Mr Simon Thomas: Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement and for the continued patience that he shows with some of these difficulties? Can I particularly thank him for confirming today that the Government is moving ahead with the continuity Bill, long advocated by my honourable colleague, Steffan Lewis? We are, in Plaid Cymru, very pleased to see that this is now a firm part of the Government's...
Mr Simon Thomas: Of course, I welcome the content of the Government statement today and I note, as David Melding did, that this is the fruit of efforts at a national level not only by Government, but also by local authorities working on the ground too, and the fact that Wales has placed itself as a green nation in all senses of the word in relation to recycling does demonstrate what we can do with the...
Mr Simon Thomas: May I assure the Cabinet Secretary that I'm not going to turn the internet on first thing in the morning? I want to listen to the radio in the morning in Aberystwyth, and it's not just smaller communities that are missing out on digital radio. There is a digital service in Aberystwyth, but there is no Radio Cymru or Radio Wales available, so we must ensure that our national broadcasters are...
Mr Simon Thomas: 3. Will the Commissioner provide an update on ensuring that car-charging points are available on the Assembly estate? OAQ51823
Mr Simon Thomas: May I thank the Commissioner for using the bilingual broadcasting services here in such a powerful way, and may I thank her for confirming that the process that has been ongoing for about a year will be completed by March? I look forward, personally, to being able to change the way I come to this place, not only by rail, of course, but in an electric car. But it's important to remember that...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Plastic and its impact on our environment is an issue of huge public interest now. In 1950, 1.5 million tonnes of plastics were produced across the world. It is now more than 320 million tonnes per annum, and half of all plastics produced since 1950 have been produced over the past decade alone. Plastic waste is now responsible for some 60 per cent to 90...
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Member give way there?
Mr Simon Thomas: I'm grateful. I understand the point he's making, and I understand the point that Lee Waters was also making, but the problem I think for us as an Assembly coming together is that the Bowen inquiry, as I understand it, still has no agreed terms of reference. It certainly has no timetable that we understand, and it layers another perspective on top of the perspective of this report, and...
Mr Simon Thomas: Plaid Cymru supports extending the franchise to young people at 16 and 17-years-old, certainly, but we want to encourage people of all ages to vote in higher numbers, and, to do that, we need to give them good reasons to vote, and you can’t just expect people to vote because you’ve given them the right to do so. So, in your proposals for reforming local authority elections, where are you...
Mr Simon Thomas: Can I just say this to the business manager? I note from the business statement that the Government has still not stated when it will make a statement and publish the report on producer responsibility as regards packaging and recycling, which was promised by the First Minister in February. So, can the business manager confirm when this will be? Yesterday I visited Natural Weigh in...
Mr Simon Thomas: Plaid Cymru will support the regulations and particularly welcome the new power that NRW will have to prevent the further use of an illegal site. Many people would be surprised that that power does not exist with that body by now to do that. Certainly, it will be a means of avoiding further pollution, and I welcome that. I do have one question for the Minister in relation to these...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank the Cabinet Secretary for outlining the priorities of the Government for this supplementary budget. The Finance Committee did meet to scrutinise the budget with the finance Secretary, and the committee was relatively content in considering this supplementary budget, and we haven't made any recommendations this time, but we have come to four...
Mr Simon Thomas: Just before he moves on to other matters and we still have financial transaction capital in our minds, the Finance Committee hopes to do a little bit of extra work around this about the funding mechanism behind this. Is he able to share with us any more information he has from the Treasury around the expectation of paying this back, and at what rate or percentage he's expected to pay it...
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Cabinet Secretary take an intervention?
Mr Simon Thomas: I'm listening with great interest and, obviously, I support the general principle of what he's setting out today, but emergency Bills are sometimes not good law because they're taken through to meet a particular objective and don't necessarily stand the test of time. Should an emergency Bill such as this contain a sunset clause?
Mr Simon Thomas: [Inaudible.]—on that point?
Mr Simon Thomas: I'm grateful. Just on that very point, he's talked about a pause, a need to look at this new creature called a UK common market, but, more importantly, who decides if that pause is needed and who decides whether we need to retain powers at Westminster? Is it just Westminster, which I think he's suggesting, or is it the four countries together agreeing that? If it's the four countries, I'm...
Mr Simon Thomas: 8. What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had regarding the provision of free milk in schools? OAQ51867
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you for that response and I am pleased that discussions are ongoing, but at the moment, milk is available free of charge in the foundation phase, mainly because of investment by the Welsh Government. Milk is subsidised in primary schools, because we are part of the EU school milk scheme, and, of course, milk in schools is not only nutritious, and adds to the nutrition of children in...
Mr Simon Thomas: Will the Member give way?
