Bethan Sayed: I was involved with the dispute from the start, and what I’d like to ask you, Minister, is whether you think that this could have been resolved sooner had you, as Minister, intervened sooner, to make sure that this wasn’t a two-year dispute? Also, I would like to hear your answer with regard to what management has told me: that continuous in-year cuts did not aid them in the situation...
Bethan Sayed: Thanks. I’m grateful to be opening this debate today. We initiated this debate alongside other Members of the Assembly on a cross-party basis in the context of the BBC charter renewal process, seeking to put on the agenda the importance of our relations with the BBC in this new political term of the Assembly, and to show them that we are not going away and that we will be scrutinising not...
Bethan Sayed: Yes.
Bethan Sayed: I obviously don’t want to be speaking as some sort of dictator at the moment; we’re going to be talking as a committee. I’m sure people wouldn’t want to think that I would just tell everybody now what we’re going to be doing as a committee, but it’s something that—well, you know, power could go to my head—. It’s something we will be considering as a committee together....
Bethan Sayed: Well, you’ve proved that point exactly, then. Nid oeddwn i eisiau gorffen heb sôn am S4C yn y funud sydd gyda fi i orffen. Rhaid hefyd sôn am y ffaith eu bod nhw eisiau bod yn rhan o siartr y BBC a’u bod nhw’n credu y dylai fod cymal yn y siartr newydd yn sôn am eu hannibyniaeth o ran gweithredu ac yn sôn am yr hyn y maen nhw yn ei wneud. Yn ôl beth rwy’n clywed gan S4C, efallai...
Bethan Sayed: I want to focus my contribution on the Welsh steel industry because, as we know, various ‘jam tomorrow’ claims were made by pro-Brexiters in the run-up to the referendum—claims that took hold with some steelworkers, it has to be said, in terms of how they voted in the referendum. So, it now falls to those who campaigned to leave the EU—those still left at the tillers of power, few...
Bethan Sayed: Thanks, and I’ve given a minute to Dawn Bowden. We owe the Wales we live in today to trade unionism. This isn’t just my view. Anyone who has read the work of Gwyn Alf Williams will know that he pinpointed one particular moment in time, the uprising in my home town of Merthyr Tydfil in 1831, as the moment when the Welsh working class moved from what he called the ‘primitive stage’ to...
Bethan Sayed: Will the Minister make a statement on widening access to sports facilities?
Bethan Sayed: 2. Will the First Minister provide an update on the support the Welsh Government is currently giving to the Welsh steel industry? OAQ(5)0126(FM)
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for the answer, and I did get that statement. In that letter from the Minister, it says that good progress is being made on a range of projects that have allowed the Welsh plants to become more efficient and capable of withstanding the global competition, including developing a major environmental improvement project for Port Talbot, as well as the research and development...
Bethan Sayed: Will the Minister make a statement on Ford’s announcement that it is to cut production at its Bridgend engine plant? EAQ(5)0037(EI)
Bethan Sayed: Presiding Officer, I find it quite disturbing that the First Minister, whose constituency it’s in, has left on this very question because I wanted to refer earlier to what he said with regard to Brexit because I share a bit of cynicism about this being entirely to do with Brexit, considering that Ford is a multinational company, and they did not say this pre Brexit. Since devolution the...
Bethan Sayed: Cabinet Secretary, I’ve had a number of people approaching me in the Aberavon area who are concerned about the location of the turbines in the Swansea bay development because they are concerned that it will impact the flow of water into the sea and how that will impact their ability to be part of the processes that they enjoy in that area. Have you had an opportunity to look at that issue...
Bethan Sayed: 1. Will the Minister provide an update on strategic regeneration areas? OAQ(5)0022(CC)
Bethan Sayed: Can you tell me what work is ongoing to ensure that the Afan valley benefits from the regeneration scheme? I received a letter from Neath Port Talbot council over the summer confirming its intention to locate development work on the coastal corridor in that area, including the upper Neath valley and the upper Swansea valley as areas of strategic growth. But what I’ve found in knocking doors...
Bethan Sayed: Cabinet Secretary, the last time we had these questions was before the referendum on the EU, and many Members commented on how many anti-poverty schemes are funded by the EU. So, now we’re of course aware that those who campaigned to leave the EU, including some members of the Labour Party, like Gisela Stuart, made a promise that every penny received from the EU would be maintained. But...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for your response. There’s been a great deal of concern/interest from much of the political establishment that many of the areas that benefitted the most from European money voted to leave. But in spite of all that funding going to the Valleys, poverty, poor housing and insecure employment remain a fact of life for many people living there. So, this vote could therefore be seen as...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for that, but I think we do need to have a recognition as well that at least some of those billions have not achieved their intended aim, and I think we need to be open about that fact. It’s certainly the case that funding for anti-poverty programmes is at risk, and contingencies should be made, as you have indicated, to become more resilient. But we also have to accept that the...
Bethan Sayed: First Minister, you’ve already mentioned the children, but there are, in fact, 200 children in the Calais area who are currently not being taken in by any Government, and also in Lebanon and Syria as well, extra to the 200. We’ve seen the horrific pictures on our screens over the summer, and, quite frankly, the fact that we’re not doing enough for those children is embarrassing, and...
Bethan Sayed: 10. Will the First Minister make a statement on the use of shared cycle routes in Wales? OAQ(5)0142(FM)
