David Melding: Indeed, I think one can reasonably claim that the right to buy has been the most popular housing policy in British history and particularly popular, incidentally, in Labour’s traditional heartland. I’ll leave that dilemma to you and your colleagues. You’ve also selected the wrong target. We need to build more homes—many more homes. That’s what should be taking up our time at the...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, will you join me in welcoming the £50 million increase to the Welsh Government’s capital budget that will now come as a result of the budget, which builds on the £400 million increase announced in the autumn statement? This does give us some real flexibility in terms of capital development.
David Melding: The amount of underbuilding we’ve done is about 4,000 or 5,000 homes each and every year throughout the period of devolution. If you don’t believe me about where we are and the crisis we’re in, can I refer you to the excellent explanatory memorandum that the Government has produced on the abolition of the right to buy Bill? [Laughter.]
David Melding: First Minister, I think the problem with a constitutional convention is that you can’t really have one until after a second referendum in Scotland, which, at some point in the future, does look a possibility. I just wonder if your more immediate aims should be with the Prime Minister to see how the Joint Ministerial Committee system could be strengthened. I commend Mr Drakeford’s remarks...
David Melding: Can I say I agree with the core of the consultants’ report, particularly in respect of raising residents’ awareness about the nature and extent of contractual arrangements, identifying and addressing poor practice and initiatives to regulate and, if possible, reduce energy costs? So, on that bit that doesn’t seem terribly controversial and would benefit the whole sector, I wonder when...
David Melding: Can I say at the outset that the Welsh Conservative Party will be supporting the general principles contained in this Bill? It does, in effect, replace an existing tax and puts into effect our devolved responsibilities in this area. Indeed, I think it’s a great advance in Welsh governance that we now have these powers and responsibilities. It will build the accountability of our system of...
David Melding: Minister, I wonder if you’d look at the official website, which is sponsored by the Welsh Government and the WLGA, click on ‘latest news’, and the latest news on it is a construction conference on how to build a good school, dated 12 May 2015. Now, I know we’re in between schemes or phases, but this does give the impression the whole programme is dormant, and you need a more alert—I...
David Melding: 9. What is the Welsh Government doing to actively promote female mentorship programmes in the workplace? OAQ(5)0530(FM)
David Melding: First Minister, I think we all remember with deep affection Dame Rosemary Butler, our former Presiding Officer, and her programme to promote women in public life concentrated on mentorship schemes. I think this is a principle that could be generally applied, because it’s raising that expectation and the ambition of women who already have the talents to perform outstandingly in the workplace.
David Melding: What is the Welsh Government doing to promote apprenticeship opportunities for young women in vocational areas which are often closed to them by poor recruitment practices?
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, once in a blue moon an opposition Member is pleased to congratulate the Government on the decision they’ve made, and I do think Transport for Wales being based in Pontypridd is the right decision, because it sends a very clear signal, I think, that the city region concept is an important one, but a city region as a city and a hinterland—and the hinterland is not...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, pharmacists are very well placed to help GPs and improve access, therefore, to GP services, particularly around the management and review of medicines. I do think we could do better in this regard because there’s a lot of evidence that the poor use of medicines, or sometimes inappropriate use as well, is dragging back some of the health outcomes that we could otherwise gain.
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Last week, First Minister, the president of the Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, said that the Committee of the Regions would provide the EU’s chief negotiator, Mr Barnier, with a picture of the evolving situation at regional level. Mr Markkula also said in a debate in the Committee of the Regions last week, and I quote, we must work to protect...
David Melding: First Minister, I’m told that, to date, there have been nine engagement events, five targeted events, and four further formal engagement events are planned, and the Cabinet Secretary has attended, or plans to attend, each and every one of these engagement events. Can you confirm that that is the case? I would ask how these views are being fed back in and possibly whether you could report...
David Melding: In June 2017, the citizens, by a small but sufficient majority, said two things, I think, to us. They did not want to remain part of European governance. I know we hear often about we’re still European—of course we are, and we’re part of that great cultural inheritance, but we did vote to remove ourselves from European governance and we will face consequences for that. Secondly, I...
David Melding: [Continues.]—enterprising market. Yes.
David Melding: Well, a wise civil servant once told me that the true test of maturity is the ability to live with paradox, and I really think that we must recognise that what—. You know, the great truth here is that in 1997/8/9, when we moved to decentralised Government and devolution in this country, the framework was that we were within the girdle of the European Union. No-one thought at that...
David Melding: Well let me just use the language as I choose. ‘And by the way, what we do want London to have are all the obligations to finance the policies that we will now put in place.’ Frankly, if we don’t have functional competences at the levels we need them, which has always been the pro-European argument—now you’re a little Brexiteer in saying, ‘No, no, we’ve got to go micro and get...
David Melding: I think starting with the idea of a strategic partnership is definitely to start in a better place. We do, in other areas of public policy, look at the advantages of strategic partnership, but I do want to emphasise just the need for intellectual independence and the ability to think creatively. These are at the heart of heritage organisations, particularly the national museum and galleries...
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, yesterday, the Institute of Welsh Affairs published its report on funding renewable energy projects in Wales—here in the Neuadd, I’m pleased to say—and it identified the difficulty in raising capital, or particular difficulty in Wales. And I’d like to ask you will the Welsh Government be taking note of the recommendations of this report and...
