Carwyn Jones: Well, as I said to her before, there is a counsellor in each secondary school in Wales. Health boards have committed to meet the 28-day target by the end of March. They’ve made great strides to reduce the numbers waiting over the last 12 to 18 months. One example: in Betsi Cadwaladr, we’ve seen the percentage of CAMHS referrals seen within 28 days go from 21 per cent in April last year to...
Carwyn Jones: Well, some of us do have children, and I have a 16-year-old daughter, so I know the pressures that exist on young people, particularly through social media. That’s something that didn’t exist when I was 16, and so any bullying stayed at the school gates and didn’t tend to move beyond that. I know some of the things that are said online, and I know that, when youngsters are at their most...
Carwyn Jones: Well, she can shout as much as she wants. She’s had three questions already, right. Again, Betsi is an example of what’s happened around Wales. In Betsi, the level of CAMHS referrals seen within 28 days has gone from 21 per cent to 84.5 per cent in February. She can’t deny that, or she’s saying that the figures are wrong. They needed to improve. We knew more money had to be put in,...
Carwyn Jones: Yes. We’re delivering on this top-six ‘Taking Wales Forward’ commitment. A phased implementation is under way, and the first increase to £30,000 was introduced in April. We have provided local authorities with £4.5 million in 2017-18 to deliver that increase.
Carwyn Jones: Well, the initial increase to £30,000 will benefit around 250 people. The increase to £50,000 will benefit up to 1,000. This is out of a total of 4,000 care home residents who pay the full cost of their residential care, so a substantial percentage.
Carwyn Jones: Well, the pledge that the Welsh Conservatives had was not costed properly and there is a cost to how much such a policy would cost. We know that 25 per cent, roughly, of care home residents in Wales will benefit from this policy, and it’s another example of a Welsh Government keeping its promises, as we have done for the past six years.
Carwyn Jones: Yes. We intend to publish our strategic approach to building prosperity for all before the summer recess.
Carwyn Jones: Well, we do work with manufacturers and others to look at buildings as they become available. With Aston Martin, of course, it happened that the superhangar was there and that was very useful in terms of being able to attract them, and we work closely with all businesses to assess their needs in terms of future expansion. Where they seek to do that, we’ve usually been able to work with them...
Carwyn Jones: Well, the energy companies—anybody who says the energy market is somehow good for consumers must be living in a different universe to the rest of us. Time and time again, Governments have recognised that the current system does not work. He talks about the 1970s—energy was cheaper in the 1970s, proportionately, and also we had major investments, such as Dinorwig, when, with the tidal...
Carwyn Jones: Where was his party when, for four years, his party actually was in charge of economic development in Wales? He conveniently forgets that, of course. [Interruption.] They don’t like hearing that, because it’s something that they’d rather forget about, but it’s conveniently forgotten about. Well, he asked new ideas. The Valleys taskforce is moving forward with new ideas for the...
Carwyn Jones: At the heart of our approach to capital investment is a focus on maximising the resources we have available and targeting these on the areas where they can have the biggest impact in boosting the economy, supporting our communities and connecting all parts of Wales.
Carwyn Jones: Well, we are continuing to face unprecedented challenges to public finances, so it is vitally important that we unlock all opportunities to boost infrastructure investment. As well as the £1 billion of capital infrastructure investment we are committed to delivering through the innovative finance model, using the mutual investment model, we are also using innovative ways of funding capital...
Carwyn Jones: There is some cheek in that question, and I give him credit for that, but the answer is quite simple: no, I’d rather work with Jeremy Corbyn, bluntly, if you want the answer to that question. But, secondly, yes, I think it is right that, at a time when there is no election, Welsh and UK Governments are able to work together. The city deal was an example of that. But I have to say that, when...
Carwyn Jones: I see no difficulty with doing that. It’s hugely important that the cost-benefit analysis is shared so that people can see what the methodology is.
Carwyn Jones: Unfortunately, I can’t comment further on those proposals for change because of course there is a potential role for the Welsh Government, and that position can’t be prejudiced.
Carwyn Jones: Well, if I can speak generally, the leader of UKIP is correct in that, in many parts of Wales, the length of the journey time to get to a Welsh-medium school puts parents off. It’s particularly true in some parts of Wales where there is a Welsh-medium primary school but there is a substantial journey to the Welsh-medium secondary school. Monmouthshire is an example that springs to...
Carwyn Jones: Well, generally, of course, the further that children have to travel to be educated, the greater the obstacle. That is true specifically of secondary schools, and that is part of the consideration we’re giving to the Welsh in education strategic plans. As regards to the target of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050, I won’t be in this post at that point, if I may say that, but the final...
Carwyn Jones: One way of ensuring that there are more activities available, for example, is to ensure that you have more Urdd branches. For example, in my area there’s one Welsh–medium secondary school and it’s in the Llynfi valley. It’s not very central to the county, but every child in the county goes there, even those that come from the Ogmore valley--they have to travel across two valleys to...
Carwyn Jones: Whilst responsibility for serving armed forces personnel lies with the UK Government, we have made clear in our programme for government our commitment to support serving personnel and their families so that they are not disadvantaged by their service.
Carwyn Jones: If the Member writes to me with more detail on that, I will of course investigate. But generally, we have produced a ‘Welcome to Wales’ booklet, specifically for serving personnel and their families while living in Wales. It gives information on the support and services available in one place. They include free swimming, of course, across all 22 local authorities, a fast-track referral...
