Jeremy Miles: The Equality and Human Rights Commission has statutory powers to assess the extent and manner in which a public authority in Wales has complied with the public sector equality duty. The Welsh Government works closely with the commission on monitoring arrangements and on the Welsh Ministers’ report on equality.
Jeremy Miles: I absolutely believe that local authorities need to take their duties, under the Equality Act 2010 seriously, including the one that he has just identified. I know that the publication of the local government settlement, which provides the core, unhypothecated funding, local authorities are reminded by letter from my colleague the Minister for Housing and Local Government about that...
Jeremy Miles: The Member identifies an important question in his supplementary. The public sector equality duty is fundamental, of course, to the operations of local authorities. We were the first Government to bring in specific equality duties in order for public bodies to better perform their duties against that broader set of duties. He may know that the EHRC has commissioned a piece of work to inform...
Jeremy Miles: The regulations for planning hearings and inquiries have recently been reviewed and already provide for a fair and equitable hearing.
Jeremy Miles: I'm aware that the Member has been in correspondence with the Government in relation to that matter. I'm obviously not in a position to comment on the specific application that the Member has described in her supplementary question. But the appeals procedures have been reviewed and updated in 2017, and, obviously, were subject to extensive consultation before coming into force, as is change...
Jeremy Miles: The Member identifies a very important point of principle and a question of access to justice, which I know he has pursued in this and other contexts. The question is: without control over the levers which best deliver access to justice in that context, what can we do as a Government to ensure that the points at which that advantage can be exercised are minimised as far as possible within the...
Jeremy Miles: With regard to public bodies at large, it is the Information Commissioner's role to monitor and enforce public bodies' compliance with access to information law. I have no role in monitoring other bodies' compliance. As regards Welsh Government specifically, information requests for Welsh Government are handled by civil servants, in accordance with well-established internal procedures. The...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I'm afraid I'm not in a position to comment on the resourcing of the Information Commissioner and his office; that is a reserved matter. The sponsoring department of the ICO is the UK Government's Ministry of Justice. Plainly, though, the statutory regime, which does provide via section 15 a mechanism to seek redress, as he outlines, and he identifies in his question some of the...
Jeremy Miles: Llywydd, for the first time in 20 years of devolution, two Parliaments—our Parliament here and the Parliament in Scotland—will discuss and vote on the same motion simultaneously. This in itself is significant, but it's more than that. It signals just how grave the threat facing Wales, Scotland and the UK as a whole is, namely that the UK Government has led us to the possibility of a 'no...
Jeremy Miles: Llywydd, it is clear that the Prime Minister has lost the trust of Parliament. She's been careering from one side of the road to the other, appeasing first the Brexiteers then the remainers in her own ranks instead of setting a steady course. The road on which she is driving us still leads to a cliff edge. First we had the delay to the meaningful vote in December, then a historically...
Jeremy Miles: The Welsh Government and its agents are continuously assessing the potential impact and implications of Brexit on all aspects of Welsh society, including the arts and culture, to ensure that no area of Wales, including Islwyn, loses out as a result of the UK leaving the EU.
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for that supplementary. I know there are many organisations in her constituency that have benefited from EU funding, including the Blackwood Miners' Institute and other organisations. We've been consistent in our insistence that the UK Government should deliver on its promise that Wales would not lose a penny of the income it receives currently from the EU after we leave,...
Jeremy Miles: A 'no deal' Brexit would be catastrophic for Wales, but we are working at full capacity on preparedness, building on the arrangements reported to the Assembly on 22 January. This includes support to organisations from the European transition fund, with an additional £1.7 million for business resilience announced last week.
Jeremy Miles: I thank the Member for that supplementary. She has raised this with me a number of times in the Chamber. I know how vital the automotive sector is in her constituency and in other parts of Wales. There is a very, very constant stream of communication—two-way communication—between Welsh Government, the Minister for Economy and Transport and officials with companies who are car producers,...
Jeremy Miles: The First Minister was very clear yesterday in the Chamber about the Welsh Government's policy in relation to Brexit. We see two options for the future. One is the kind of deal that we've been describing in 'Securing Wales' Future' for the last more than two years and, failing that, a referendum.
Jeremy Miles: Well, that's a complete mischaracterisation both of the health Minister's position, the First Minister's discussion yesterday in the Chamber and Welsh Government policy, which is, as I say, completely clear and was made again clear in the Chamber yesterday by the First Minister. We've been very clear that a referendum is one of the options for resolving this. We have also described the kind...
Jeremy Miles: Might I give the Member a little bit of advice? If he's going to choose to attack us on the basis of consistency, I suggest he looks a little closer to home. And I think a bit more focus on the national interest, as opposed to simply the party interest, would have meant that this country was not in the position that it is in now, of three years of wasted time, while his Prime Minister was not...
Jeremy Miles: Well, as I've just mentioned, I'm absolutely clear that the Government's policy on this is very clear. The First Minister and the health Minister have responded about this. There is no question about the Government policy on this, as I've articulated a number of times already today.
Jeremy Miles: Well, I'm glad to see the Member now being very clear about her policy. Plaid Cymru has held three different policies in as many months on this question, so good to have her clarifying her position. What I think is disappointing is that the Prime Minister has sought an extension to the end of June, and is clearly pursuing a strategy that is completely irresponsible, of ploughing on...
Jeremy Miles: Well, I will make the point clear again to the Member: what I said this morning to the UK Government in a telephone conference is that there needs to be a fundamental change in the way the UK Government is approaching this question. What they're doing is completely irresponsible. If 30 June is the extent of the extension, which the EU will consider—. By the way, as we stand here today, it...
