Sioned Williams: There's a growing and vocal movement in favour of expanding free school meals in Wales. I met with representatives of the anti-poverty coalition last week. The frustration at the growing levels of child poverty and the determination to see this stain on our society addressed made a very deep impression on me. This broad-ranging and passionate support for expanded free school meals provision...
Sioned Williams: 5. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of pet theft on animal welfare in Wales? OQ56815
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Weinidog. I also want to raise the issue of pet theft with the Minister, alongside Natasha Asghar, and especially dog theft, because we did see that sharp rise in the demand for pups during the pandemic, which has been linked to the recent rise in dog thefts, as, sadly, dogs have increasingly become a profitable target for thieves. In my region of South Wales West, 59 dogs were...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Llywydd. The Swansea valley community where I live, and the community I represent, and the whole of Wales today commemorates the Gleision colliery disaster exactly 10 years since the disaster. On 15 September 2011, four local colliers were killed—Charles Breslin, David Powell, Phillip Hill and Garry Jenkins—in the Gleision quarry in Cilybebyll near Pontardawe when the colliery...
Sioned Williams: The price of coal has been too high in Wales. We must ensure everything is done so no more families like those of the Gleision miners pay this terrible and unacceptable price. We remember them today—fe'u cofiwn.
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm pleased to have the opportunity to open this important debate on behalf of Plaid Cymru, and I'd like to ask my fellow Members to seriously consider voting in favour of our motion this afternoon. In responding to Adam Price's question here yesterday, we heard the First Minister talking about people's right in Wales to be treated in a way that is fair and...
Sioned Williams: The duty of this Senedd and of this Government, as I stated at the beginning, is to best serve the interests of the people of Wales. The end of the universal credit uplift will be disastrous for people all across the United Kingdom, but families in Wales will be hit harder, and a significantly higher proportion of families with children in Wales will be affected than some other areas....
Sioned Williams: One way that the Welsh Government could mitigate the effects of the universal credit cut is to maintain the flexibility of the discretionary assistance fund—the national fund that provides small funding grants for vital living costs and support for one to live independently. The scheme was changed at the beginning of the pandemic to enable more people to claim financial assistance if they...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, the programme for government contains few new commitments in relation to the issue of childcare. While the inclusion of continued investment in Flying Start and expanding the current offer to those in education and training are to be welcomed, this will do little to address the challenges faced by those with younger children who live on low incomes or who require...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister. Although steps to fund childcare for more families where parents are in education or training is to be welcomed—and you made reference to that—could you provide us with any further information about the nature of this additional funding and how consideration of inequalities steers these current plans?
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister. Of course, that isn't going to tackle the problems and gaps that there are for those children not at school. I would also appreciate further information from you, perhaps, in relation to another challenge in this area. In a way, your last answer outlined that, because finding information is still a significant barrier for many parents. As you depicted in your response,...
Sioned Williams: Although it's affected us all, the effects of the pandemic have been anything but equitable. Research underlines this time and again. We hear talk of learning the pandemic's hard lessons, of building back better, of grasping the opportunity for change offered by the new perspectives forced on us by crisis. Adopting a new way of working is, of course, one such opportunity. A four-day working...
Sioned Williams: Although more women work part-time than men, they have less time free from work. They're more likely to be trying to stitch together several part-time jobs to try to keep their heads above water. But they are far more likely to have less free time because they fulfil unpaid roles. When the order came to work from home, I was part of a team of employees who were mothers. I can testify to the...
Sioned Williams: Let's be clear, the four-day working week is no silver bullet for all these inequalities. Our understanding of work as a whole needs to change, and this is achievable, I think. Our acceptance of radically new working practices in such a short period of time shows this. Waged work is not the only sphere that needs to be reimagined, but the opportunity offered by a four-day working week to...
Sioned Williams: The response to the climate crisis calls for the reshaping of our economic system in several ways. The world of work needs to be at the heart of the zero-carbon economy, and working hours and how we define work are at the heart of that. To ensure that everyone has a voice in drawing up this sustainable society that we have to co-create, we have to ensure that everyone is empowered and...
Sioned Williams: Trefnydd, everyone has a right to feel safe in public spaces, be that on public transport, as they walk along the street, or anywhere else. But, unfortunately, time and time again, we hear of cases of male violence against women in these spaces. We are all aware, of course, of what happened in London to Sabina Nessa, a 28-year-old teacher who was murdered whilst walking from her home at...
Sioned Williams: Can I thank Joyce Watson for bringing this issue for us to be able to talk about it in the Senedd? And I of course raised this issue of the need to strengthen the violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy in the Senedd yesterday, in light of Sabina Nessa's horrific murder. And I'm glad the Minister issued a statement later that afternoon, stating that the Government...
Sioned Williams: I am pleased to contribute to today's debate, and I thank my fellow Member from Plaid Cymru for South Wales West, Luke Fletcher, for raising this important issue about the need to develop and improve diagnostic approaches and to fund support in order to support the tens of thousands of people in Wales affected by all kinds of dementia. I say tens of thousands, because, as we've heard, rather...
Sioned Williams: Due to the complex nature of dementia, the need for quality, long-term data is high, and I am therefore glad to support the call in the motion for the Welsh Government to establish a national dementia data observatory to improve the planning and delivery of dementia services. As a former staff member, I'm proud that Swansea University in my region is playing a key role in world-leading...
Sioned Williams: When I was elected, I told Beti George, who lost her husband, David Parry-Jones, to dementia, that I would do everything possible to improve the support for people like her and her husband. 'There's been plenty of talk in the Senedd, Sioned', she said. 'We need action.'
