Jane Dodds: The Royal College of General Practitioners in Wales say that loneliness and social isolation can be as bad for patients as chronic long-term conditions. Loneliness puts people at a 50 per cent increased risk of an early death. Forty-one per cent of people in material deprivation were lonely, compared with those of around 12 per cent who are not in material deprivation, and that's following on...
Jane Dodds: Thank you, Llywydd, and thank you also to the Trefnydd.
Jane Dodds: Pre COVID, one in three women were experiencing some form of violence, domestic abuse or sexual violence. The full impact of the pandemic on women experiencing violence is still to be determined, but sadly, from anecdotal evidence, it is likely that numbers have increased. Welsh Women's Aid reported in 2020, and they stated that the provision of sustainable funding for violence against women,...
Jane Dodds: Just continuing the theme of evictions, in Mid and West Wales, there were 77,000 social housing tenancies in arrears in March 2019, and, as we know, the pressure of lost income and loss of employment has likely pushed many more into rent arrears. You'll be aware, Minister, that the evictions ban introduced in December 2020 came to an end, although I do welcome the fact that landlords still...
Jane Dodds: Diolch, Gweinidog. The Organisaston for Economic Co-operation and Development has said 'Providing access to quality education in rural areas is crucial to meet the needs of rural youth, and also to attract young families to settle in these regions.' I was proud that, under Kirsty Williams's leadership, Wales introduced its first ever rural schools strategy and action plan, setting out how...
Jane Dodds: Every morning, I walk my dog along a very short part of the Offa's Dyke path, and today I want to mark the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of the Offa's Dyke path. It is a 177-mile long walking trail, opened in the summer of 1971. It links Sedbury cliffs near Chepstow with the coastal town of Prestatyn. In addition to being hugely important for our history and culture, it represents one...
Jane Dodds: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'd like to start by making a declaration of interest on this item, as I'm still a registered social worker. 'They said I was going to be there until I was 18 but because it was so expensive…they had to move me back down...they waited until I got my GCSEs, I thought that was fair, but didn't like a decision about my future based on money given they had put me...
Jane Dodds: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. And thank you to everyone who has spoken on this subject.
Jane Dodds: Thank you very much to you all—those of you who spoke on this issue. Thank you to Laura Anne, to Gareth and to Siân as well. I'm very grateful to you. And I'd also like to thank those organisations that I spoke to who contributed towards my thinking here. Thank you also to the Deputy Minister as well for your response. I think I just really need to make this one thing clear—two things,...
Jane Dodds: If we are to, here, as a nation, understand what did work and what mistakes were made in the last 18 months and stop those from happening again, and root out the fundamental failures and shortcomings that contributed to those mistakes, then we do need an inquiry with the sharpest possible teeth. That is why the Liberal Democrats led calls in Westminster for an urgent United Kingdom inquiry...
Jane Dodds: Thank you very much, Lywydd; it's nice to see everyone back. First Minister, recently, the Newtown patients' forum has raised concerns about the huge pressures on GP services. Whilst coronavirus has exacerbated the problems in Newtown and beyond, a number of practices in the region have seen huge pressures for years.
Jane Dodds: I'd like to pay tribute to Russell George, the Aelod of the Senedd for Montgomeryshire, for the work that he has done in pushing forward the north Powys well-being programme, which would help to address some of these problems. May I ask the First Minister, please, for a timetable for when we can see this programme, which would make such a difference to north Powys? Diolch yn fawr iawn.
Jane Dodds: I wonder if I could ask you to provide a statement from the Minister for Health and Social Services, please, on dentists across Wales, particularly within Mid and West Wales. We have a particular challenge in this very rural area in being able to access NHS dentists, and I'd particularly be interested in the availability of dentists within the Llandrindod Wells and Knighton areas, where...
Jane Dodds: Thank you for the statement, Minister. I'd firstly like to commend those who have been at the fore of rolling out the vaccine across Wales, and those staff working to keep us safe, as well, with the number, as you say, of COVID cases and hospitalisations continuing to rise. I note that health boards in our region have spoken over the weekend about a perfect storm of COVID hospitalisations,...
Jane Dodds: Thank you very much. It's nice to be back and to see everybody. 2. Will the Minister make a statement on budget allocations to the health and social services portfolio in relation to the provision of children's services? OQ56819
Jane Dodds: Thank you very much, Minister.
Jane Dodds: I know that the welfare and life chances of our children and young people, especially those in care, is a shared priority for Ministers and me. In the last decade, we have seen an increase in the number of children coming into the care of local authorities, and I know that support workers and others work incredibly hard to give children and young people in care the best start in life. This...
Jane Dodds: I have a rescue greyhound. Every year, young and healthy greyhound dogs are killed because they lack winning potential, were injured while they were racing, or are no longer competitive. Racing greyhounds routinely experience terrible injuries on the track, such as broken legs, cardiac arrest, spinal cord paralysis and broken necks. My own dog has a very injured neck, for example, so I can...
Jane Dodds: I'm very grateful to Plaid Cymru for introducing the motion today, and it's very important that we discuss this, isn't it? The coronavirus has demonstrated to all of us how important it is to have that social support. It's vital in ensuring that we succeed together, that every individual and every household succeeds. Our communities can't, and our economy can't, prosper following the...
Jane Dodds: Just as people begin to hope that we can move forward from the worst of the coronavirus, the UK Government is ripping support from right under the feet of people in incredibly precarious positions. The Prime Minister's claim that he wants people to live by their own efforts rather than welfare shows how out of touch he really is. Almost half of those receiving universal credit are already in...
