Joyce Watson: You make a really important point. Of course, one of the other issues for people with dementia is finding a quiet room. We have made sure that those quiet rooms and calming spaces are here to help enable people to de-stress. As I said, the public-facing staff are trained so they are able to help deal with any issues that come forward. The Commission has also marked Dementia Action Week as an...
Joyce Watson: 7. What assessment has the Welsh Government undertaken of the impact of the planned national insurance rises on the public sector in Wales? OQ56934
Joyce Watson: Thank you for that. It's bad enough that this is an enforced tax rise on working people in Wales, but it mustn't be a financial and administrative burden on our public services as well. So, what discussions has your administration had with the Westminster Government to ensure that the Welsh public sector employers are fully compensated and supported to pay for and administer the incoming tax...
Joyce Watson: I wish I shared that enthusiasm, but I don’t. I know it’s very damp outside and I don’t want to bring a dampener into this realm, but anyway, as a member of consecutive Senedd environment committees, I’ve been across scrutiny of the Bill and it has been hugely delayed. I don't want to repeat the points that both Llyr and Huw Irranca have made, but I do want to repeat what we wrote in...
Joyce Watson: Minister, I'd like to welcome the £5 million investment from the Welsh Government's European agricultural fund for rural development for a milk bottling centre in my home town of Haverfordwest. Once completed, that will have the capacity to bottle milk that is produced in Wales and that will be the first facility in Wales to offer this to a British Retail Consortium standard. Minister, do...
Joyce Watson: Minister, I'd like to highlight the £68 million investment that Welsh Government has made into the primary and community health services in Hywel Dda health board area in recent years, and also highlight that the integrated care centres in Aberaeron, Cardigan, Fishguard, Cross Hands, Machynlleth and Llanfair Caereinion are welcomed very much by the local community, and they've received...
Joyce Watson: 7. What action is the Welsh Government taking to support children and young people's mental health? OQ56911
Joyce Watson: Thank you, Minister. One of the frustrations many parents have raised with regard to children and young people's mental health is accessing the right service, and that was highlighted in the Children's Commissioner for Wales report, 'No Wrong Door'. And it found that many children, young people and their families looking for support for a number of issues, including mental health, found the...
Joyce Watson: 2. What is the Welsh Government doing to address women's safety in public places? TQ568
Joyce Watson: Thank you, Minister, and I thank you, Llywydd, for accepting my question. As you noted in your written statement yesterday, Minister, it is with great sadness that you should have to issue another statement because another young woman has lost her life. Her name is Sabina Nessa, and we all must remember and say her name. Women and girls don't feel safe in public places. Public sexual...
Joyce Watson: 7. What is the Welsh Government doing to encourage coronavirus vaccine take-up? OQ56978
Joyce Watson: I think it’s important to note that take-up across all demographic groups remains incredibly high, despite anti-vaxxers making a lot of noise, but remaining in a tiny minority. But we need to move on. We’ve seen lots of good work, as you say, in terms of reaching out to more vaccine-hesitant communities. So, how is that learning now informing the roll-out to the 12 to 15-year-olds?...
Joyce Watson: I will be voting in support of introducing the COVID pass, and I want to repeat that: it is a COVID pass. It isn't a vaccination certificate, it isn't any of these elaborate names that it's been given today, and it's almost like, somehow, we've been talking about something that doesn't exist and that's the truth. I don't, however, dismiss the unease that some people feel about the civil...
Joyce Watson: So, it's not a step too far. I will, yes.
Joyce Watson: I've no idea. But what I do know is, for the event to go ahead, the people who wanted to take part in it had to have a COVID pass. That’s what I do know, and that’s the point that’s being made here. That point is actually irrelevant, as far as I can see. So, let’s be clear here: this is proportionate, is sensible and is a fair precaution, and I really do urge everybody to examine...
Joyce Watson: I thank the Member for putting this question forward, because it's really, really important, and this is happening today, now, to families. It is, as the Minister said, the largest single benefit cut since 1945—one of the largest ever, in fact. After more than 10 years of Tory cuts—[Interruption.] I've only just started. And you can't make an intervention anyway.
Joyce Watson: Yes, please do—after more than 10 years of Tory cuts, when workers are already facing choices between eating and heating. I read the letter from the devolved administrations to the Prime Minister asking him to reverse that decision. I know he's been busy cracking jokes in Manchester, but has he actually bothered to reply to that letter? Because those families that he is making poorer today...
Joyce Watson: What are the Welsh Government's priorities for supporting disadvantaged pupils this academic year?
Joyce Watson: Diolch, Llywydd. Trefnydd, could we have a statement, and I think the Minister for Social Justice is best placed to speak on it, on the very urgent need to make public sexual harassment a specific criminal offence in England and Wales? I referred to it in my recent topical question to the Minister on women's safety in public places. But, since then, it's become clear that the roadblock to...
Joyce Watson: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm going to ask a question—one question—and it's about monitoring. The only reason that we all know that nature has declined is because of the longitudinal studies that have taken place that tell us that. And I welcome, obviously, all the new projects; they are to be welcomed. But, we mustn't lose sight of what we've already got. So, my question to you is very...
