Rhun ap Iorwerth: I welcome that and I look forward to confirmation of that in due course. The Office for National Statistics says that cases of depression have doubled during this pandemic and, this summer, this was said in The Lancet:
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'As the economic consequences of lockdown develop, when furloughs turn to redundancies, mortgage holidays expire, and recession takes effect, we believe it is reasonable to expect not only sustained distress and clinically significant deterioration in mental health for some people, but emergence of well-described long-term effects of economic recession on mental health'.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will the Minister commit to having a very specific recovery strategy for mental health in order to prevent this scenario as we come out of the period of pandemic?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, and I understand, given that she is new to the role, that it’s unfair perhaps to expect concrete proposals from the Minister, but it is clear that dealing with the impacts of the pandemic is going to take a huge amount of effort and also, I think, a radical change in the way in which we tackle mental health problems. Many committee reports over the years have suggested...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd. It is a great pleasure to present this report on our official languages scheme for the year April 2019 to March 2020. In line with usual practice, the report had been completed in June this year, but, of course, circumstances have prevented us from holding the debate until now. The report looks back at our work as a Commission over the year, celebrating...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to the three Members who contributed to the debate. I will keep my closing comments quite brief. Suzy Davies, first of all. Thank you for those comments. Suzy said that she was disappointed to see the number using the Welsh language going down and she pointed the finger at herself. Nobody should do that, of course. What we need is...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: In terms of broadcasters, I agree very strongly with the comments that we heard from Siân Gwenllian. I have had some discussions with one of Wales's leading broadcasters recently, and I made the very points that we heard from Siân Gwenllian. There are technological barriers on occasion, and we need to recognise those, but also, if there are barriers in terms of culture, attitudes or...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I welcome the funding provided to businesses across north Wales, and in my constituency, through the various phases of the economic resilience fund. But I still see businesses who can't access support because, for example, they aren't registered for VAT or because they don't employ people through PAYE. Now, I welcome the fact that there will be a fourth phase of the ERF, but can the Minister...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Diolch, Llywydd. Just some words from me as chair of the Wales international cross-party group, and we've found as a group there are so many facets, as reflected by the First Minister today, to Wales's international links—sporting, cultural, humanitarian—so many links to what we might call soft power, and, of course, diaspora. I'm pleased to hear the First Minister refer to all of those....
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, and thank you for that response. We had an opportunity at health committee this morning to question members of the technical advisory cell on the next steps, but I wonder if you could tell us a little more, Minister, as to when the opportunities provided by the vaccine will be included in modelling for the likely pattern of the pandemic over coming months. This is only a...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Just a few comments from me on this. It's always good to see so much engagement with the Senedd, and I congratulate the petitioner in that sense. In terms of this petition, I think the fact that so many people did sign it shows that this is an issue that did generate genuine interest. It became a national debate. It's also evidence that Welsh Government failed to do what they needed to do to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I think the Conservatives just forgot, as they so often do, that dealing with this pandemic is actually quite a serious matter. I've been critical of Government—very critical of Government at times— during this pandemic. I've tried to do it in a pretty constructive way. Just looking at Andrew R.T. Davies's Twitter feed, talking about the 'barmy ban', the 'ludicrous, insane lockdown',...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Minister, for that statement. Let's begin with some positives and areas that we would agree on. I'm pleased to hear you saying that your strict approach to the use of MIM remains unchanged and that conventional capital should be used first, then that you would use limited borrowing powers—'limited' being the operative word—and then, only then, look at the possibility of using...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you to the Minister for this afternoon's statement. This is an unprecedented year, of course, and I do realise and understand the pressures on Ministers and officials in dealing with fiscal issues in very difficult circumstances. May I also thank the Finance Committee for its report? I'm happy to endorse the recommendations made by the committee. Many of them are extremely important,...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I will start with agendum 11. I have no further comments to make on it, other than to say that we will be supporting that sensible change to the regulations. In turning now to item 10, we will also vote in favour of these regulations, because I do believe they put in place a reasonable set of fundamental rules—the minimum that we could expect anyone to face in Wales at the moment, given...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: There's a real danger that catch size limits will become pretty irrelevant in the east of the Menai strait in just over a year's time because Welsh Government seems unable to make any progress with the new management measures for mussel farming in this hugely important area for the Welsh shellfish industry. Applications for renewal of measures for the western Menai strait were made nearly 10...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Llywydd. Thank you to everyone who has participated today, and for the opportunity to conclude the debate. I would appeal to you today to support the Plaid Cymru motion, which, quite simply, deals with supporting areas where there is an especially high prevalence of COVID-19. There are many of those in Wales at the moment. This motion reflects the fact that the areas with...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: A few words on the amendments. We reject the rather illiterate but predictable delete-all amendment of Gareth Bennett and Mark Reckless. If they can tell us how they, as taxpayers in Wales, haven't contributed towards the Treasury funding that's come to Wales during this crisis, maybe they can tell others who may wish to avoid paying taxes. Not so much pork-barrel politics as...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: So, on to Welsh Government amendments. They, too, reject, among other things, a higher level of financial support for people who are asked to self-isolate. And, you know, I wouldn't only advise people who have the time, I'd advise people who don't have the time, even, to watch this morning's meeting of the Senedd Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. The witnesses we had before us today...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: What discussions has the First Minister had with the UK Government on preparing the Port of Holyhead for the end of the Brexit transition period?
