Huw Irranca-Davies: Could I also commend David on an excellent event, hosting the Glamorgan Smallholders association? We look forward to it coming back next year bigger and better again. But could I ask the First Minister: what's his vision, both for smallholders and other land managers in a post-Brexit scenario? It was only a few years ago that we marked the fiftieth anniversary of the common agricultural...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Could I repeat my call for a timely—at the appropriate time—statement to give us an update on work on Ford and the taskforce in particular? It would allow us, then, to raise the issue of up to 25 workers at Ford, some of whom are my constituents, who, in early May, accepted a basic package of redundancy and sought assurances from Ford at that time that there were no imminent closure...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Way back in distant time, when I was in another place, in another Chamber, back in 2015, I was chairing the Environmental Audit Committee in Westminster, and we looked at the issue of Heathrow Airport. And on that committee were a range of views—it was a 17-strong committee—from ultra climate sceptics through to ultra ecologists and environmentalists. But we came to an interesting...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 4. Will the Minister make a statement on recent discussions held between the Welsh Government and a delegation from China? OAQ54128
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank the Minister for that answer on the range of things that were discussed. I wonder if one of those items was the issue of climate change and how the two nations on a very different scale, with different degrees of complexity, can actually learn from each other and could show leadership. We know that China has been, in the recent decade, investing significantly in renewables, but it's...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Can I just begin by commending the report—I think it's a good report—and the work that committee members and colleagues did, and the work of the Chair and, of course, the clerks and the support team as well? One of the things that leaps out from this report, and it's echoed in the comments that have just been made, is the background introduction where it says that previous analysis by a...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Will the Minister give way?
Huw Irranca-Davies: I wonder, in so doing, would the Minister have a look at something that was raised by me on the committee a couple of times—the excellent example provided by Bridgend County Borough Council who, on a non-political, non-partisan basis, did a tremendous promotional campaign about standing as a councillor if you've never thought of it, and then went through extensive training with people about...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 8. Will the First Minister make a statement on the progress of the childcare offer in Ogmore? OAQ54142
Huw Irranca-Davies: It's really great news that the childcare offer is not only on schedule but ahead of schedule, because it allows us to think, now, what might come next in a more joined-up approach to early years provision as well. We've got time to think now. But it is really good news. Could I ask—and I thank the Minister for discussions we've had already—that the officials behind the iteration within...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on plans to celebrate 70 years of Welsh-medium education in the Llynfi? OAQ54143
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much for that answer.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much for that answer. We had a tremendous celebration as part of this, actually, only a fortnight ago, in Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd, where we had a tremendous concert, with singers and harpists, schools from throughout the area, former parents and pupils and governors, and so on, and a real ambition to look forward.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Can I ask, how will the Welsh Government work with Bridgend County Borough Council, and Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, in order to ensure ongoing growth of primary and secondary Welsh-medium education in Wales, and how could this assist in reaching the ambitious target of a million Welsh speakers by 2050?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Llywydd. This is Co-operatives Fortnight, organised by Co-operatives UK, bringing together, for two weeks of mass co-operation, the workers, the members, the rebels, the citizens, the residents, the owners, the sharers and the millions of co-operators across the UK to mark Co-operatives Fortnight and celebrate—this statement being part of it—what can be achieved when we...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Will you give way?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much. I'll be really quick. I'm just wondering, from the visit to Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd—and I'm visiting there shortly because I know they are really very strong behind the Welsh bac—what is it that you learnt that I might learn when I go there about what they are doing really well with it that we can transfer to other schools?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Would you like to take an intervention to save you getting louder?
Huw Irranca-Davies: This, of course, isn't the first instance where the representative democratic interests of Wales and the Welsh Government have been, to some extent, bypassed or put to one side while the UK Government just gets on with something without discussion or consultation. It does seem very, very odd. The previous one, of course, was equally significant, on the UK shared prosperity fund. So, I...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I do recognise the argument that you put in—that you want it now, and you want it delivered in 2021—but in the commitment that was signed up to by quite a number of existing cross-party Members today to do this, absolutely, but to do it by 2026, recognising a certain realpolitik in order to achieve that, it isn’t only Labour and a couple of Conservative Members and Liberal Democrats and...
