Caroline Jones: I welcome the opportunity to discuss this important issue, as poor air quality is one of the biggest public health challenges facing Wales. Last week, the media spoke about all-electric vehicles and not selling petrol cars after 2035. Whilst we all welcome this move, we must ensure that the infrastructure is right, that cars are affordable and that incentives such as scrappage schemes are to...
Caroline Jones: I must declare an interest at this point as I am a landlord of a couple of rented properties in the private sector. So, thank you for your statement, Minister, and I agree with your statement that we have to give security of tenure. But that must go both ways. It must be balanced to ensure sustainability, to meet supply and demand. Protection must also be there for landlords, and there are...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Minister. As you are no doubt aware, tackling loneliness and isolation has been one of my top priorities and I'm pleased that you have also made it yours. I look forward to working with you on this subject. I was also proud to be part of the health committee, and we evidenced much, both inside and outside the Assembly. So, I was pleased with my interaction at...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, just a few days ago, we marked Time to Talk Day here in Wales, aimed at getting us, as a nation, talking about our mental health, but more importantly helping to change attitudes and remove the stigma that still surrounds mental health, and, while we have made some progress, it's sadly not enough. The annual population survey ranks Wales behind all other UK nations...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for that answer, Minister. When it comes to changing attitudes to mental health issues, we have to lead by example, and we have certainly set an example here in the Assembly, with Members talking freely and openly about their own health issues. Unfortunately, the positive example we have set does not pervade the public sector as a whole. I recently had to represent an elderly...
Caroline Jones: I thank the Welsh Conservatives for tabling this important debate. Our NHS emergency departments are unable to cope and have just experienced the worst waiting times performance on record. In my region, 40 per cent of patients waited more than four hours in the Swansea Bay LHB, and almost 5,000 patients in Cwm Taf Morgannwg, which is why plans to completely or partially close the emergency...
Caroline Jones: I would like to thank all those who took part in our inquiry and our excellent committee clerks for facilitating this follow-up inquiry into rough-sleeping, notwithstanding the passion for this subject shown by our Chair, John Griffiths, who has taken us to meet people with lived experience, which is very humbling. We all know that we have a homelessness crisis and that the official figures...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Minister. As you are well aware, I have been a long-term proponent of prefabricated and modular housing as an answer to our social housing shortage and have been arguing for this approach since I was first elected. As someone who grew up in a prefab, I have many fond memories of my prefab home. I realise that the prefabs of yesteryear won't meet modern...
Caroline Jones: 5. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to diversify the economy of South Wales West? OAQ55127
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Minister. Our past reliance on a handful of large employers has left the economy of South Wales West vulnerable. The closure of the Port Talbot steelworks would be devastating for the region, and we face huge challenges in diversifying. But we can also seize the opportunities, if we can think ahead. The biggest challenge we face as a nation is decarbonisation, which also offers us...
Caroline Jones: First Minister, regeneration of the northern Valleys requires more than just economic development and better transport links. We have to regenerate the environment and ensure our Valleys communities are places where people want to live and work. First Minister, in light of the comments by the Royal Meteorological Society that the damage caused by storm Dennis is a taste of things to come as...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you for your statement, Minister, as well as your earlier written statement on the joint action plan. I'd like to commend the work being undertaken by you, your officials, Public Health Wales, and our amazing NHS staff in preparing for the COVID-19 outbreak. I also welcome the fact that the 111 service is now available in all parts of Wales. And regarding this...
Caroline Jones: Minister, over the next five to 10 years, the number of one-person households is expected to increase by 15 to 20 per cent. We know we already have a shortage of good quality single-bedroomed accommodation available for social rent. There are around 60,000 single-bed social housing properties in Wales, but half of these are supported or sheltered housing. Minister, given that the majority of...
Caroline Jones: I thank the Welsh Conservatives for tabling this important debate. Sadly, the number of children taken into care has doubled in the past 20 years. And, while the needs and safety of the child must always be the only priority, we must do all that we can to reduce the number of children taken into care. Because, as the Welsh Conservatives' motion rightly points out, the life chances of...
Caroline Jones: Yes, certainly.
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Angela. It's totally disrupted the whole family's life, you know? So, as we take steps to improve the life chances of those in long-term care, whether that is in a care home or with a foster family, the Commission on Justice in Wales stated that children’s interests are being neglected in the family courts and were concerned at the very high numbers of children being taken into...
Caroline Jones: Well, sometimes it's a last resort, but what I was saying is, I think that more prevention is needed to ensure that children are not taken into care in the first place. And I don't think that support network is there. So, I agree with you—sometimes, but not totally, Rhianon. Thank you. So, where was I? I'd said that the Welsh Government and the UK Government must work together to understand...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your latest update, Minister, and I welcome the measures the Welsh Government, Public Health Wales and our excellent NHS staff are taking to protect us from the spread of the SARS COV-2 virus. Some of the measures, such as the new software to enable video consultations, will enhance our health service beyond this outbreak, and we must capitalise on this service, which, in this...
Caroline Jones: I thought long and hard about whether to table my own amendments to this Bill, and in the end, I opted to support amendments put forward by my colleagues. The whole point of amending legislation is to improve it, to ensure that the resulting Act will benefit the people who chose us to represent them. Instead of us all going our own way with competing amendments, it was better to put aside...
Caroline Jones: I'm also supporting the amendments in this group. If we are to have any chance of achieving the duty of quality, we must have statutory guidance in place that instructs health and social care providers on how they can go about implementing the duty of quality. Without statutory guidance, we leave it open to interpretation by the local health boards and local authorities. A duty of quality...
