Bethan Sayed: I was wondering if we could have a statement on local government procurement criteria and strategy. I’m asking because I’ve had contact from a furniture company in Port Talbot that bid for contracts with Bridgend County Borough Council. They’ve put furniture in quite a lot of schools across Wales, but they weren’t even allowed to put in a bid to Bridgend County Borough Council,...
Bethan Sayed: First Minister, on Friday I was with the ethnic youth support team in Swansea, and they were saying that they would like to have much more support going into schools and education venues in regard to trying to get communities to work together. And so, in one school, they had a white girl wearing a hijab, and she walked down the street, and then she came back and said how different she felt...
Bethan Sayed: I’d just like to ask some questions and raise some issues with regard to some of the budget negotiations with Plaid Cymru. I would like to echo what has been said already: as somebody who has been here for 10 years now, I think it’s important that we try to find common ground where we can, and utilise our abilities as politicians to come up with solutions as well as to scrutinise....
Bethan Sayed: I was wondering how you could tell us more about how young people are engaged with the issue surrounding homelessness in school. I’m obviously aware of the Shelter Cymru toolkit, which is widely used across schools in Wales, but I wonder how that can be enhanced upon, because we had a debate only last week from young people in Wrexham—not Wrexham, sorry—Ynys Môn, who came down to the...
Bethan Sayed: What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the announcement that Ford Bridgend will lose contracts with Jaguar Land Rover post 2020? (TAQ0049)
Bethan Sayed: Thank you very much for that response. The first clear signs that I got of trouble emerged in March, and on 21 August the workforce, as you will know I’m sure, voted for industrial action, which has now been put on hold. It has been known and said by members of your own Welsh Government that working practices have been allowed to grow as an issue for a number of years. We did have a...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m very pleased to open this debate on the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee’s report, ‘Achieving the Ambition: Inquiry into the Welsh Government’s new Welsh Language Strategy’. The Welsh Government has committed itself to creating 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. If this ambition is successful it will mean doubling the...
Bethan Sayed: There are issues raised in some of the specific recommendations in the report, and in the Government’s response to them, that I would like to mention, and I hope the Minister will respond to these in his contribution to the debate. Therefore, if we look at some specific recommendations, recommendation 5 called for additional help and support for private sector employers and businesses to...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you very much. I’d like to thank everyone for contributing to this debate today. Even though we’ve had a debate on the Bill yesterday, I think it’s helped, in a way, to have a debate in the same week, for us to be able to look at this issue in a comprehensive way. I thank Suzy Davies for her contribution. What you said about education for adults struck me—about closing our eyes...
Bethan Sayed: First Minister, yesterday, I was pleased to be able to go out and be a ‘The Big Issue’ vendor, alongside Cabinet Secretary Carl Sargeant, taking part in that process as a way of seeing how people who are, potentially, in between housing, who are struggling with many things in their lives, are using ‘The Big Issue’ to sell and not to beg. What I found was it was quite revealing as to...
Bethan Sayed: I was wondering if I could have another update from the Cabinet Secretary for housing with regard to what’s happening with regard to the private sector in relation to aluminium composite material. I ask for an update on this because, since his previous update, I’ve been talking to residents again at Prospect Place in Cardiff, who are telling me that now people can’t get mortgages to...
Bethan Sayed: As a Plaid Cymru group, we are minded to support at the moment, but, as with the caveats proposed by David Melding, I think it’s important that we see what happens at committee stage and to—[Interruption.] Everybody’s phone is going off today. Gosh. I just wanted to say that we’d have to look at what happens in committee in relation to the amendments potentially that will be put...
Bethan Sayed: Diolch, and thank you for holding this debate on what’s a really important topic and one that I don’t think has enough attention in this National Assembly for Wales on a regular basis. I took some inspiration for some of the amendments from Race Equality First and from the Ethnic Youth Support Team in Swansea. Those particular ideas were focusing on teacher training to deal with...
Bethan Sayed: When settling on a replacement for the Nest scheme, can you tell us whether you’d be prepared to look at eligibility rules around applying for some home energy efficiency improvements? I’m thinking Scotland’s corresponding energy assistance package has less stringent criteria, being available for those who are on a low income and pregnant, for example, or to some homes with children. In...
Bethan Sayed: Cabinet Secretary, can you confirm the following questions? Did the Welsh Government offer the Baglan Moors site for the prison, when, at the time it was offered in May 2016, the site was categorised as a C2 flood risk zone and went against your own technical advice note 15 planning guidance? Can you also clarify whether or not the covenant on the land meant that it could only be used for...
Bethan Sayed: Okay. I don’t think you answered the first question, but I can come back to it again. I just want to try and probe further on that in particular. Why was the flood-risk category only updated via Natural Resources Wales in March 2017? This was the same month that news about the site became—. The preferred option for a new prison, during this time, became public. It’s my understanding...
Bethan Sayed: The point is, though, that it was changed, and it made it more viable, therefore, for this prison to be able to be built. In the past, it wasn’t as viable for industries to go and seek out that land, and I’m trying to understand why that was and when that decision was made, and I’m not hearing that from you here today. With regard to the covenant, and it’s my understanding, as is...
Bethan Sayed: I’d like to make a statement marking tomorrow as International Credit Union Day. ‘Not for credit, not for charity, but for service’ is a credit union motto. We often forget that the purpose of banking is not only one of business, but of social need. As we have witnessed the closure and acquisition of thousands of small retail and local banks in the last 30 to 40 years, and when we...
Bethan Sayed: Thanks. I’ve given a minute to Angela Burns. When approaching this debate, thinking about the issues it poses, including patient rights, how we support and trust victims of crimes or mistreatment in the NHS, how we safeguard against future incidents, and how the NHS handles problems and major incidents when they do arise, I felt it was important to use current events as a prism through...
Bethan Sayed: Will you take an intervention?
