Michelle Brown: Thank you for that answer, First Minister, but as we all know there have been some very significant projects dropped recently, including Circuit for Wales, Wylfa nuclear power station and the tidal lagoon. In each case, these failed because of issues with the funding model. For jobs and quality of life, Wales needs some major public infrastructure projects to actually get off the ground....
Michelle Brown: 5. What discussions has the Minister had with local authorities following the Welsh Government's publication of the independent review into housing? OAQ53863
Michelle Brown: Thank you for that answer, Minister. Recent figures have shown that some families are spending three years in temporary accommodation, so the average time to wait in some areas is months and not days. People are waiting a long time for proper accommodation, and I'm sure you empathise with those people. Under the Housing (Wales) Act 2014, local authorities have a duty to find accommodation for...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for introducing this proposal for a Bill. I agree that we must find a cleaner way of getting from A to B, and I'll be supporting the motion. However, although many people dream of the day when we're all diesel and petrol free, and I would join them on that, we have to be careful about rushing ahead with the promotion of electric vehicles and seriously consider the realities of mass...
Michelle Brown: Electric vehicles rely on batteries. Batteries require cobalt, and the vast majority of that is sourced from the Congo—an area rife with conflict. Furthermore, children are exploited to work in the cobalt mines for slave wages, and much of the profits the companies make is used to fund civil war. The term 'blood batteries' has now entered the lexicon of those talking about development of...
Michelle Brown: Yes, go on.
Michelle Brown: Yes, fantastic, but you say it's one of the developments that is to come. What I'm saying is that going for a mass roll-out of electrical vehicles before the technology and the infrastructure has caught up isn't particularly the right way to go. Okay. So, we can't actually say for sure that the more widespread electrical vehicle use is, the quicker the technology will catch up, and until a...
Michelle Brown: I'll get on with it, yes. I've just got another point. Another concern is the silent nature of electrical cars. The ability to hear a vehicle coming is vital to keeping yourself safe on the road and around the road. What concerns me is that electric cars are so quiet that it causes a health and safety risk. So, I would like manufacturers to address that health and safety risk. And then...
Michelle Brown: Thank you to the Tory group for bringing the motion, which I support, although I do find it astounding that, in 2019, we have so many young carers. I met an 18-year-old carer at the weekend who is looking after her ill mother and disabled sister. She's got no life of her own. She deserves a medal, she deserves support, but more than that, she deserves that life of her own, and the authorities...
Michelle Brown: 1. What discussions has the Minister had with local authorities regarding how the collection of business rates and the discretionary awarding of business rate relief can be used to improve Welsh high streets? OAQ53915
Michelle Brown: Thank you for your response, Minister. There are some imaginative ways that rate relief is being used to make town centres better places to be. For example, in Flintshire, they've offered a rate reduction to businesses that give public access to their toilets. Another way that rate relief and the business rate system could be used is to incentivise the growth of job-creating businesses over...
Michelle Brown: I thank the Tory group for bringing this motion. The motion is absolutely spot on in attempting to prevent the use and export of plastic products, rather than some of the amendments to be made to the motion, which attempt to suggest that recycling is the solution to the issue of plastic overuse. We shouldn't get shrink-wrapped into a belief that material that is recyclable or biodegradable is...
Michelle Brown: I'd like to thank Caroline for allowing me to contribute to her debate. Scams are essentially a breach of trust. They often cause embarrassment, where a victim will almost blame themselves for falling for the scam. Raising awareness of scams will of course greatly help to reduce the unwarranted stigma of being a scam victim, as well as going some way to encouraging the public to be on their...
Michelle Brown: Oh, all right. I'll sit down, then.
Michelle Brown: How will the introduction of Lucy's law relating to the regulation of puppy farming in England affect rural Wales?
Michelle Brown: It seems remarkable and contradictory that it's only a few weeks since this place backed calls to declare a climate emergency, the first parliament in the world to do so, and yet some Members here are calling for the building of a new major road for economic reasons. Regardless of how you voted in the climate change emergency debate, you can't deny that building a road of this size would...
Michelle Brown: I'll say first of all that I do support the devolution of air passenger duty, but I am wary about what the Welsh Government will do with it. Labour like nothing more than to spend other people's money and they think they know better how to spend other people's money than people do themselves. Recently, we heard that, across the border, Welsh Labour's fellow travellers and ideological...
Michelle Brown: No. Let's crack on, Mark. Sorry. By wanting to control this regressive tax, but in complete contradiction wanting to also stay in an EU that imposes taxes over which the Welsh Government have no control and can only tug at the sleeves of their so-called friends in the EU to try to influence decisions, shows that even when it comes to low-income families, the message from this Labour...
Michelle Brown: I also support the introduction of this Bill and thank the Member for introducing it. We're all familiar with the horror stories. Babies have died because of NHS mismanagement. Thousands of young people have had their lives put on hold because metal health waiting lists have quadrupled. Patients have died waiting hours for an emergency ambulance to arrive. Lives have been hugely blighted for...
Michelle Brown: Reading the report and the Government's responses, you could be forgiven for thinking the problem the Government faces with the Welsh bac is that colleges don't properly understand what it is. However, looking at some of the information in the full report, it's clear that the actual problem the Welsh Government faces is that universities and educational professionals do understand the Welsh...
