Bethan Sayed: Okay. I'm going to talk about drug issues, so I don't know if that's—. I wasn't asked if it was Rebecca—.
Bethan Sayed: Oh, right, okay. Well, in the first instance—
Bethan Sayed: Yes, well, okay, we'll see if there's cross-Government work then. [Laughter.] My first question is with regard to drug use and misuse in some places, which have reached scarily high levels, and a report earlier this year highlighted that, since 1993, deaths as a result of heroin use have increased significantly. As well as this, there has been a worrying rise in county line drug crime, with...
Bethan Sayed: This next one is both to do with this issue and housing, so I'll see if you can both stand up, potentially.
Bethan Sayed: I wasn't asked this time, to be honest, which Minister I was directing it to, as usual, so I think that's why the confusion has happened.
Bethan Sayed: This is why this is an issue that may be confusing for the Government in terms of who responds to what, because of the fact that there is that issue with regard to the link between deprivation and drugs, and the issue with regard to housing, and I think that's something that the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs has confirmed in relation to this issue. Wales Online last year said...
Bethan Sayed: Well, I'm glad you've said there's a long way to go, because I've had particular communication with Swansea council homelessness working group, chaired by former AM, Peter Black, who recently wrote to Councillor Andrea Lewis, the cabinet member responsible, with a pretty damning outline as to how the city deals with the problem, particularly those with complex needs. The working group noted...
Bethan Sayed: I wonder whether we could have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for health on how the Welsh Government is helping people who have been in the armed forces with mental health issues. I work closely with the 65 Degrees North organisation, which brings veterans on adventures or long walking tours. They have come to understand that there are many young men now taking their own lives having...
Bethan Sayed: The second statement I would like to receive from the Welsh Government is again under the purview of the Cabinet Secretary for health. In December last year, the advisory panel on substance misuse released a report into the feasibility of enhanced harm-reduction centres in Wales, as other European countries have established, to help ensure safety for users and to help to reduce drug-related...
Bethan Sayed: Will the First Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government's plans to tackle substance misuse?
Bethan Sayed: A few weeks ago, I spoke at the Centre for African Entrepreneurship's Women in Politics event that they had, about trying to get more diverse candidates in the National Assembly. But a few asylum-seeker mothers came specifically to that meeting to meet with me because they were telling me about the fact that their children are wanting to go to Gower College Swansea in the new term, but...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you, Llywydd, I’d like to welcome the publication of the OLS annual report for 2017-18. Evidently, it’s very helpful that the report is being published as early as possible. I’d like to congratulate the Commission and the staff of the Assembly for achieving the commitment to publish the report by July following the financial year to which it relates. Although we do welcome that,...
Bethan Sayed: Will the Leader of the House outline the Welsh Government's plans to facilitate greater gender equality by 2021?
Bethan Sayed: In correspondence to the UK Government in July, the housing and regeneration Minister wrote to the UK Government expressing concerns with universal credit, and the Minister in that letter called for, for example, greater support for those less digitally literate. I would say that that's something that could have been done easily if you passed the financial inclusion Bill that I had put...
Bethan Sayed: I raised the issue of a shock rise in drug and drug-related crime before recess and would like to point out another statistic that became available in August, while we were away, and that is a 29 per cent rise in the number of deaths linked to fentanyl in England and in Wales, and that's something I think we should all be concerned about. Particularly worrying is a rise in the use of—I...
Bethan Sayed: I recognise that your Government is carrying out an independent study at the moment into the definition of 'affordable housing', but I think the problem that has existed over the years with that is that new estates are developed in Wales that don't, according to a local definition, amount to what is 'affordable' locally. Before the summer I raised with you the fact that Help to Buy allowed...
Bethan Sayed: I welcome the decision that has been made and I wanted to congratulate the League Against Cruel Sports for the work that they've put into this particular campaign. I want to understand what your engagement will be, as a Minister, with Natural Resources Wales in relation to the groups that are involved from all sectors of society in light of this decision, because I have grave concerns about...
Bethan Sayed: Will the Cabinet Secretary outline the Welsh Government's economic and industrial strategy for South Wales West?
Bethan Sayed: Clearly, there's a link between drug abuse and mental health problems, and, from research I've looked at today, it would cost about £500 million to deal with drug-related crime for the individuals involved here in the UK. Now, there are many arrest referral schemes, but the take-up for them is quite low. They do things like methadone maintenance programmes to reduce both illegal heroin and...
Bethan Sayed: Something that animates quite a lot of local people is the fact that there's no mandate within the planning system for facilities for many of those new estates. So, sometimes you have housing estates that are well-kept and they have provision in that regard, but they don't have parks, they don't have any surgeries, they don't have those things that would create a community. The system,...
