Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m very pleased to speak in today’s debate. As a new member, and new Chair, of the Assembly Finance Committee, this is the first time I’ve been involved in the scrutiny of the Assembly Commission's budget in this way, but I do understand that the Commission has been subject to thorough scrutiny by the Finance Committee over the past few...
Llyr Gruffydd: One of the areas that has drawn criticism in previous years has been the approach to funding projects, as we've just heard really, through utilising underspends from the determination to top up the Commission's budget. This year, the Commission has changed the way it budgets, with clear separation between the budget of the Commission and the determination. So, rather than utilising the...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. It’s a pleasure again to be able to contribute to this debate today as Chair of the Finance Committee and to look at our inquiry into the preparations for replacing EU funding for Wales. Although I was not a member of the committee during this inquiry, I have read the evidence with great interest and I’d like to thank all those who gave...
Llyr Gruffydd: The UK Government has announced that structural funds will be replaced by a UK shared prosperity fund. And even though a consultation on the fund is due to be launched before the end of the year, very little detail has been given on how this fund will operate. The sources of funding coming to Wales will change in the wake of Brexit, but, of course, little change has been seen in the reality...
Llyr Gruffydd: Can I thank all Members who contributed to what I thought was an excellent debate? If I had a penny for every time I heard somebody say that we shouldn't be a penny worse off, then I could probably bankroll some of this myself. But, it does underline the fact that this is probably one of the central aspects: that we would like to see the Brexit dividend that was promised to us. Although the...
Llyr Gruffydd: I don't doubt your sincerity in not wanting to compromise animal welfare, but, of course, there is a risk that the whole Brexit process will undermine that. Because we in Plaid Cymru want to see Wales as one of the world leaders in animal welfare and we want to see that continue after the significant challenges that will be posed to animal welfare by Brexit, because the EU regulations, of...
Llyr Gruffydd: What are the Welsh Government’s priorities for north Wales in relation to the allocation of the extra funding that is likely to come to Wales following the UK Government’s budget announcements?
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm pleased that the motion and the Cabinet Secretary referred to the 'Energy Generation in Wales 2017' report, because that tells us a great deal of the story: namely, that 48 per cent of the electricity that we use in Wales comes from renewable energy, and that's increased by 5 per cent. That's positive, of course. What's less positive is that...
Llyr Gruffydd: The Institute of Welsh Affairs in its Re-energising Wales project has demonstrated that greater ambition and immediate practical action are required to realise the vision for 100 per cent renewable energy, and these actions include upscaling energy efficiency. Of course, you will remember our manifesto pledge for a multibillion pound retrofitting scheme here in Wales. It also mentions how...
Llyr Gruffydd: Just to respond—well, I did respond to the first amendment about a fortnight ago, and I don't see that anything's changed since that point, so I will leave that there. In terms of the second amendment, on Wylfa, well, the last thing we want is that nuclear should be part of the long-term energy mix. The whole purpose is that we move away from the hub-and-spoke model, as I said earlier, and...
Llyr Gruffydd: 6. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on increased pressures on GPs in North Wales? OAQ52965
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you for that response. Of course, in addition to the seasonal pressures and the usual pressures that we see on doctors and the health service, there are other problems emerging directly from some of this Government’s policies. The local development plan in Wrexham, for example, anticipates that an additional 10 GPs will be required because of the increase driven in housing development...
Llyr Gruffydd: I want to pick up on the comments made by Helen Mary Jones and others in referring to the power balance, and how there is an imbalance, not only within the culture that exists in this area, but within some of the rules that we have also, and how we need to change some of those rules in order to convey a clear message that we are tackling that imbalance, and that we are introducing a better...
Llyr Gruffydd: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on changes to the GCSE examination system?
Llyr Gruffydd: We all look forward to seeing an early announcement of any support that the Government might give to that work, of course, but if we are serious about the economic prosperity of north Wales, then Brexit wouldn’t happen at all.
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you very much. I was just making the point that we all look forward to hearing an early announcement, hopefully, from the Cabinet Secretary on any support that the Government may give to the north Wales growth deal. But the point that I wanted to make was: if we’re serious about the economic prosperity of north Wales, then Brexit wouldn’t happen at all. And we have seen, through a...
Llyr Gruffydd: 6. What assessment has the First Minister made of the effectiveness of community healthcare in North Wales? OAQ53018
Llyr Gruffydd: You will recall that five years ago, a number of community hospitals in north Wales were closed, moving to a new regime of care in the community through the introduction of the home enhanced care system—the HECS—which was sold as a more effective system. And one would expect, therefore, that we could measure any success that has been delivered during that period, but it’s now clear that...
Llyr Gruffydd: Well, dirty air is killing our citizens, and it's ruining the lives of our children. Now, Plaid Cymru has outlined some of our proposals in relation to tackling vehicle emissions, pollution monitoring, pollution and congestion charging, creating clean air zones, but also giving them that legal underpinning that they need. Now, you mentioned that you might consider it. Well, I would urge you,...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you, Llywydd. I move the amendments in the name of Plaid Cymru. I will be discussing the element of the football museum specifically and Adam Price will tell us more about the contemporary art gallery. So, amendments 2 and 5 are the ones that I will focus and, of course, we are eager, not just to note, but to welcome the central recommendation of the feasibility study on the national...
