Sioned Williams: Diolch, Weinidog. Swansea bay community health council's new report 'Accessing NHS Dental Care: Getting to the Root of the Problem' paints a damning picture of dental services in the Swansea and Neath Port Talbot areas. It emphasises these issues were present before the pandemic exacerbated them. Patients have had to wait years to see a dentist, many not having been able to get an appointment...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Llywydd. It gives me great pleasure to call on the Senedd to celebrate the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol's tenth anniversary, and I, as Plaid Cymru spokesperson on post-16 education, wish to congratulate them on their first decade of planning and developing Welsh-language and bilingual provision—provision that is providing valuable opportunities to so many students in our...
Sioned Williams: What is most tragic about alcohol-specific deaths, alcohol-related hospital admissions and the consequences of alcohol dependency is they are completely preventable. What is unforgivable, perhaps, is that alcohol dependency disproportionately affects people who are socioeconomically deprived. On average, people on low incomes drink less than people on higher incomes. The minimum unit pricing...
Sioned Williams: Thank you for your statement, Minister. There was a report in the Guardian recently that some refugees from Ukraine that have come to the United Kingdom were having to wait up to two years before being able to receive specialist therapy to help them deal with the atrocities that they have faced as a result of the war. We, of course, can't imagine the pressure on these people who've seen such...
Sioned Williams: 1. How is the Government supporting the work of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol? OQ58054
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister. In his speech in the Senedd to mark the tenth anniversary of the coleg, Dr Ioan Matthews, the chief executive, referred to the large number of Welsh speakers studying in universities across Wales who still don't make that choice to study part of their degree through the medium of Welsh. It's clear that there's still a challenge in terms of encouraging students to study...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I could open this debate by reeling off the statistics that clearly show the need for action on health inequalities and the reason why we have tabled this motion before Members today, and that the lack of a women's health strategy merits scrutiny and debate, especially given the Government's own stated aim of becoming a feminist Government. But I'll save my own words...
Sioned Williams: 2. Will the First Minister outline the Government's strategy to protect the rights of disabled children in South Wales West? OQ58096
Sioned Williams: Thank you, First Minister. Parents of two disabled children in my region have contacted me following their difficulty in ensuring suitable childcare. The children have been attending a Flying Start nursery, where there is support available, but now that they are over four years of age the parents were expected to pay three times more for care over the school holidays than children without...
Sioned Williams: I want to focus on the impact of Brexit on research and innovation funding, which clearly illustrates the assertion in our motion that post-Brexit funding streams are not working for Wales. So, why is this a problem? Research and innovation is absolutely fundamental to our nation's productivity and prosperity. It further helps us understand who we are and how we can best plan our future,...
Sioned Williams: It's a sad fact, isn't it, that it took a global pandemic and a movement ignited by a horrific murder in the United States, that of George Floyd, to open the eyes of many in Wales to the blatant truth of race inequality and its devastating and too often deadly consequences—a truth lived by thousands of Welsh black, Asian and minority ethnic people, an everyday experience of living with...
Sioned Williams: I welcome the opportunity to contribute to this debate today. The Equality and Human Rights Commission continues to do vital work. Indeed, during these worrying times, when human rights are being threatened to an unprecedented degree by the Tory Government at Westminster, it is doing vital work to ensure that Welsh institutions and the Welsh Government take every opportunity to ensure...
Sioned Williams: And now we are facing a cost-of-living crisis that is both desperate and disastrous—an economic and social crisis that stems from, and is compounded by the aggregate impact of many of these elements, as well as some new elements such as the price of energy and the war on our continent, threatening some of the most fundamental human rights of our people to food and heat. What struck me was...
Sioned Williams: Simply, the Senedd should reflect the Wales that it serves. Its Members, those who speak for their communities in this place, those who scrutinise the impact of policy and legislation, and the way in which our nation is governed, must be representative of those communities. Currently, only 26 of the 60 Members sitting in this Chamber are women, although over half the population of Wales is...
Sioned Williams: So, why are gender quotas a necessary step? How will they be effective? Well, gender quotas will provide a quick and simple solution to the unjustifiable fact of women's under-representation, or potential under-representation, in elected politics. International research shows that they are the single most effective tool for fast-tracking women's representation in elected bodies for...
Sioned Williams: No, you've had enough say this afternoon, Darren. Well, there are those who believe that the playing field—[Interruption.] There are those who believe that the playing field is already level—
Sioned Williams: —that structural inequality, which we debated in this very Chamber yesterday, doesn't exist, although report after report points to the contrary, and the make-up of this Senedd proves it beyond a doubt. There are those who feel that we don't need statutory measures to ensure better representation. After all, we wore our early gender balance achievements as a badge of pride and patted...
Sioned Williams: Again, we need timescales for this crucial work. It must not be swept aside. Hybrid working is also a key component of workplace practice, and it isn't mentioned, unfortunately, in the committee report. So, I would like to hear if the Government would consider addressing this as a part of Senedd reform.
Sioned Williams: Yes. I hope this is only the first step of many towards a Senedd that truly reflects and represents the citizens it serves. As Mary Wollstonecraft said, 'The beginning is always today.' I'm glad to see that today is dawning.
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you for your statement, Minister. The scale of the crisis facing too many households in Wales is truly horrifying. Inflation, as we've heard, is at a 40-year high, and energy prices are going up 23 times faster than wages. Given this emergency facing households, Plaid Cymru agrees that the UK Government should reinstate the £20 uplift to universal credit...
