Mike Hedges: I'm just going to add to the unanimity across political parties on this. Tidal lagoons will develop across the world—that's inevitable. Reliable and consistent electricity is something we need to be developing. Following the latest Hinkley Point predicted increase in building costs, going alongside its capped storage costs, and almost certainly—though we haven't had it yet, it'll have it...
Mike Hedges: This week has seen the forty-fifth anniversary of the opening of Swansea Sound, Swansea's independent local radio station. I would, first of all, like to congratulate them on their forty-fifth anniversary. For those people living in the area, it's well-known just how important that institution is for our part of south-west Wales, which is Neath Port Talbot, Swansea and Carmarthenshire. It...
Mike Hedges: I very much welcome the Minister’s statement. Homelessness is complicated and is caused by a number of different events. A job loss coinciding with splitting up with a partner can quite easily make somebody homeless who never thought that was ever likely to happen to them. Whilst people often equate homelessness with rough-sleeping, many more homeless people sleep on sofas and floors of...
Mike Hedges: Concessionary travel brings significant benefits to individuals, their communities, local economies and the environment. Any proposal to increase the age for receiving a bus pass is likely to increase the risk of loneliness and isolation; increase costs on health and care services; hit the incomes of thousands of older people; and undermine the response to the climate emergency. As everybody...
Mike Hedges: Sorry, I—
Mike Hedges: Sorry, I've got a problem with geography now because I always thought that Liverpool was in England, but, yes. Also, Liverpool is a city and cities are different. Cardiff is different to Swansea, and Swansea is different to the south Wales Valleys, as I'm sure people will say later. If costs have to be cut, and we know that the Welsh Government have got a 2.3 per cent real-terms increase...
Mike Hedges: If you believe that larger organisations in Wales, such as Betsi Cadwaladr, Natural Resources Wales and the Welsh Ambulance Services NHS Trust are the types of organisations that we think work best, then wholesale merger has its attractions. Will the Minister confirm that the costs of reorganising ICT systems, employment and grading terms being equalised, staff movement, changing signs—and...
Mike Hedges: Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's tree-planting policy?
Mike Hedges: Can I add Swansea East as one of those places where people are getting referred to private practices to get their ears syringed—and Port Talbot? It's an all-Wales problem and, perhaps, one that needs addressing fairly rapidly. I've got two requests for statements. The first one is: teachers in Swansea and Neath Port Talbot did not get their pay award at the end of September. I have chased...
Mike Hedges: Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's economic policy?
Mike Hedges: First of all, can I say that there are people in Welsh Labour who agree with you? I'm one of them. There are two things we know: the rich are very good at producing schemes to avoid or reduce the amount of tax they pay—the classic is corporation tax, which has become a voluntary contribution by multinational companies; and, we need taxes, both local and national, to pay for the services we...
Mike Hedges: Thank you. I'll just put on the record again what I said. I said, 'Don't give domestic rate relief on residential properties, whether they're rented out or not'.
Mike Hedges: I've a request for a statement and a debate. I would like to request a Government statement on buildings listed by Cadw. In Swansea East, which I don't think is unusual, we have listed buildings in various degrees of disrepair, which are privately owned but unoccupied, such as Danbert House, which is turning into a ruin, St John's Church on Woodfield Street, which has vegetation growing out...
Mike Hedges: I believe education needs a greater proportion of the Welsh budget, and that a highly educated workforce is the best economic development tool we can have. On the additional money announced for the teachers' pay award, which you announced yesterday, is it going to be distributed via the funding formula to local authorities and then on to schools, which will produce winners and losers, or...
Mike Hedges: You do realise the major expenditure by local education authorities centrally is on pre-school transport?
Mike Hedges: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I very much welcome the opportunity to discuss this very important issue and the tone in which it's been discussed so far. Homelessness is complicated and is caused by a number of different events. Whilst people often equate homelessness with rough-sleeping, rough-sleeping is just one form of homelessness, albeit the most visible and probably the most...
Mike Hedges: First, I'd like to thank Dawn Bowden for giving me a minute in this debate, and more importantly, for bringing this debate before the Chamber today. People will know that I have been a long-time advocate and great supporter of the growth of co-operative housing. There are three types of co-operative housing: the building co-operatives—Turkey, France, Toronto in Canada; owner...
Mike Hedges: I very much welcome this statement. Far too many children move home between once and twice a year. It's obviously disruptive to education that they move from school to school. High-quality housing, secure and affordable, will improve the health and life outcomes for very many of my constituents. There are two separate private rented markets: there's the high-quality and expensive market that...
Mike Hedges: I often think that, if finding an alternative funding mechanism for local government was easy, it would have been done a very long time ago. And I think that that's something that we perhaps need to give great thought to. I remember when the aggregate external finance replaced the rate support grant following the centralisation of business rates to balance up income in those authorities that...
Mike Hedges: 9. Will the Minister make a statement on the economy of the Swansea bay area? OAQ54620
