Mike Hedges: Will the Counsel General outline the steps being taken by the Welsh Government to ensure the continuation of funding for the further education sector post-Brexit?
Mike Hedges: I'm used to parents complaining about having mixed-age classes and demanding that their children are taught with children in the same year group as them. And I believe that at below a certain size of school, education suffers, and more than two year groups taught together in primary school disadvantages the learner—the reason why we have education. And secondary schools need to be above a...
Mike Hedges: I also call for the Llansamlet incinerator to be called in, as I believe Suzy Davies also did. There's no political argument over the fact that we're all opposed to this incinerator being built there. I've got two questions apart from that. On the first one, I'd like to ask for a statement. As school budgets are being set, the increased cost of employers' contribution to teachers' pensions is...
Mike Hedges: We know that the large house builders benefit from scarcity of housing as it increases the prices they can charge for new builds. And as Paul Davies outlined, we've got a small number of very large builders who dominate the market. One method of increasing housing supply is self-build and self- managed build. Will the Government ask local authorities, outside the local development plans, to...
Mike Hedges: 8. Will the Minister provide an update on Welsh Government support for co-operative housing? OAQ53424
Mike Hedges: Oh, sorry; I wasn't sure if you'd finished then. Whilst co-operative housing provides a substantial proportion of dwellings in places as diverse as New York, Vancouver and Scandinavia, it has failed to become a major provider of housing in Wales. Will the Minister set up a taskforce or take some action to identify what needs to be done to substantially increase co-operative housing in Wales?...
Mike Hedges: Can I return to job losses at Virgin Media in Swansea? In January, you said: 'The first tranche of those staff did leave in November, and there will be a further two phases planned for this year. Virgin Media's out-placement support team has taken on responsibility for providing staff with on-site access to key partners of our Welsh Government's taskforce, including Careers Wales, the DWP and...
Mike Hedges: Diolch, Llywydd. I'm speaking on behalf of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee. The committee considered the LCM for the Animal Welfare (Service Animals) Bill at our meeting on 13 February. Our considerations focused on the Bill's policy objectives as set out in the memorandum. We found no reason to object to the Assembly agreeing the legislative consent motion before...
Mike Hedges: I have a number of comments to make on the second supplementary budget. It's always a disadvantage to follow Llyr Gryffudd and Nick Ramsay, who serve on the same committee as I do, because an awful lot of the things I was going to say, they've already said, and I don't think people want to hear them a second time. I'd like to reply to something Adam Price said about small and medium-sized...
Mike Hedges: Will the First Minister make a statement on the use of incineration as part of waste management?
Mike Hedges: Can I associate myself with everything said by Dai Lloyd and David Rees? What I would like also to say, of course, is that the seventy-fifth biggest company in the SA region is the Ospreys. The eighty-fourth biggest company in the SA region is the Scarlets. We're talking about major employers. Many of my constituents have been worried, since it was talked about, that they would not have a...
Mike Hedges: Yes, thank you. Even if the 106 agreement is very good at the beginning, what you often or nearly always see is the developer coming back and saying, 'I'm not going to make enough money with this 106 agreement—can we change it? Can we reduce the number of houses that are affordable and can we not build these things, because we can't afford it, because our profit will probably be down to...
Mike Hedges: First, can I welcome this debate? It's the second debate we've had on housing since Christmas. And can I just say how pleased I am to start talking about housing? Because I think it's one of the most important things. After food and drink, the next important thing for people's life is housing. So, I think it really is important that we get around to talking about this. Hopefully, the next...
Mike Hedges: Housing is the great challenge facing all of Britain, including Wales. The post-war period in terms of housing can be broken down into two periods. First, the period of 1945 to 1980—during that period, we saw a huge growth in council estates and the building of a large number of new estates in urban areas. We also saw the growth of owner occupation and the start of the building of large...
Mike Hedges: Thank you. All it really needs is for the Government to abolish small business rates relief on houses.
Mike Hedges: What progress is being made in order to ensure that both the Welsh language and English language are treated equally?
Mike Hedges: Will the Minister provide an update on the innovate-to-save fund?
Mike Hedges: I welcome the Government's statement. I just can't understand why everybody else doesn't believe in the importance of forests, because I actually believe it's one of the most important things we have. I don't believe you can actually have too many trees, and it always pains me when I see a number of trees being chopped down. In Rebecca Evans's constituency, a giant redwood has been chopped...
Mike Hedges: Will the First Minister make a statement on the effectiveness of the help-to-buy scheme?
Mike Hedges: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on the provision of social care in Wales? OAQ53541
