Mike Hedges: Diolch, Llywydd. I'm going to talk about John Hughes. During the past year in Swansea we have been celebrating 'Calon Lân' with words by Daniel James, better known by his bardic name of Gwyrosydd. While not underestimating the importance of the words of the hymn, we must not forget the importance of the tune. When listening to Radio Wales in early February, I heard someone in America trying...
Mike Hedges: 1. What action is the Welsh Government taking to protect the human rights of disabled people? OQ56381
Mike Hedges: I thank the Minister for that response. People with a disability, especially those with hidden disabilities like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, myalgic encephalomyelitis and deafness, often feel overlooked. What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure that more support can be given to people who have these types of disabilities to ensure they are not disadvantaged?
Mike Hedges: This budget may very well be replaced by a substantially changed budget in the first supplementary budget produced post May, depending on the result of the election. Whilst council tax funding is set for the year, all other areas of expenditure can be either increased or decreased. With less than nine weeks to go to polling day, it would be helpful if the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru...
Mike Hedges: There are three things that either get overlooked or are presented in a confusing manner in the way the amount that each local authority gets is presented. I can think of no other area of Government expenditure where the percentage increase rather than the actual amount is announced, so the actual amount is lost and discussion resolves around the percentage change. Ceredigion, which we heard...
Mike Hedges: 6. What action is the Welsh Government taking to improve animal welfare? OQ56379
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Minister for that response? How we treat animals is an indication of the type of society we are. Whilst the Welsh Government has made substantial progress in ensuring an improved version of Lucy's law is brought in this month, what proposals does the Welsh Government have to ban the owning of primates, bringing CCTV in for abattoirs, and improving the welfare of rabbits and horses?
Mike Hedges: I've got a very positive sign on this. I believe we're starting the fourth industrial revolution—not as expected, as people were talking about, with artificial intelligence, but with homeworking and shopping. It's a completion of the circle from people moving into cities to work in factories to people leaving offices to work at home. We've seen over recent years changes in the way that...
Mike Hedges: One final point on this. Can we give up on trying to bribe companies to bring branch factories to Wales, where they promise hundreds of jobs that never materialise and then the cutbacks follow? This is not the right direction. It doesn't work, it hasn't worked since the Welsh Development Agency, and it ain't working now.
Mike Hedges: Will the Minister make a statement on the building of council houses in Wales?
Mike Hedges: Our major asset in terms of renewables is the tidal movement in the Severn estuary. It is the equivalent of hydropower and geothermal power in Iceland, and hydropower in China and Brazil. Welsh Government support has never been in doubt. Will the First Minister continue to press the Westminster Government on the production of electricity via tidal lagoon, obviously starting with Swansea?
Mike Hedges: At Westminster and at local councils, the budget and the budget debate are major events, even when there is no doubt the budget will be passed with a large majority. At the Senedd, it's considered only worthy of a one-hour debate. The debate on the budget is not part of scrutiny, which I think is something that some members of the Government—and I don't mean Ministers, I mean civil...
Mike Hedges: Diolch. I am pleased to be able to contribute to today's debate on behalf of the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee. The regulations were laid on 9 February. The following day, we wrote to the Minister in accordance with Standing Order 27.8 to notify her we would be reporting on the regulations. We are grateful to the Minister for delaying the debate on the regulations by...
Mike Hedges: Will the First Minister make a statement on projected housing need in Wales?
Mike Hedges: 8. Will the Minister make a statement on the employment of supply teachers in Wales? OQ56429
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Minister for that response? I mean, I, and I'm sure many others, have serious concerns regarding the way supply teachers are treated and paid via agencies. I know it's not the best solution, but councils could recreate the supply register and supply teachers to be directly employed by councils, or a consortia of councils, and then go out into schools rather than having them...
Mike Hedges: Rather than treating remote working as an anomaly, we should be seeing it as the new norm. Looking at the following areas of office work, pay and human resources, accounts and audit, in the pre-ICT days, they needed to be done in the office. Pay and personal records had to be manually updated and physically filed, with pay calculated, counted, manually checked and put into envelopes. Income...
Mike Hedges: What is the Welsh Government doing to support the economy of Swansea East?
Mike Hedges: 7. Will the First Minister make a statement on the economic benefits of homeworking? OQ56515
Mike Hedges: I was also going to say, another advantage is reduced traffic jams on motorways. But people work in offices because, when everything was paper-based, they had to in order to access data and update files. There has been a movement towards homeworking, with numbers slowly increasing well before the large increase during lockdown. Nine out of 10 employees who worked at home during lockdown would...
