John Griffiths: Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. I am grateful for the opportunity afforded to committee chairs to make statements to the Chamber. It is a welcome opportunity, Dirprwy Lywydd, to raise the profile of issues important to the Welsh public. I and members of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee have given careful thought to the priorities we wish to pursue through the fifth term of...
John Griffiths: Diolch yn fawr, Sian. May I thank the Member very much for her commitment to this piece of work, and I know that she has a great interest in it? I think it is very important that we take a view as to how joined up the services are in Wales, and how they can be joined up for refugees, asylum seekers and unaccompanied children coming to Wales, and, indeed, how new legislation like the...
John Griffiths: Can I thank Mark Isherwood for his contribution to this statement and his questions? We will, indeed, as a committee, look at the legacy report of the previous committee, which we’ve already done, but we’ll certainly look at that in respect of the matters that the Member mentions. With regard to the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, we have, just...
John Griffiths: I thank Lynne Neagle very much for her warm welcome for this piece of work and her support for it. I’d be very keen to work with the children’s committee, Lynne, on advocacy particularly. I think, in this Assembly, there’s a lot more thought and consideration as to how the committees can work together generally, and perhaps this could be an important example of how we achieve that. I...
John Griffiths: I thank Julie Morgan very much for her ideas as to the sort of work that the committee could carry out as part of this inquiry. It’s really useful to have those ideas coming forward today as part of this statement. I’m sure the committee will be very interested to look at all those areas of work. Can I say that I, too, caught some of the debate today in terms of how you determine the age...
John Griffiths: I thank Gareth Bennett for that contribution. The committee will look at the wider community issues around community cohesion, as I mentioned in my response to Julie Morgan. In my statement, I identified that as a significant part of the committee’s work. We do need to hear from others beyond those groups that provide the services and have a particular role in helping to resettle and...
John Griffiths: I thank the Member again for a number of ideas that could help inform the work of the committee and add value to the work of the committee. In terms of disability awareness raising, we had a summer exercise in terms of asking organisations within Wales for ideas for our forward work programme. That wasn’t one that was particularly prominent, but I’m sure the committee, in going forward...
John Griffiths: I thank Joyce Watson very much for her views and thoughts. I did say earlier, actually, that I do very much agree with the sentiments that express great concern around the comments of David Davies in terms of age checks and how they might be carried out. It’s very undignified and, as I say, it gives rise to many concerns around medical ethics, as well as many other concerns. In terms of the...
John Griffiths: Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government policy to tackle inequality in Wales?
John Griffiths: Diolch, Lywydd. This week marks the one hundred and seventy seventh anniversary of the Chartist uprising and march on Newport for political and democratic reform. On 4 November 1839, over 20 Chartists were shot and killed. They lie in unmarked graves at St Woolos cathedral. Their leaders, John Frost, William Jones and Zephaniah Williams, were tried at Monmouth Shire Hall, convicted of high...
John Griffiths: As others said earlier, Minister, I think it is very important that we get a more physically active population in Wales. I do believe that community-focused schools, as Angela Burns touched on, are a very important way forward. I also think that air pollution hasn’t had sufficient attention. I met with a group recently, for example, that told me that capital conversion costs for their...
John Griffiths: In what ways will the Welsh Government's economic development policy tackle poverty in Wales?
John Griffiths: I too welcome this debate today and the ‘State of Nature 2016 Wales’ report, in which I think many organisations have played a very valuable part in helping to produce and highlight. Of course, there are causes for concern, which Members have already mentioned, and a need for the Welsh Government and other public bodies to act to address those concerns. As with other Members here, I am a...
John Griffiths: 7. Will the Minister make a statement on the importance of community centres in community development in Wales? OAQ(5)0069(CC)
John Griffiths: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that. Your announcement that you are minded not to continue with Communities First has, of course, created considerable concern, particularly in community centres that are not currently delivering Communities for Work or the Lift programme or other programmes that you’ve stated will continue. So, I wonder, Cabinet Secretary, if you could offer some...
John Griffiths: The campaign to abolish the second Severn crossing toll and the first Severn crossing toll, of course, are very long standing and long running and far pre-date the UKIP campaign that Gareth Bennet has just referred to. In fact, Labour politicians and politicians of other parties have been involved in this campaign for many years, so I think we should get that straight as a starting point in...
John Griffiths: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on the overall budget allocation to the education portfolio? OAQ(5)0065(FLG)
John Griffiths: Cabinet Secretary, a big part of the job of Government is to decide on priorities, and for me there is no higher priority than education. I believe a well-educated population benefits all aspects of life and life chances in communities. In addition to that, the recent report by Gerry Holtham and Brian Morgan looked at economic development policy across the world and found the strongest...
John Griffiths: Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's strategy to facilitate access to the countryside in Wales?
John Griffiths: I, too, welcome the CMO’s report and its emphasis on creating a health service, rather than an illness service, which is something we’ve spoken about for quite a long time, and also its emphasis on socioeconomic status, which again is something that’s been debated and discussed for quite some time, but perhaps with a new emphasis in this particular report. It also emphasises the...
