Mr Simon Thomas: Declare an interest.
Mr Simon Thomas: I welcome today’s statement from the Cabinet Secretary, and I look forward very much to corresponding with her regularly over the next months and years too, saying that I don’t consider her to be a stranded resource in any way whatsoever, and I’m grateful to her for responding to my correspondence. If I could just ask the Cabinet Secretary very briefly about this £80 million that...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Of course, I respect the fact that the Assembly can decide for itself how to deal with various regulations here, but I only intend to contribute once in discussing the issues at hand. May I, first of all, note the fact that the Welsh Revenue Authority has been in attendance, as has already been mentioned? They've been at the Assembly, and I hope...
Mr Simon Thomas: My engagement with my health board is going to be a lot more difficult after the events of the last 24 hours, I have to say, now I know information will be shared willy-nilly with the Government for the purpose of traducing engagement with the health board. So, just to confirm that I hope the Cabinet Secretary can confirm today what other information the Welsh Government has around Assembly...
Mr Simon Thomas: 2. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of leaving the EU on Wales in light of the analysis of three scenarios undertaken by the Department for Exiting the European Union, which was leaked on Monday? 123
Mr Simon Thomas: I thank the Cabinet Secretary. He will be aware, at least, from the press coverage of this analysis, that it looks at three scenarios: staying in the single market to all intents or purposes, leaving under World Trade Organization rules, and a situation where there is some sort of free trade deal of the type that the Prime Minister has been talking about. Now, the three scenarios look over a...
Mr Simon Thomas: Very strangely, I have the same two topics to raise with the leader of the house, but in a completely different way. So, first of all, can we have a debate, indeed, on local government freedom from central Government control? Because I note that Alun Davies, who is the Welsh local government Minister, attends the national executive of the Labour Party, which last week decided to interfere...
Mr Simon Thomas: Because of this, surely. It's highly irregular—highly irregular—for a Minister for local government in one devolved nation to be telling a local authority in another devolved nation how they should be behaving, and I think if it had been an English Minister in another party—say, the Conservative Party—telling a Welsh local authority what to do, there would be enough said in this...
Mr Simon Thomas: I’m grateful to the First Minister for his statement today and for the paper published. The fact is that this paper, as well as the analysis that was released behind closed doors in Westminster, reveals that there is a cost of Brexit to the Welsh economy, whatever the scenario you follow. There is a particular cost, as has been outlined in this paper, for the sheep sector, in terms of...
Mr Simon Thomas: I also welcome this report, particularly the section dealing with gambling. Without rehearsing what's already been said, I do note that the report states that the cost of addictive gambling to public services in Wales is around the £40 million to £70 million mark per annum, because of the impact on the health service and care services particularly. I share the concerns clearly expressed by...
Mr Simon Thomas: 7. What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary held regarding new investment in charging points for electric vehicles? OAQ51713
Mr Simon Thomas: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that response, and I'll continue to ask questions in Welsh so he can practice his Welsh. I have looked at several maps for where the charging points are for electric vehicles, and it’s clear that there is a major gap in mid Wales. If we want to use public funding, I would suggest that closing that gap should be one of the priorities for that funding. But...
Mr Simon Thomas: Clearly, from what you've just said, Counsel General, it's very important for the citizens of Wales to have this access to the High Court and to justice in general to hold the Welsh Government to account with regard to air pollution, and hopefully to see the improvement following these legal processes. Now, as we exit the European Union, there are several of these environmental issues where...
Mr Simon Thomas: 6. Will the Counsel General outline how much money the Welsh Government spends on court cases that relate to air pollution? OAQ51714
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you to the Counsel General for confirming the costs. Clearly, the costs wouldn't be met unless there was a failure by the Government to meet the legal requirements with regard to air pollution. I realise that you as Counsel General are not responsible for that side of things, but the sums that you have talked about are more than enough to pay for several air pollution monitoring...
Mr Simon Thomas: 7. Has the Counsel General had discussions with the Crown Prosecution Service about a review of rape cases in Wales? OAQ51715
Mr Simon Thomas: I thank the Counsel General for his response and I agree entirely with him that the fact that a number of cases have failed because the disclosure procedures on both sides—well, one side in particular—have failed endangers the way that we deal with rape cases and sexual offences in Wales, and undermines confidence in the system. That’s not something that I want to see, and I’m sure...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you to the Llywydd for introducing this debate today, and to Laura McAllister and her team for such thorough work. This, of course, is a debate that we've had before. I remember going on behalf of Plaid Cymru to give evidence to the Richard commission about expanding the Assembly at that time, when it was recommended that we should move—even 10 years ago—to an Assembly of 80...
Mr Simon Thomas: And I think, finally, Deputy Presiding Officer, it really is time to ensure that this Assembly is transformed into a Welsh Parliament in name, and not just in name, but in composition and status as well. This is because of the history that we've had. Make no mistake: giving Wales an assembly instead of a parliament was quite deliberate; we were intentionally shackled from the start. No...
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Member give way?
