Rhianon Passmore: There is no doubt that we all, collectively as a nation and as a people, are standing at the cusp of a new social and economic future and that our people are bitterly divided and we must now come together to tackle our future. Though we must accept the democratic mandate and will of the people, we must also all acknowledge the narrow margin, as has been referenced earlier, and the significant...
Rhianon Passmore: I second that nomination.
Rhianon Passmore: I nominate Mike Hedges.
Rhianon Passmore: With the ever-increasing understanding of the importance of safe air quality on quality of life and on health and well-being, precisely because of this, I wanted to speak in this debate, in particular due to the fact that I’m a chronic asthmatic, and my son has been hospitalised on many occasions due to his asthma. There is unease at levels of air pollution, and I note that Crumlin in...
Rhianon Passmore: I’m referencing it, Llywydd. I’ll move on. I would agree with this motion that it is beholden on the Welsh Government and all of us to safeguard the quality of life of our planet and to ensure that the people of Wales enjoy the highest standards of air quality.
Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, Lywydd. It is a great honour for me, representing the people of Islwyn, to rise to give the first short debate of this fifth Assembly by an Assembly Member elected in May 2016. As a former teacher, lecturer and former cabinet member for education in local government it comes as no surprise that I have decided to focus this debate on the greatest issue that this home of Welsh democracy...
Rhianon Passmore: I would like to take this opportunity to personally and formally welcome the Cabinet Secretary for Education to her role on behalf of the people of Islwyn. I wish her well in her vital role and she should know that she will have my support in ensuring that we leave no child behind in our drive to lift educational outcomes. ‘Education is “the guardian genius of our democracy.” Nothing...
Rhianon Passmore: 8. Will the First Minister outline the risks to the Welsh economy if the UK Government does not guarantee every penny of funding which the EU currently provides Wales? OAQ(5)0101(FM)
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you, First Minister, for that answer. Since 2007, EU projects have created 11,900 enterprises and some 37,000 jobs. This EU funding has helped 72,700 people into work, helped more than 229,000 gain qualifications, and has funded 56,000 people into further learning since 2007. Under the current £1.8 billion EU-supported programmes, more than £700 million of EU structural funding has...
Rhianon Passmore: I’ll be brief. Thank you. The Valleys communities have indeed borne the brunt of the impact of Tory recessions and Tory economic downturns, without a doubt. Swingeing welfare cuts have already been discussed. In my community, the immoral acts within the bedroom tax have caused huge and great disadvantage. In terms of cutting straight to a question—thank you, acting Presiding...
Rhianon Passmore: Harold Wilson used to say that a week is a long time in politics. Well, it seems like a political lifetime ago, as has already been referenced, when the Queen’s Speech was delivered to Parliament on 18 May 2016. Outside of the many economic, trade and societal issues we now face, it is inevitable for Wales that attention focuses now on the Wales Bill. There is no doubt that the new Bill is...
Rhianon Passmore: 2. Will the Minister outline the percentage of pupils in infant classes of over 30 pupils in Islwyn? OAQ(5)0009(EDU)
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you for that. The most recent school census shows the average infant class size in Wales was 25.4 pupils. What action will the Welsh Government take to ensure that infant class sizes in Islwyn are reduced to 25, as reducing infant class sizes is an important issue for parents and can have a positive effect on teachers’ workload? And when does the Cabinet Secretary believe the target...
Rhianon Passmore: Let us be in no doubt that the BBC is held in high regard by the Welsh public. In its final annual review of BBC Wales’s output, Audience Council Wales—the ACW—stated that three in five people, which is 62 per cent, in Wales, ‘feel the TV licence fee offers value for money, while more than four in five people in Wales would miss the BBC if it was not there’. That is 83 per cent....
Rhianon Passmore: 8. Will the First Minister make a statement on how the Welsh NHS maintains the principle of being free at the point of care? OAQ(5)0134(FM)
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you for that answer, First Minister. The internal market in the NHS in England has been estimated to cost up to £10 billion a year. Would you agree with me that the Welsh Labour Government commitment to having no internal market in the Welsh NHS has been of tremendous benefit for patients, and that it is a commitment that will continue?
Rhianon Passmore: Will you take an intervention?
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you. So, are you actually saying that, post Brexit negotiations, our farmers in Wales will be better off?
Rhianon Passmore: This motion truly does go to the heart of what UKIP is really about, which is selection and segregation. Circular 10/65 is an important landmark that shaped education in this country in the second half of the twentieth century. Fifty-one years later, it still stands as one of the defining progressive achievements of the radical 1964-1970 Wilson Labour Government, and we will talk about a few...
Rhianon Passmore: I’m sorry, I won’t. And further, that its record of admitting children from non-middle-class backgrounds was ‘pretty woeful’. We’ve heard those words already—pretty woeful. I know that the members of UKIP would like us to live in Michael Gove’s world and his parallel universe. That former Tory education Secretary declared earlier this year, ‘I think people in this country have...
