Leanne Wood: How is the Welsh Government maximising front-line resources for education?
Leanne Wood: 2. How is the Welsh Government meeting the need for social housing? OAQ53666
Leanne Wood: Minister, we both agree that we need much more social housing in Wales, but it isn't just the new homes that are important; it's the public services that surround the communities that we create, and austerity is posing severe problems for local authorities in doing that—so much so that many new facilities like playgrounds are only being built through section 106 agreements. This weekend,...
Leanne Wood: Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, according to StatsWales, local authorities have granted planning permission for housing developments that should have resulted in the provision of 13,355 affordable houses, but only 6,746 have actually been built, which is just over 50 per cent of what we should have had. In some local authorities, the figure is even worse: in Wrexham, for example, just 16 per cent...
Leanne Wood: Minister, I know you're not responsible for planning, but, obviously, it's crucial in terms of delivering—
Leanne Wood: You are. Okay, I'll carry on with my questioning, then, if that's the case. It is arguable that at the moment the planning system is not delivering, and you must be prepared to make major reforms in planning now. Your responsibility is also local authorities. Now, we currently know that large developers can always threaten to appeal decisions to a planning inspectorate and claim their legal...
Leanne Wood: It's not clear to me whether there's a difference between those local authorities that have stock transferred their housing and those that have kept it in-house. But I'll come back to that at another point in time. One of the achievements of this institution—and credit to the Deputy Llywydd here—has been the Domestic Fire Safety (Wales) Measure 2011, which requires new residential...
Leanne Wood: No, thanks.
Leanne Wood: Last week, the Rhondda artist, Elwyn Thomas, sadly passed away. Elwyn, who was born in Tylorstown, was a well-loved artist in the Rhondda, known for his acrylic paintings, which depicted in main street vistas familiar to anyone who has lived or spent time in the Rhondda Fach. Many of his paintings were simply named after the streets and communities he depicted, but the occasional painting...
Leanne Wood: How is the Welsh Government reducing carbon emissions?
Leanne Wood: 4. What is the Welsh Government doing to combat climate change? OAQ53737
Leanne Wood: Many would agree with what young people are telling us, that climate change is the biggest threat that we face on our planet. Wales has a small but very important part to play in this. The fact that we're missing our carbon reduction targets shows that Wales is not on the right track when we could and should be driving the agenda and setting an example for the world to follow. Speaking at...
Leanne Wood: I'd like to raise the matter of the Welsh independent living grant with you, Trefnydd. I wrote to the Welsh Government in the middle of last month asking for a clear timetable for carrying out assessments and restoring financial packages for disabled people who lost out when the independent living fund was abolished. I've not yet received a reply. On behalf of disabled people and their...
Leanne Wood: I understand that you are going to update us later on in May about the Government's response to the expert group, but I do have a number of questions that I'd like to ask you now. You say that you accept now the recommendation that the retrofitting of sprinklers should be promoted, and you're asking officials to draw up options for further promoting retrofitting in high-rise buildings, but I...
Leanne Wood: You're minimising it.
Leanne Wood: Will you take an intervention?
Leanne Wood: Do you think that—? I think you make a very strong case that mental health problems can be linked to welfare reform. Do you think that devolution of the administration of welfare could help, if we could shape some of those assessments and procedures ourselves?
Leanne Wood: Will you take an intervention?
Leanne Wood: Do you agree with what my colleague Helen Mary Jones said—that many people's problems with mental health could well be linked to welfare reform? And if you do accept that, do you accept that if we had control over some aspects of welfare reform here, we could mitigate some of those worse aspects of it?
Leanne Wood: But is welfare reform one of them?
