David Melding: I do commend you for reading the report. England and Wales law is often common in this area, and I think there are lessons to be learnt, and I think the House of Commons committee's done a great service here. Estate management fees as well as service charges have been criticised for their size, lack of transparency and the difficulty with which they can be challenged. Those are certainly...
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Minister, I'm sure you'll join me in welcoming the excellent report that was launched yesterday by Tai Pawb, the Chartered Institute of Housing Cymru and Shelter Cymru on the right to adequate housing in Wales. And I commend the report to all Members who have not had a chance to see it yet. The report makes a compelling case for the right to adequate housing to be...
David Melding: Thank you, Minister, for that very encouraging answer, if I can say. And you quite rightly say you need a strategy to be able to ensure a right exists in practice. And, indeed, the report sketches out what needs to be done in terms of a rights-based national housing strategy. And it's indeed something I've already called for—and I think other parties share this aspiration. And can I just...
David Melding: I do think the strategy would be the way to look at all these things comprehensively. You're quite right—it's not just affordable housing, it's the totality of housing. But there are other key areas as well that we could mention here that should be part of a national housing strategy: the eradication of homelessness; increasing security of tenure for generation rent—nearly 20 per cent of...
David Melding: Strangely enough, this is the precise point I made to your officials. If we can set standards that are higher for those primary care services that we directly provide via the various local health boards, why shouldn't those higher standards have been comprehensively looked at in a full consultation with patients and groups like the Welsh Language Society, and before the relevant committee or...
David Melding: Well, answer the central question.
David Melding: I must say I'm enjoying the speeches in this really quite enchanting and important debate. When Alun was talking about Gwyn Alf's experiences at Normandy—it's the seventy-fifth anniversary; very appropriate that we heard that—I did think perhaps you'd go on to Wynford Vaughan-Thomas and his wonderful autobiography where he, of course, describes that he landed with the allies in the south...
David Melding: I'm loath to point this out, but I think it's highly disputed that we were the indigenous people of the British isles. The British isles was settled just after the last ice age. Magnificent as our Celtic inheritance is, there were people here before that.
David Melding: Will the Minister give way?
David Melding: You make a really important point, and it's really struck me, travelling around America, and particularly the south, how many Americans of African heritage have Welsh surnames—Williams, Evans, Jones, Davies. It really is quite chilling to think of the implications of that.
David Melding: Oh, I'm sorry. [Laughter.]
David Melding: 3. What is the Welsh Government doing to encourage and support smallholders in Wales? OAQ54136
David Melding: Can I thank the First Minister for that answer? No doubt he will want to join with me in congratulating the Glamorgan Smallholders, who held an outstanding exhibition in the Senedd last week, displaying the whole range of their work and how innovative it was, and also, I think, for the first time, Llywydd—no doubt with your permission—brought some animals onto the estate. Many Members...
David Melding: I urge you, Minister, to look at the situation in Scotland, because companies there making similar sized purchases to the ones in Wales will be paying 4.5 per cent—that's below the English rate and, obviously, 1.5 per cent below ours. The month they made that decision, they saw their revenue increase by an amount that was highest on record, and their yearly rise so far stands at something...
David Melding: 3. How is the Welsh Government promoting the Welsh language in Rhondda Cynon Taf? OAQ54125
David Melding: I am very grateful, Minister, that you have referred to the National Eisteddfod in 2022 visiting RCT; it's going to be a key opportunity to build on the 28,000 Welsh speakers who are already in Rhondda Cynon Taf. And I think it's a major opportunity for language recovery in a really important part of Wales, because, if we're going to be a bilingual nation, it's in this area, and others like...
David Melding: Can I commend Dawn's enthusiasm and the clear way she set out the case for the recognition of housing as a basic human right, and, in this context, the right to adequate hosing being a central principle in which we organise public policy? It would fit very naturally, when we're looking at the most severe need, our housing first policy, for instance, where we're helping those people who have...
David Melding: First Minister, we need to take great care with our most precious buildings. You may have heard that plans are now being considered—I don't expect you to comment on these, but plans are being considered for the development of the Howells store. And they're very interesting, in fairness. They deserve good examination. And, if we turn to Newman's great book on the buildings of Glamorgan, he...
David Melding: The Minister has been kind enough to refer to my role as chair of the ministerial advisory group, and I remind Members now of my position there. Deputy Minister, I think it is important—we've heard really insightful questions and comments, and inevitably they've looked at the challenges, but we should remind everyone that outcomes are good when we get care right, and there are foster...
David Melding: 6. What is the Welsh Government doing to educate pupils on the benefits of active travel through the education system? OAQ54176
