Did you mean representations -taxation speaker:Julie James?
Julie James: ...public intervention rate as the programme gains momentum and the benefits to all parties are recognised and appreciated. Although not limited to small businesses, the competitions have seen strong representation from our SMEs. Funding levels will vary, but projects typically span two or more years, with initial funding of up to £100,000 for each successful company. The best will then be...
Julie James: ...that by establishing and strengthening the regional skills partnerships. And, as I mentioned in the statement, we've also reconfigured the Wales employment and skills board in order to have better representation from those regional skills partnerships to take an all-Wales overview, and that's very much driven by the employers and trade unions working together in that board with a delivery...
Julie James: ...course be addressing employability across the whole of Wales. In terms of zero hours and so on, I’ve very much addressed that in terms of what we’re doing on the Fair Work Commission. That has representation from the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses, trade unions and a whole series of other people and the Government on it, and WESB is, for example,...
Julie James: I’ve made repeated representations to the Minister for employment. I made clear my concerns when we spoke on 5 July. I’ll continue to seek assurances about the position of staff who are adversely affected by these changes. And, indeed, I’m meeting with the UK Minister tomorrow to discuss the matter further.
Julie James: ...with the scheme, as it happens, and it's a very good scheme indeed. I know that there are a large number of parents who have relied very heavily on the scheme in the past and I've had similar representations to the Member made to me about the benefit that the scheme has brought to families. The Minister responsible is here and has listened very carefully to your comments. I'm sure he'll...
Julie James: ...take its course and see where we go with that. It is a consultation about the future of the CHCs, and I'm sure the Member, like me, has met with the CHC in his area and has had a number of representations. We need to let that consultation take its course. In terms of the specifics about the care homes, I'm afraid I don't know very much about that at all, but the health Secretary was...
Julie James: ...people and people with particular problems in mobility and so on about their banking. There is an arrangement in place with Post Office Counters, in actual fact, to do some banking, and we've made representations to them, I know, in my previous role, about ensuring that the Post Office Counters staff have the right training and that there are appropriate premises in which to conduct what...
Julie James: ... to fibre broadband to see what we can do with combination technologies, and a very large part of this will be what the UK Government does with the spectrum sales. So, we'll be making a lot of representations to the UK that they shouldn't regard 5G as a cash cow, but should actually think about what part of infrastructure it might play in public roll-out of some of the new artificial...
Julie James: ...you for raising that very important point. Community safety is, of course, a top priority for the Government. The Member is obviously aware that policing itself isn't devolved, despite the various representations that have been made to Westminster on that point. The Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services announced the provisional police settlement on 19 December 2017,...
Julie James: So, the very simple answer to that last question is 'yes'. In fact, I've just commissioned a piece of work jointly with my officials in Chwarae Teg to see how we can make sure there is good gender representation—half and half, not 40 per cent—on all public boards sponsored by the Welsh Government in this Assembly term. I'm hoping to be able to report back when they've done that small...
Julie James: ...enables people to take their rightful place in our society. So, I am absolutely determined that, in this Assembly term, we will see every public board sponsored by the Welsh Government having 50:50 representation. My colleague Lesley, here, began the fight for that, and many other colleagues—Jane herself did it when she was in Government, and I'm sure other colleagues will as well. But I...
Julie James: On the first very important matter, the Cabinet Secretary certainly heard your representations, and if you have specific instances that are leading you to the conclusion that that consultation is too short, then I suggest you write to the Cabinet Secretary and set those out. He's indicating his willingness to consider them. And on the second, I think you can hear the Cabinet Secretary...
Julie James: Diolch, Llywydd. Today marks the significant, 100-year anniversary of the Representation of the People Act 1918, which was passed on 6 February 1918. This Act enabled all men and some women over the age of 30 to vote for the first time. It is worth noting, however, that it wasn’t until 10 years later, with the passing of the Equal Franchise Act 1928, giving women the right to vote at age...
Julie James: ...very important to be seen to be on public boards and prominent on the boards of charities and all the rest of it, so that women take their proper place in public life. We know that once we get that representation to start, then things such as the maternity hospital and so on suddenly accelerate up the agenda, and rightly so. That's part of what it's about; it's to make better...
Julie James: ...forward to. I'm also looking forward to taking forward the debate about votes at 16, so that we lower the voting age so that everybody in this country who is eligible to pay taxes has proper representation in the places that represent them. We had the Brexit vote, and of course the Government will honour it, but what we didn't do is have a vote about the terms of that Brexit. We've had...
Julie James: ...the power of somebody with a determined vision and the strength of character to pull it through. So, she was absolutely determined that we were going to have gender equality in our constituency representation for this place, and her determination shone through and won the day. That's the real message of Anita. Two things: have your vision, pursue it formidably—I think that's the right...
Julie James: ...leaders of the future. The Welsh Government has pledged its commitment to the 50:50 by 2020 campaign. Signing up to the campaign shows employers’ public commitment to working towards equal gender representation in decision-making and influencing roles in Wales. We have also pledged our commitment to the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s Working Forward campaign. We are committed...
Julie James: Taking those in reverse order: the developer, I understand, has responded to the letter issued by the Welsh Government. Officials are currently considering the representations made before a final decision on the need for an EIA is made. Residents who have been affected by the activities that Jane Hutt has mentioned several times in this Chamber—our advice is for them to raise their concerns...
Julie James: ...ends on 5 June. So, we'll be looking carefully at that to make sure that the implications for Wales are well understood and that we can take them into account. But actually, to be honest, we make representations where they don't match up with our policy, so we will be looking at that very carefully as well. But as you can see from these letters coming from the Sheffield area of England,...
Julie James: ...'s responsibility as she makes a decision once NRW has come forward with that. So, I don't think it would be appropriate to have a debate as part of that process. But I'm sure she would welcome representations from all AMs on behalf of their constituents as regards those proposals.