David Melding: Formally.
David Melding: Move.
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I so move. Amendments 14, 15, 16 and 17, in group 5, are amendments to clarify that the regulation-making powers in this Bill are to make consequential amendments only. Amendment 18 is a further amendment to ensure that the regulation-making powers shall lapse when the ONS confirms that RSLs have been reclassified. The explanatory note to the Bill states that section...
David Melding: Can I just finally say, as I've said, I've followed the model in the abolition of the right to buy Act? I don't think it makes any sense to have powers that go beyond the actual purpose of the Act. There has to be a time when that point is reached and we know that what's been done has been done. Therefore, I urge the amendments are approved.
David Melding: Move.
David Melding: Move.
David Melding: Move.
David Melding: Move.
David Melding: Move.
David Melding: Move.
David Melding: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the teaching of modern foreign languages? OAQ52033
David Melding: Thank you for that answer, but as you well know, there's been an incredible decline in the teaching of modern foreign languages in Wales, as was demonstrated by the British Council. It is sadly also the case in other parts of the UK, but here in Wales between 2002 and 2016 the number of pupils studying a foreign language to GCSE standard declined by 48 per cent, and at A-level declined by 44...
David Melding: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the Bowel Screening Wales programme? OAQ52035
David Melding: The Cabinet Secretary will know that, in the latest year for which figures are available, the uptake of those eligible decreased from 54.4 per cent to 53.4 per cent, so a 1 per cent reduction. I hope this does not become a trend. And, also, at the moment, screening is not offered to anyone over 75. And I have a constituent who's been very anxious about this because he has taken part in...
David Melding: Llywydd, I'd like to raise a point of order under Standing Order 6.15 and Standing Order 12.50. Big announcements by the Welsh Government, such as a review of a major public policy, surely need to be made orally to the Assembly. This permits timely scrutiny, and thereafter allows the Assembly to monitor and evaluate performance. In the Chamber yesterday, the leader of the house gave a...
David Melding: On 1 April 1918, David Lloyd George approved the creation of the Royal Air Force, the world's first entirely separate and independent air force. The RAF would become the most powerful air force in the world, with more than 290,000 personnel and 23,000 aircrafts. Then, at a crucial point in world history, the RAF defended our island against the Nazi onslaught, in what became the most famous...
David Melding: Can I thank Mick Antoniw for seeking to defend the prerogatives of this Assembly so strongly? I think it's another example of Executive overreach. We were told at the dawn of devolution that we would do things differently. We would take what was best in the British parliamentary tradition, but we would ensure that we had openness and scrutiny, especially over—irony of irony—secondary...
David Melding: I'm sorry to heap another encomium on the Minister, but I think his commanding performance throughout this matter—I've not always agreed with what he's done, but I do think we're now seeing the fruits of a very imaginative compromise that will respect the results of the referendum and strengthen the British constitution. Llywydd, devolution was predicated on EU membership. It probably would...
David Melding: I think this is a very important question; I thank Mike for raising for it. Forty five per cent of accidents occur in the home, and accidents are in the top-10 causes of death for all ages, particularly high amongst children—after cancer, I think the highest—and older people. Now, in the many interventions that we make, for instance, insulation of homes, social care visits, we should be...
David Melding: Can I welcome the announcement today? One of the disadvantages—and, Deputy Presiding Officer, you'll share fully in this—of first being elected in 1999 is that we remember going around this race course in the first place, and the spatial plan was regarded as being highly innovative, ground-breaking indeed, a 20-year vision, integration across the main public policy areas so that they're...
