Helen Mary Jones: The Wales Audit Office produced a memorandum in 2015 setting out clearly the accountability arrangements for the NHS. These roles are in the memorandum, in line with the legislation, and these are the roles that are attributed by that memorandum to the Minister, setting policy and strategic framework direction, agreeing in Cabinet as part of collective discussion overall resources for the...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. We celebrated, yesterday, 20 years of this place as a parliament. The function of a parliament is to hold a government to account, and I am therefore profoundly disappointed to have just heard the Minister describe this serious and, I thought, on the whole very dignified debate as a political bun fight. I have to say to the Minister that if we wanted a political bun...
Helen Mary Jones: I am perfectly in command of myself, Mr Waters. It seems to me that you may not be.
Helen Mary Jones: I have to end my contribution, Llywydd, by asking what level of failure by a public service in our nation will it take for a Labour Minister—and that's my only party political point today—what level of failure will it take for a Labour Minister to do the honourable thing?
Helen Mary Jones: Can I thank the Counsel General for his response to Hefin David? I am sure he will understand that there will be a great many women in this category who will be disappointed to hear that he does not have—. And we must take his word, Llywydd, that he has given consideration to whether it was possible to take any action. Of course, the women bringing the case are optimistic about a possible...
Helen Mary Jones: 5. What representations has the Counsel General made on behalf of the Welsh Government regarding family courts to ensure that they take a rights-based approach to working with children in Wales? OAQ53906
Helen Mary Jones: I thank the Counsel General for that reply. I have received a number of really concerning individual cases brought to me through casework, including a CAFCASS officer saying to a young child, 'You do realise that, if mummy doesn't want you to see daddy, mummy could end up in prison?' Those were the very words, and I do have the permission of the person affected to make that comment. I think...
Helen Mary Jones: 6. Will the Counsel General provide an update on recent talks concerning the incorporation of UN human rights conventions into Welsh law? OAQ53907
Helen Mary Jones: No.
Helen Mary Jones: I appreciate, Llywydd, that I have been rather a lot on my feet in the last few minutes, and I entirely understand that one might have lost track.
Helen Mary Jones: Llywydd, I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his response and it is positive to hear that work is ongoing. Of course, the decision to delay Brexit does give us some little time to further consider the challenges that might be placed before us in terms of losing the protection that the European Union provides us in terms of enforcing certain aspects of human rights legislation. But as...
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I didn't have the opportunity when we last discussed this matter in March to put on record my personal congratulations to the Dirprwy Lywydd for the way that she led on this agenda through her private Member's legislation. She's rolling her eyes at me because she gets tired of us congratulating her about this, but I actually think it is something that we shouldn't...
Helen Mary Jones: What recent discussions has the First Minister had with the Minister for Health and Social Services about management structures in the health service?
Helen Mary Jones: To slightly develop the theme that the Minister has already responded to Paul Davies about, a key market, of course, potentially, for tourism in west Wales and throughout the nation, are disabled people and their families. Building on the kind of business that Paul Davies has just referred to, what further steps can the Welsh Government take to ensure that we have the best possible...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm sure that the Minister will agree with me that one of the biggest challenges is to encourage women and girls to carry on participating in physical activity, particularly, as he's just said in his response to David Melding, after leaving school age. Amongst that group, women from minority ethnic communities are particularly vulnerable and often particularly excluded. Will the Minister...
Helen Mary Jones: 5. What recent discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Education regarding the provision of university courses through the medium of Welsh? OAQ53903
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Minister for her answer, and I'd associate myself with what she says about the role of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol. It's beginning to deliver a transformation. However, I have had brought to my notice by an individual constituent—and I won't even mention the university concerned because this young person is concerned about being exposed—that when she raised the...
Helen Mary Jones: 4. Will the Commission make a statement on the accessibility of the Senedd to members of the public? OAQ53912
Helen Mary Jones: Well, I'm grateful to the Llywydd for that answer and, obviously, there is a balance to be made between safety and security and access, but the Llywydd will be aware of an incident on 1 May this year, when there was a very good-natured and very cheerful demonstration by climate change protesters outside this building, just as this Chamber was debating whether or not we would adopt the policy...
Helen Mary Jones: May I thank Janet Finch-Saunders and her committee for this very impressive and important piece of work? I have to say that it's often my experience that the work in the Petitions Committee is amongst some of the most important things that this Assembly does—the way in which our system empowers the voice of citizens to be heard directly. One of the most positive things I think I've heard...
