Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for today's statement. We've been having an inquiry into homelessness on the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee. As Bethan Jenkins mentioned earlier, we did have a site visit to the Salvation Army hostel just down the road from here, in Bute Street, which was a very instructive visit as we did get to speak not only to the staff, but also to several of...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Llywydd for bringing today's motion on behalf of the Assembly Commission. I also would like to give my thanks to the expert panel for producing its report, and the political reference group itself, which has been meeting over the past year. The PRG meetings were very interesting, so I'm told, although I must point out I only attended one myself, as a substitute. But the UKIP...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. We're here today to debate the proposed expansion of the Welsh Assembly. We heard earlier from the Presiding Officer about the report of the expert panel, which has recommended expansion, and about the public consultation that will now take place. We in UKIP believe that the expansion proposals represent a huge change that will be very costly. We have to establish that...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, well I do tackle this point, David and Mike, so thank you. It is interesting to note that the statutory obligations of an AM, that is, our legal duties, amount to almost nothing, in effect. So, if we are going to say that more AMs are needed, perhaps we first need to lay down a much more stringent set of statutory duties. You will recall how the Assembly was brought into some disrepute...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Now, there is a problem of committee work. This is probably the most serious part of the job, because we could be scrutinising legislation, and the committee work, I find, is quite demanding. However, even there, there are caveats, which the report doesn't go into. For instance, we aren't looking at legislation all of the time on committees, only some of the time. If...
Gareth Bennett: If you would just wait for my proposal, Simon, you might actually have that point clarified. You could have six-Member committees with two Labour, three places between the Conservatives and Plaid, and one UKIP. This would still be proportionate if the Labour Members wielded two votes each in any voting situation. After all, the four Labour Members always vote the same way in any case, with...
Gareth Bennett: Thank you. There is also something more than a little dishonest about this argument over more Members being needed. The 1997 referendum was a vote for an Assembly, which was then set at 60 Members. There was no talk of it having to expand later. The 2011 referendum called for primary law-making powers, but didn't explain that more Members would be needed once this had been achieved....
Gareth Bennett: 7. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to improve the welfare of puppies and dogs in Wales? OAQ51776
Gareth Bennett: Thanks for the previous initiatives. The UK Government is currently looking at bringing in tighter regulations for dog breeding in England. In the light of that, is it possible that we may need to look at tighter regulations again in Wales, given recent cases, such as Lucy's law?
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for bringing today's debate on the annual police settlement. We in UKIP would also be keen to join the Minister in his tribute to serving police officers. I would point out at the outset that we support today's motion, and we welcome the increased financial support, albeit modest increases from the aggregate external finance, which is the Welsh Government's part of the...
Gareth Bennett: Well, I wondered, which is why I raised it. Looking at the Labour manifesto, the UK manifesto from last year, there was not really any mention of devolution of policing, so it would be good to hear today, Minister, what your attitude to devolution of policing is, and how you think that tallies with the attitude of the Westminster Labour Party. What would we like to see in UKIP as the...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for bringing forward today's debate on the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Bill. We agree with the need to reclassify RSLs, and we therefore support today's motion. We do need to do this because we need to protect the provision of affordable housing. Wales is simply not building enough homes. We know that the Welsh Government has set a target of...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Llywydd. Good afternoon, Minister. I wanted to ask a couple of questions, if I may, relating to your recent statement on reforming local government electoral arrangements in Wales. One of your proposed reforms is to extend the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds. One of the arguments that has been used recently in support of that move is the principle of no taxation without representation,...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, I'm aware of those proposals as well. If I can restrict these questions to the 16 and 17-year-olds issue for the time being, another perhaps related point is that we have in this Assembly recently passed legislation that in effect banned 16 and 17-year-olds from being able to use sunbeds or to get a tongue piercing. We in UKIP supported those pieces of Government legislation. If you're...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, you raised the important point there that people need the knowledge. If you're going to give them the responsibility of voting, they need the knowledge, and I think that that is a crucial point. Now, you said in your statement that: 'Within schools, the active citizenship theme of personal and social education will provide young people with an understanding of politics and the right to...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to Plaid for bringing today's debate. We in UKIP agree with many of Plaid's points today. We lament the cuts to the budget of S4C and also the cuts to ITV Wales's broadcasting hours—both English language and Welsh language broadcasting in Wales need adequate provision—but we don't go along with Plaid in their demand for the devolution of broadcasting. We feel that there have been a...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, sure.
Gareth Bennett: That's an interesting intervention, Dai. I refer in the speech to what you said last time we debated these subjects, which was a debate brought by the culture committee, and I do actually return to the points you just made, so I'll expand on them a little bit later. I think, for economic reasons, we do need to get as much production as we can located in Wales, and as many jobs in film and...
Gareth Bennett: Sure.
Gareth Bennett: Well, I suppose the point that I've raised, or I've tried to raise, is, 'Does one thing impinge on the other?', so that may be what we need to consider. Now, we do have this—. Right, Doctor Who, we could have bilingual road signs in Doctor Who, but, obviously, we're not going to go there. They go to planet Mars. It's clearly not supposed to be set in Wales. So, we have this perceived...
