John Griffiths: Minister, I think, to state the obvious, really, there are particular challenges in different parts of Wales in terms of promoting and growing the Welsh language. In Newport, there was, for a long time, a historical nonsense around in terms of Monmouthshire not being part of Wales or England but being in some strange hybrid position. Thankfully, things have moved on since those days, and I...
John Griffiths: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, one aspect of our town centres that I think many people find very attractive is that distinctive offer that isn't just a replica of what you see in so many other town centres across the UK. So, rather than the big operators, the shops and stores that you see everywhere and distinctive local businesses, I think, are a great asset. I know that, in many areas,...
John Griffiths: 2. What further steps will the Welsh Government take to develop its policy for managing natural resources in towns and cities? OAQ54997
John Griffiths: Thank you for that, Minister. Most people in Wales live in urban areas, and, in our inner urban areas, there are many issues around air quality and general lack of green space. So, I think improving those inner urban environments would connect people to the natural world more strongly, and I would hope would lead to better environmental behaviours—whether it's taking part in recycling...
John Griffiths: As Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, I'd like to refer to our report on the draft budget passed last week. Within that, Llywydd, we reiterated our view that Welsh Government would benefit, Wales would benefit, from a tackling poverty strategy that provided an improved focus on those very important issues. We welcome the additional £18 million across...
John Griffiths: As with others in this debate, before coming to the Assembly, I had direct experience of the criminal justice system having been a solicitor in a legal aid practice dealing with criminal law, amongst other matters. So I do have direct experience, seeing people who were accused in my office, in police stations, in prisons and, obviously, representing them in court. I must say that I would echo...
John Griffiths: I very much welcome this debate today, and I echo what Dai Lloyd said. I think it has been a very good and powerful debate, and rightly so, because we're talking about public health, and it's clear that air quality is a major factor in whether we enjoy the sort of good public health that we want to see in Wales or not. And, yes, Healthy Air Cymru have done a lot of research, I think, and put...
John Griffiths: I think that is the most effective thing, but I think you often see idling engines for minutes and minutes and minutes, and turning them off would be a very good idea. But I applaud the fact that you've met with Public Health Wales, Hefin, and, obviously, that's been very informative from your contributions and thoughts on these matters. But, yes, we also spoke earlier, didn't we, about...
John Griffiths: I welcome your statement today, Minister, and the publication of the housing support grant guidance for local authorities. As you know, the equality committee that I chair has been doing a lot of work on rough sleeping, and in particular, in our recent work, we've dealt with co-occurring disorders and issues around commissioning. Indeed, we'll be debating that report here in the Chamber...
John Griffiths: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm pleased to open today's debate on the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee report on the level of support for rough-sleepers with substance misuse and mental health issues, or co-occurring disorders as they are regularly referred to. As a committee, we have been looking at rough-sleeping since the winter of 2017. Since we began this work, I think...
John Griffiths: We are hopeful that some of the short-term actions, in particular around assertive outreach, will have started to help get some people off the streets. This is even more pressing when we consider the recent publication of the annual rough-sleeping count. As we stated in our original report, this count can only ever provide a snapshot, and cannot be seen as a definitive figure. However, it...
John Griffiths: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. May I start by thanking everybody who took part? There is obviously a strong degree of consensus across the Chamber, I think, in terms of the importance of these issues and the need to try and make sufficient progress so that, in years to come, as a number of Members said, we're not having more or less the same debate in the same circumstances. We need to move...
John Griffiths: I very much agree with the point that Delyth Jewell made as well—if the UK is the fifth, sixth, whatever biggest economy in the world then it's totally immoral not to have a much better way of organising ourselves as a society in order to avoid these incredibly stark problems that so many people in the public are very shocked by. The number of people that have said to me that they just...
John Griffiths: I'm pleased to speak in this debate in my capacity as Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee. I do believe that the commission's 'Impact Report' lists a wide range of activities across almost all areas of devolved responsibility, and so is very much a matter for important and significant debate here. Of course, the commission acts as an important source of...
John Griffiths: First Minister, the Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles train manufacturer in my constituency is a very welcome addition to the local economy, and it's been a pleasure to visit there and talk with management about the future of the plant. They do have one frustration—well, they may have more than one, but one frustration is the lack of women and girls coming forward to take...
John Griffiths: 5. What further steps will the Welsh Government take to work with Newport City Council and other partners to regenerate Newport city centre? OAQ55231
John Griffiths: Thank you for that, First Minister. I do think that that strong partnership between Welsh Government, Newport City Council, business, social landlords and others has borne considerable fruit and helped to meet the challenges of finding alternative uses for our city centre. And soon there will be a further example of that when a substantial four-star hotel opens up in Newport city centre,...
John Griffiths: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, thank you for your response to questions, and, particularly, stating that you will have in mind all the Tata sites in Wales in your discussions with UK Government and with Tata in general, because, obviously, for me, the Llanwern site in Newport East is still very, very important, having several hundred jobs and being very important to suppliers and...
John Griffiths: What further measures will the Welsh Government take to address child health inequalities in Wales?
John Griffiths: 4. What action is the Welsh Government taking to strengthen links and relations between Wales and the world? OAQ55260
