Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his response to Janet Finch-Saunders's question. I wonder if he agrees with me that, while the overall reduction target of 4 per cent is to be welcomed and that none of us wish to see children unnecessarily taken into care, no such overall targets should influence decisions regarding individual children. It has been put to me by some front-line social...
Helen Mary Jones: 3. What discussions has the Counsel General held regarding access to justice in Wales? OAQ54698
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his response. May I ask him this afternoon, in further discussions that he may have, to prioritise access to justice for women and children in the family court system? I have had a number of constituency cases brought to me where people are very gravely concerned that children's voices, particularly the voices of children who have been in homes where...
Helen Mary Jones: 4. What recent discussions has the Counsel General had with law officers regarding the outcome of the judicial review about the alleged mishandling of raising the state pension age for women born in the 1950s? OAQ54700
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his reply. I'm afraid he might be getting rather fed up with me this afternoon. I would like to take this opportunity, Llywydd, just to remind the Chamber of the scale of this problem. We have an estimated 195,000 women across Wales affected by that—over 41,000 in the region that I represent. I'd like to ask the Counsel General this afternoon—he...
Helen Mary Jones: I just want to make a few very brief comments—some of the points that I would otherwise have wished to raise have either already been addressed by the Minister or have been raised by other speakers. With regard to the committee's recommendation 2, I was pleased to hear what the Minister said with regard to the level of support that will be available to staff—to any GP who finds themselves...
Helen Mary Jones: 4. Will the Commission make a statement on preparations for the extension of the franchise ahead of the next Assembly election in May 2021? OAQ54729
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Llywydd for her reply. I'm sure that the Llywydd would agree with me that it's particularly important that we engage young people in this process. Concerns have been raised in the course of the debate about making sure that we drive up the participation of young people between 16 and 17 in elections. May I suggest, Llywydd, that, if appropriate, this is something that...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to begin by thanking the Conservative group for bringing forward this debate on this very important issue, and to say a personal thank you to Mark Isherwood for his excellent work on this very, very important topic, which, as he says, has been a consistent feature of his contribution to the Assembly ever since he was elected. And I know that colleagues...
Helen Mary Jones: I agree with everything that Angela Burns has said. I think it isn't acceptable that people in some communities can have access to a service and people in other communities cannot. I don't think any of us would want a one-size-fits-all across the whole of Wales, because our communities and individuals need different things, but we do need to offer that variety of services. I'd like to move on...
Helen Mary Jones: I rise to participate in this debate somewhat conflicted. There is much to commend in what this Bill seeks to achieve: the strengthening of the citizen voice, introducing a duty of candour, a duty of quality. But as the committee's report highlights, and as referenced by the other committee report, and is clear in evidence from stakeholders, as it's actually drafted at the moment, it's a...
Helen Mary Jones: Rhun ap Iorwerth is absolutely right in what he says, and this, of course, is why the committee recommends that it should be, on the face of the Bill, set out how these organisations will operate regionally. I don't think anybody in the committee is arguing that there shouldn't be change, but we don't want to be throwing the baby out with the bath water. And while that may not be the...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm very pleased to be able to rise to make a very short contribution to this debate. Siân Gwenllian has already set out the case for our amendments, and I'm extremely grateful to the Deputy Minister for accepting them, though, like Siân, I would like a little bit more clarity about what exactly that means in terms of numerical targets. I know how passionate the Deputy Minister is about...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, I'm really keen to understand why it was that the seven previous reports into the issues at Cwm Taf hadn't raised concerns with you, hadn't brought you to the point where you eventually did take the action that you took. And I have to bring you back to the question of the integrated medium-term plans, because there were some plans that you chose not to sign...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm struggling to understand this, and perhaps we're all suffering from general election fatigue and there's something the matter with my brain, but the Minister has just said that he was confident that Cwm Taf had the ability to deliver on that three-year plan that he signed off. Now, bear in mind, Deputy Presiding Officer, that this was before any of the interventions that the Minister has...
Helen Mary Jones: Well, well, 'you can't know what you don't know'. Well, Minister, you'd had seven reports before you signed off on that plan. You'd had seven reports from different parts of the health service that were telling you that there was a crucial service and that if you put all of that bad evidence together before you get the royal college's report, you can see that there are things seriously going...
Helen Mary Jones: I'd like to thank Jack Sargeant for raising this really important question today. I wonder if the Minister agrees with me that one of the issues that's key in the way that young people perceive healthy relationships and what's acceptable is the exposure at a very young age of so many of our young men and women to pornography, some of it of a very violent nature, which infects their idea of...
Helen Mary Jones: What assessment has the Minister made of the implications for Welsh families of the report on maternity services at Shrewsbury and Telford Hospital NHS Trust?
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I'd also like to thank the Minister for his statement and for the advance copy. It is very welcome that there is clearly some positive news. I'd like to ask the Minister some specific questions—none that don't relate to matters raised in his statement, but, if there are some that are too specific to be dealt with in this format, perhaps the Minister could...
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. This year sees the tenth anniversary of the Sub-Sahara Advisory Panel, a coalition of 35 organisations across Wales who work with the sub-Saharan and African diaspora communities. The organisations do a wide range of work. Some of them support new citizens who've arrived here in Wales. Some of them work raising funds and resources and providing support to...
