Sioned Williams: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. It's difficult when you're on Zoom and when you've got COVID. I just want to say to Jenny, who wants to wait, that families can't wait. I would prefer to listen to those with lived experience, rather than Gordon Brown, on what solutions are needed. Mark Isherwood, thank you for your support. I agree that these are not new ideas. Action is overdue. Imagine if this had...
Sioned Williams: What was obvious in the evidence that we heard as a committee was that peer-on-peer sexual harassment was so common that it was accepted as normal behaviour. That was certainly the most striking thing for me as well, and that schools are also struggling to deal with this effectively. The impact, in some cases, affects the well-being, attainment and health of learners. As Laura Anne Jones...
Sioned Williams: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on the role of community pharmacies in improving the health of residents in South Wales West? OQ58648
Sioned Williams: Diolch. Over the last decade, services delivered by communities' pharmacies have increased, but the numbers of community pharmacies have remained pretty static, despite increased healthcare demands and reforms, such as those you've just mentioned, to support Welsh Government's vision for community pharmacy teams to support health and care services. But many of my constituents have raised...
Sioned Williams: I'm a member of the Equality and Social Justice Committee that held an inquiry into the Warm Homes programme, making recommendations in terms of lessons learnt and improving the new version of the programme. In responding to the recommendations, the Government suggested there would be an update on the next version soon after the summer recess. Your statement today, now that we are in...
Sioned Williams: This isn't only an issue of gender equality, but it's also an issue of social justice. We know that the cost-of-living crisis is affecting women disproportionately, and, according to a recent YouGov survey, one in eight people say they'll struggle to afford period products over the next year. And of course, periods are not a choice, and, for many women, they're a challenge—it affects their...
Sioned Williams: Thank you for your statement, Minister. Plaid Cymru is proud of the emphasis on promoting, expanding and developing lifelong education in our co-operation agreement with the Government and our collaboration on the establishment of a tertiary education and research commission. It's vital to ensure now that the commission's focus is on ensuring that Wales is more successful in its aim of...
Sioned Williams: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on the Government’s strategy for improving labour market outcomes for women? OQ58707
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister. Women from all parts of Wales marched recently to ensure changes in working practices that create a disadvantage for mothers. And the Minister will be aware of the new report by Chwarae Teg, which demonstrates that the gender pay gap continues to be high, at 11.3 per cent this year. At almost 30 per cent, the gap is widest in Neath Port Talbot, in the region that I...
Sioned Williams: As Plaid Cymru spokesperson on social justice and equalities, I welcome the recommendations of this important report. As Paul Davies mentioned, many of these recommendations echo and underline many of those that have been made by a number of reports by the Equality and Social Justice Committee into issues related to poverty and the cost-of-living crisis, as well as calls made by many...
Sioned Williams: I’m pleased to have an opportunity to speak in this debate as Plaid Cymru spokesperson on social justice and equalities and as chair of the cross-party group on learning disabilities. Plaid Cymru is fully supportive of measures to improve all kinds of public accessibility for disabled people and those with specific needs, and we are pleased to see this proposal to ensure that Changing...
Sioned Williams: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for communities who experience flooding in South Wales West? OQ58741
Sioned Williams: Diolch. Three weeks ago, heavy rainfall overwhelmed drains and culverts in a number of communities in my region and I saw the effect of this first-hand, both in the Swansea valley and the following day in the Melincryddan area of Neath, and this is the third time in recent years that the Melyn has suffered from serious flooding. It was heartbreaking to speak with residents who expressed their...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister. In your statement, and we've heard about the inquiry of the Equality and Social Justice Committee, and I'm a member of that committee—. I had an extremely valuable experience on that visit to HMP Eastwood Park. Because that's where I was able to understand in full the implications of the way that Welsh women are disadvantaged by the criminal justice system by being...
Sioned Williams: Minister, it really brought home to me how that jagged edge of intersecting, unaligned, but shared devolved and reserved powers and responsibilities over which the criminal justice system operates in Wales is such a sharp one for women, which, of course, has been demonstrated so clearly by the book published recently by Professor Richard Wyn Jones and Dr Robert Jones of the Wales Governance...
Sioned Williams: Thank you for your update, Minister. It's disappointing to hear that there hasn't been a clear response as yet from UK Government regarding greater funding for hosts and local authorities to assist with the provision of support for Ukrainian refugees in Wales during this cost-of-living crisis. For all Rishi Sunak's warm words in Kyiv, the Westminster Conservative Government is not showing...
Sioned Williams: 8. Will the Minister provide an update on any progress in attracting people to train as teachers to teach in Welsh-medium secondary schools? OQ58757
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister. Can you explain what work is being done to identify those subjects where there is a lack of Welsh-medium teachers in the secondary sector? We understand that there is a serious lack in terms of those training in physics and mathematics, for example, so I’d like to know what the Government is doing to analyse the data to feed in to the work of attracting more students...
Sioned Williams: I'm glad also of the opportunity to speak on this motion today, which I supported and which Plaid Cymru will be supporting, and I would like to thank Jenny Rathbone for bringing this debate to the Senedd. As she said, it's extremely timely. A person's social networks can have a significant impact on their health, both physical and mental, and studies have shown that a person's social...
Sioned Williams: Definitely. All these things are preventative, aren't they, and I think that is shown very clearly in the report. As I was saying, Government must show that it values people and shares their concerns, hears their perspectives and works to create a society where people feel like they belong to foster a healthy social environment so as to avoid deepening the causes of poor mental health, which,...
