Darren Millar: 6. What action is the Welsh Government taking to address the risk of flooding to critical infrastructure in Wales? OAQ53441
Darren Millar: Thank you for that answer, Minister, and can I put on record my thanks to the Welsh Government for the investment that it's made in flood defences in my constituency? But you will be aware that there is one particularly fragile part of the sea defences in the area of Old Colwyn, which protects the main sewerage network, the A55 trunk road, the Colwyn Bay promenade and, indeed, the north Wales...
Darren Millar: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on public satisfaction with local authority services in Wales? OAQ53440
Darren Millar: Thank you for that answer, Deputy Minister. You will have read with some concern, no doubt, the reports last week that local authorities in Wales had received 87,000 complaints in relation to missed refuse collections. In my own constituency, of course, we have a regime where a missed refuse collection means that people can go up to eight weeks without having their waste collected, which is...
Darren Millar: You listen to businesses—they support the Prime Minister's deal.
Darren Millar: Formally move.
Darren Millar: Can I say how much I welcome the debate that's before us today, on this important issue of engagement post Brexit? I do not accept the caricature that in order to be a Brexiteer, you are therefore not an internationalist, and you are an isolationist. That's certainly not my view. I'm very much an internationalist, and I think it's very important that we engage globally, and not just within...
Darren Millar: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm very grateful for the opportunity to take part in this debate, and I think that the health committee has done some sterling work in terms of taking forward this particular inquiry. Every time somebody commits suicide, they take a little bit of the life of everyone else around them as well, and, you know, we in this Chamber have known individuals who...
Darren Millar: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. One of the great privileges that I've been able to enjoy while serving as an Assembly Member over the past 12 years has been my role as chair of the National Assembly's cross-party group on the armed forces and cadets. Since it was established over a decade ago, the cross-party group has sought to work with stakeholders and the Welsh Government to identify...
Darren Millar: Now, in the wake of subscribing to the covenant, many local authorities developed new services, they established good practice, and they began partnerships with the third sector. And the centenary of the first world war has also helped to maintain a focus on issues and challenges facing the armed forces community here in Wales. The impact of the covenant was recently the subject of an inquiry...
Darren Millar: Will the Minister make a statement on veterans' housing needs?
Darren Millar: Trefnydd, can I call for two statements from the Welsh Government today, the first on funding for Welsh schools? I listened to the exchange earlier on during First Minister's questions regarding the situation in Conwy. But of course this is a Wales-wide problem, which has been the cause of concern for a number of unions, so much so that they issued a statement just yesterday saying that Welsh...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, can I ask you—? As 29 March approaches, there will clearly be some opportunities for Wales as well as some of the concerns that have been raised. One of those opportunities is the opportunity for the United Kingdom to strike its own trade deals with other nations around the world. What are you doing as a Welsh Government to make sure that Wales can be at the...
Darren Millar: I'm very pleased to see that you've recognised the need to be at the table, and it's been interesting to see the noises that have been made by Business Wales, which have obviously been encouraging and promoting trade, in a very different way to the sorts of messages that we've heard in this Chamber from the First Minister and members of the Cabinet on occasions, which have been predominantly...
Darren Millar: Clearly, Minister, there are businesses in Wales that are already trading with the wider world, even in the absence of distinctive trade deals with many of those nations. What work are you going to do to harness the opportunities that that presents, where people have already got a foothold, if you like, into trading with some of these very significant economies around the world where there...
Darren Millar: Like the Llywydd, I'm extremely proud of the Welsh flag, and very pleased to see that it was rated very highly in an international poll. Another flag that, of course, is extremely popular in Wales, particularly on St David's Day, is the St David's flag, the flag of our patron saint. It's not widely recognised, I'm afraid, around the world, unlike the saltire and unlike St George's flag. Can I...
Darren Millar: First Minister, can I welcome the work that the Welsh Government has put in with other partners to support our veteran community across Wales, and to embed the armed forces covenant in our public services? One of the issues that was recently discussed at the Cross-Party Group on the Armed Forces and Cadets was the difficulty sometimes that many veterans face in trying to access employment...
Darren Millar: Can I call for a statement from the Welsh Government to the Trefnydd in respect of sepsis management in the health service? Many of my constituents have been alarmed to read that over the past three years, or between 2016 and 2018, there's been a significant increase in north Wales in terms of the number of sepsis related deaths: up from 151 in 2016 to 238 in 2018. Now, I know that hospital...
Darren Millar: Can I thank the Minister for her statement today on this very important subject? The Minister will be aware that Clifford Jones Timber in Ruthin is one of the largest producers in the UK of wood and timber posts. And I know that you visited Clifford Jones yourself to talk about some of their concerns about timber supply, particularly levels of conifer planting in terms of that coming through...
Darren Millar: Can I thank the Minister for her statement? I do welcome much of what she has said today. Can I thank in particular the Minister for the Welsh Government's investment in Mochdre, in Llanfair Talhaiarn and in Abergele, all of which have been outlined in the statement? Can I welcome as well the investment that has taken place in places like Colwyn Bay and in Kinmel Bay in the past, in my...
