Bethan Sayed: Will the First Minister make a statement on inward investment into South Wales West?
Bethan Sayed: On the wider issue of animal cruelty, obviously, it’s widely established that cruelty to animals is considered a gateway behaviour to violence against people. Many of those perpetrators, I’m sure, as with other things, would deny their responsibility in these acts of violence, but what are you doing to consider this as part of wider animal abuse legislation? And would you support the call...
Bethan Sayed: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on progress in implementing the financial inclusion action plan? OAQ(5)0123(CC)
Bethan Sayed: I, too, would like to wish all the women in the Chamber a happy International Women’s Day. In response to previous calls to ban letting fees at the start of a tenancy, your Government has claimed that renters would end up paying more in the longer term in regard to increased rent. However, since laws surrounding agency fees have been enforced in Scotland, the charity Shelter has stated that...
Bethan Sayed: Cabinet Secretary, last summer, the very first question I asked you was about the data collection and publishing in relation to anti-poverty schemes, which was a key recommendation of the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee in the previous Assembly. Can you tell me what progress is being made on this, and when we can expect to see better data collection and measurement?
Bethan Sayed: I appreciate what you say in relation to that, but, of course, we’ve still got many schemes that are based on current data and past data. And I’ve been speaking recently to a range of organisations, which have told me that they were unable to find data on outcomes for 29 out of 35 European social fund community funded programmes since 2007, despite funding being recently extended to 2020....
Bethan Sayed: One of those projects was Communities for Work, and I’ve raised this many times with you, not only here, but in committee also. So, I think that’s one example that you could, potentially, look at and get back to me on. But, with regard to the future of your anti-poverty strategies more generally, I have had it also put to me that the problem with many schemes in the past is that they...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you very much for that answer. As part of your financial inclusion strategy, credit unions are required to provide outreach services and education, such as school savers clubs. But when I introduced the Financial Education and Inclusion (Wales) Bill, one of the key things we identified after consultation was the availability of these services throughout Wales. There would be some...
Bethan Sayed: I think many people have made the point quite clearly about the importance of the Family Fund, so I want to put the debate in the wider context of disability and the fact that cuts to other benefits have, of course, frequently affected disabled people in a disproportionate manner. We’ve heard about some of the higher profile Government cuts in this area, but there have been over 100 changes...
Bethan Sayed: First, I think I need to say that the response of Miller Argent to this report is insulting and undermines the severity of the situation. Describing this as ‘fake news’—a report from a UN rapporteur—is frankly disgusting and is outrageous considering that the local community have been raising these concerns for some time. I’m also very concerned that Merthyr county council responded...
Bethan Sayed: I think from hearing the questions so far they exemplify the point made by Lee Waters as to why we do need to have pre-hearings within the parliamentary structures. The UK Parliament does have that condition when they are putting forward names and I think that’s something that we should be able to do. But I didn’t hear you answer the question with regard to whether you think that that is...
Bethan Sayed: I’m just raising the issue with regard to Juhel Miah in my constituency, my region, again. I know that other AMs have. I’ve had communication with him this week, you see, stating that he hasn’t had any response from the First Minister. The First Minister obviously wrote to the US authorities with regard to the fact he was taken off the train to America—. Train? Plane. That would be...
Bethan Sayed: I’d like to say that we support this Bill and the policy intent behind it. It’s been a long-standing position of Plaid Cymru and we’re looking forward to the scrutiny process. I will say in reaction to the Conservatives that many people cannot simply afford to buy their own homes, and we always need social housing for that purpose. I wouldn’t want to seek to try and play working class...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for the opportunity to contribute to this afternoon’s debate. Clearly, I’m going to support Dai Lloyd’s attempts in bringing this Bill forward, which is important in terms of our heritage and history as a nation. As has been mentioned by a number of Members this afternoon, there was a thorough debate in the last Assembly, and amendments were tabled by us as a party and by...
Bethan Sayed: First Minister, as has already been mentioned, Shelter are gravely concerned about the lack of data available to monitor what is happening in Wales. I believe with many of your other programmes such as Communities First and Communities for Work, the data and the lack of data is an emerging theme for your Government. With such an important issue in the fact that we do have such strong...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for your statement. We in Plaid Cymru are happy to say that we are on the side of the park home owners and not the landlords in this instance. The 10 per cent commission is unfair. I don’t think there can be any other conclusion. An arbitrary 10 per cent commission fee to the landlord on top of any other fee a seller may have to pay during a process is something that we don’t...
Bethan Sayed: My first reaction is to say that we do not wish to turn Wales into a vast prison. In principle, we do not support superjail expansion. We are not the USA. Do you not agree with me that we need facilities that suit the needs of Welsh prisoners and that we need to devolve justice to Wales and ensure that we do not fall into the trap of building new prisons without discussing prison reform and...
Bethan Sayed: We don’t know much of the detail as yet. I’ve been in contact with councillors from my party in Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, and they’ve told me that it was up to councils and/or the Welsh Government to put forward criteria to call on the Ministry of Justice to apply for those positions. So, I want to understand whether Neath Port Talbot council or you as Welsh Government...
Bethan Sayed: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline how the Welsh Government is ensuring that Wales is promoted in television and film productions? OAQ(5)0143(EI)
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for that answer. I am pleased that efforts such as the showreel have succeeded in increasing the numbers of companies and projects that do shoot in Wales in recent years, but, compared to other countries, we’re still falling behind. I’d like to ask you what efforts you are making to improve how external production companies and film projects promote the fact that they have...
