Siân Gwenllian: Will the First Minister make a statement on the recent local government settlement?
Siân Gwenllian: Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government policy on business rates?
Siân Gwenllian: 6. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the impact of the proposals outlined in 'Brexit and our land' on the Welsh language? OAQ52861
Siân Gwenllian: Almost a third of Welsh farmers are Welsh speakers, which is 50 per cent higher than the average of all Welsh speakers in Wales. The agricultural sector and farming families make a crucial contribution to the Welsh language and safeguard the Welsh language in our rural communities. Therefore, the proposals in 'Brexit and our land', which suggest ceasing direct payments to farmers after...
Siân Gwenllian: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the implications of the local government settlement for 2019/20? OAQ52872
Siân Gwenllian: Gwynedd Council is facing an £11 million cut in light of the fiscal policy of your Government, which will impact on services for the most vulnerable people in my constituency. The Government has announced that an additional £15 million is available for schools and £13 million for social care, but this is restricted by certain conditions. You, like me, have argued consistently for stronger...
Siân Gwenllian: I'd like to thank Llyr Gruffydd, my predecessor on this committee, for his thorough work. I also look forward to contributing with great energy to the work of this committee and as the spokesperson for Plaid Cymru on education. Improving the attainment of pupils from deprived backgrounds is vitally important to Plaid Cymru and, according to the Cabinet Secretary, it's also a priority for the...
Siân Gwenllian: It’s clear that the uncertainty around these pension payments is creating great problems at a grass-roots level, and it’s not clear at all what the mechanism will be for providing the additional funding. What discussions are you having, therefore, with the Treasury, with your Members of Parliament in Westminster and, indeed, with the teaching unions about this problem?
Siân Gwenllian: The hope, of course, is that the additional learning needs Act will truly transform education for these children and young people, but, as we’ve heard, sufficient resources are crucial, but also the appropriate skills. There is a question as to whether those skills are available across the board at the moment. How confident are you, therefore, that the high expectations that pupils, parents...
Siân Gwenllian: I’ve very aware of the concerns of parents, teachers and education leaders in north Wales as a result of GCSE English exam results. It appears that children in north Wales who sat the exams in the summer of 2018 have been let down. Up to 700 children could have been impacted by this—children who would have had grade C or above if they’d been treated equally with children who sat the...
Siân Gwenllian: Raising standards and raising the status of the profession is something that Plaid Cymru has been calling for for many years, of course. If the workforce isn't given—
Siân Gwenllian: Okay. Do you want me to try again? Is it working now?
Siân Gwenllian: Okay. I hope you can hear me now, and I hope the interpretation is clear too.
Siân Gwenllian: Excellent. I will start again, therefore. Raising standards and raising the status of the profession is something that Plaid Cymru has been calling for for many years. If the workforce isn’t given quality training throughout their career, from the initial teacher training up to retirement from the sector, then standards won’t improve in our classrooms. Before turning to one issue that's...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much. Despite the claims made by the Minister, it’s a cause of concern that many recent decisions taken by the Welsh Government have been taken without giving full consideration to the rights of children. In her written evidence to the scrutiny of the draft Welsh Government budget, the children’s commissioner, in a report that is quite damning of the Welsh Government, says this:
Siân Gwenllian: 'children’s rights appear to be an "add-on" within this budget... 'There does not appear to have been progress around the prominence of children and children’s rights within the budget considerations; 'There is a lack of analytical evidence in the form of Children’s Rights Impact Assessments to show whether children are better or worse off as a result of the budget decisions'.
Siân Gwenllian: There was no children's rights impact assessment prepared for the budget proposals, not even for the three important areas that have been subject to budgetary cuts, which are the school uniform grant, the minority ethnic attainment grant and the all-Wales schools contact programme. The commissioner’s report, which will be discussed on Thursday, raises major questions, and I do look forward...
Siân Gwenllian: 2. Will the Leader of the House provide an update on broadband connectivity in Arfon? OAQ52897
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you. The quality of connectivity to broadband in Arfon is inconsistent, be that in urban or rural areas. For example, in the Menai business park in Bangor, businesses are placed at a significant disadvantage because of the lack of quality of the connectivity. Many constituents have given me examples where a handful of homes are exempted; although fibre to the premises is provided for...
Siân Gwenllian: There is huge demand for the additional capital funding allocated for twenty-first century schools projects from the Welsh-medium sector, which is excellent news, of course, and demonstrates a desire to support the Government's ambition of a million Welsh speakers, but there isn’t sufficient funding to meet that demand by any stretch. Over £100 million-worth of applications for funding...
