Laughter.]...
Alun Davies: Oh, come on, he's trying to defend the UK Government; give him a chance. [Laughter.]
Alun Davies: Well, you've certainly made my case about the need for parliamentary scrutiny, if nothing else. And I don't disagree with you, as it happens, Darren. It's right and proper that government is about choosing and making choices, and the point that I make is that the UK Government has chosen the money-makers in the City of London over the farmers of Wales, and that is exactly the point I'm...
Alun Davies: But, of course, in the real world, it is the Welsh Government that is taking services further away from people. It was the Welsh Government, of course, that funded a new hospital without any public transport links at all for my constituents, and I've come back here for the last six, seven years, and been assured by every Minister who's held that portfolio that public transport links would be...
Alun Davies: —because people would make the choices themselves.
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer. During the statement, in reply to a question, the Deputy Minister referred to Plaid Cymru as shaping the budget. This was also referred to in answer to a question at First Minister's questions. Now, since shaping the budget is a fundamental part of the executive role of Government, it raises significant questions about our ability to scrutinise...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to the Minister for the way in which she's responded to this statement this afternoon. Language and tone in politics is fundamental to our debate and it talks about the values that we all share, and I think the way in which people in Wales have reached out to Ukraine, recognising the catastrophic impact of the invasion on people's lives, I think demonstrates that people in...
Alun Davies: You have, and you're very generous. The final—
Alun Davies: The final point I'll make is that we do also need to provide the means by which Ukraine can fight Putin and Putin's war machine, and that means also supporting manufacturers in Wales who are able to produce weapons and ammunition to enable the Ukrainian army to withstand Russia's war machine. We do have manufacturers in the arms industry in Wales, and it would be good if the Welsh Government...
