Vikki Howells: Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Born in 1700, Griffith Morgan, known as Guto, lived in Nyth Brân farm in Llanwonno. Guto was a remarkable runner, able to personally round up the family’s sheep and even catch birds in flight. One tale describes him running the 7 miles to Pontypridd and back home again before a kettle had boiled. In his greatest race, Guto ran 12 miles in 53 minutes, but died...
Vikki Howells: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Welsh Government plans to support lunch and fun clubs in primary schools during the school summer holidays? OAQ(5)0063(EDU)
Vikki Howells: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Many groups including the Trussell Trust have identified the issue of holiday hunger, whereby those children eligible for free school meals and their parents often go without food during the long summer holidays. Indeed, the charity says demand for its 35 food banks in Wales peaks during July and August. This rolling out of funding for lunch and fun clubs across...
Vikki Howells: Welsh Government support for the Tomorrow’s Valley project, based in Llwydcoed in my constituency, could see food waste providing enough power for 1,500 homes, by generating over 1 MW of green electricity. What interim evaluation has the Welsh Government made of this project?
Vikki Howells: Leader of the house, could I please request a statement from the Welsh Government on the policy for providing free swimming for children? It is now 10 years since the policy of free swimming for children was rolled out in Wales, which is perhaps a good time for us to reflect upon the policy. Free swimming has been important in providing access to leisure opportunities, to tackle obesity or...
Vikki Howells: I’d like to thank the Cabinet Secretary for her statement here today. As a former teacher myself, just like my colleague Rhianon Passmore, the Member for Islwyn, I know first-hand that this is a key issue for my colleagues in classrooms across Wales. I also know that class size is a really important issue on the doorstep in my constituency, and I’m sure in constituencies across the...
Vikki Howells: Minister, as you will be aware, proposals to develop a circuit of Wales have been circulating for some time. Up to now, the project team have been unable to raise the necessary finance for the project. Would you be able to outline what recent developments there have been?
Vikki Howells: Diolch, Lywydd. My first 90-second statement just before Christmas focused on Guto Nyth Brân and the Nos Galan. With the sad death of Bernard Baldwin MBE just days after the 2016 Nos Galan, it is only fitting that I use a second statement to pay tribute to Bernard’s legacy as creator of Wales’s most famous racing event. Born in Barry in 1925, Bernard trained as a teacher and took up a...
Vikki Howells: I would like to start today by thanking the Members in whose name this motion appears on today’s agenda. This is a very important subject, where we have the opportunity to call for redress for those lives touched by the contaminated blood tragedy. For my contribution today, I would like to focus on the stories of two of my constituents who were affected in this way. The first story is from...
Vikki Howells: 4. How is the Welsh Government working with partners to improve opportunities for accessible play across Wales? OAQ(5)0096(CC)
Vikki Howells: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your response. Sense, the national charity for those with sensory impairment, has found that 92 per cent of parents with disabled children feel their children do not have the same opportunities to play as their non-disabled peers. Current guidelines, as you so rightly say, state that local authorities must have due regard to making play accessible. I’ve...
Vikki Howells: What are the Welsh Government's priorities for tackling poverty in Wales?
Vikki Howells: 7. How is the Welsh Government supporting the study of STEM subjects in schools? OAQ(5)0084(EDU)
Vikki Howells: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your response. ‘Talented Women for a Successful Wales’ has noted that girls are under-represented in most STEM subjects at A-level, despite performing as well or better at GCSE than their male counterparts, with particular challenges, for example, in physics, where just 20 per cent of A-level students are female. How is the Welsh Government tackling this...
Vikki Howells: Leader of the house, I’d like to request two statements today, please. Firstly, I’d welcome a statement from the health Secretary regarding any discussions he may have had with the UK Government about future access to the European Medicines Agency. Currently sited in London, this will move to Europe as a result of Brexit, and, more importantly, if we lose our membership of the EMA, not...
Vikki Howells: I’d like to thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement today. In many ways, this is a bittersweet moment, and I would like to join with you and with previous speakers in acknowledging the ways in which Communities First has improved so many lives in some of our most challenging and challenged communities, but the nature and shape of poverty is not a static concept. It is quite right,...
Vikki Howells: I very much welcome the opportunity to speak in support of this motion today. Tidal lagoons offer us the opportunity to develop a clean, modern, long-term energy policy that is safe and sustainable, with projected life spans of at least 120 years. That’s 120 years of clean and green energy generation, with the calculation that a network of tidal lagoons around the coast could produce enough...
Vikki Howells: Counsel General, I know you will be aware of the case of my constituent of Austrian nationality who came to Aberdare in 1996 as a foreign language assistant, studied for a PGCE, became a teacher and set up her own business, but who, because she took the decision to stay at home to raise her children—of UK nationality—now finds she cannot qualify for permanent residency. Paradoxically, if...
Vikki Howells: LGBT history month gives us the opportunity to look back and reflect on the progress made in advancing equality for LGBT+ people.As other speakers have noted, 2017 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of the Wolfenden report, and the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, decriminalising sexual acts in private between two men. And in remembering both...
Vikki Howells: Cabinet Secretary, for my question today I’d like to ask you about how you will assess the role of the foundational economy in reducing poverty. For example, do you agree that jobs created in the foundational sector could mark one measure of success in reducing poverty? In addition, will you join with me in congratulating Welsh Hills Bakery, in my constituency, for their success in winning...
