Rhianon Passmore: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on the current progress of the Cardiff Capital Region deal? OAQ(5)0060(FLG)
Rhianon Passmore: For the people of Islwyn, the Cardiff capital region deal encompassing 10 local authorities, including our Caerphilly County Borough Council, is a true game changer. The deal’s top priority is the proposed south Wales metro. The Minister will be aware of the frustrations felt by my constituents daily as they seek to commute to the two major cities of Cardiff and Newport. On the highly...
Rhianon Passmore: 6. What is the Welsh Government doing to combat landscape crime? OAQ(5)0062(ERA)
Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, Minister. Recently, I chaired a multi-agency meeting at the iconic Valleys tourist hotspot, Cwmcarn Forest Drive, addressing the real concerns about the rise in landscape crime, and specifically at Twmbarlwm tump. Representatives from Caerphilly, Blaenau Gwent and Torfaen councils attended, along with the police and fire service as well as the Gwent police and crime commissioner. In...
Rhianon Passmore: I’m pleased to be able to speak in this debate. Yesterday I was able to ask the First Minister about the progress that the Welsh Labour Government is making in improving survival rates for cancer, and as I told the First Minister last week, the Member for Cynon Valley, Vikki Howells, and I had the privilege to tour the laboratories of Cancer Research Wales, where we were able to witness the...
Rhianon Passmore: First Minister, the national confidential inquiry, as has just been mentioned, into patient outcome and death, published in November 2015, says that sepsis kills more people than breast, bowel and prostate cancer combined in the UK. The report recommends more doctors and nurses use early warning systems and screening checklists to prompt them to check for signs of sepsis. The health Cabinet...
Rhianon Passmore: Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's efforts in maintaining Wales's industrial heritage?
Rhianon Passmore: In the Welsh Government’s community cohesion national delivery plan 2016-17, the then Minister, Lesley Griffiths, for communities and tackling poverty stated: ‘We are moving to a new climate where a Wales of Cohesive Communities is enshrined in the national goals through our Wellbeing of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. This will ensure cohesion remains at the heart of how Public...
Rhianon Passmore: Will the First Minister make a statement on current broadband speeds for schools in Islwyn?
Rhianon Passmore: I sometimes think I’m in a surreal reality. Let nobody be in any doubt, then, that this autumn statement is yet more proof, if it were needed, that the UK Tory Government treats Wales as an afterthought, with virtually nothing to say on the significant challenges facing our country. The additional much lauded £436 million for Wales, which we’ve heard a lot about, for the next five...
Rhianon Passmore: Yes, carry on.
Rhianon Passmore: I completely agree with the Member opposite. I think it’s time the OBR did look at its revisions and how it revises its revisions on a very regular basis. I wouldn’t take them as a measure. So, the OBR was projecting a national living wage of £7.60 an hour in 2017. The Conservative motion itself notes it will be 10p lower, at £7.50. This is going to cost the average recipient on the...
Rhianon Passmore: Will you take an intervention?
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you. It’s quite clear from statistics from the ONS that 4.4 per cent of our GDP spending was infrastructural under the Labour Government, and then it went down to 3.3 per cent, and then it’s gone down further to 2 per cent from Osborne to Philip Hammond at this moment in time.
Rhianon Passmore: First Minister, the Welsh Government has consistently supported the National Union of Mineworkers’s call for the surplus to be put back in the scheme for the benefit of the retired miners and coal industry workers. Mr Ken Sullivan, who has collected a petition of 8,000 names from my constituency, worked in Oakdale colliery near Blackwood for 24 years. The people of Islwyn, like my...
Rhianon Passmore: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government’s plans to deliver affordable new homes in Islwyn? OAQ(5)0086(CC)
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Earlier this month, you announced that the Welsh Government will invest an additional £30 million this year towards providing 20,000 affordable new homes. The Welsh Government’s affordable housing target of 10,000 additional affordable homes in the last Assembly was exceeded, with the housing supply pact between Welsh Government and Community Housing Cymru...
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you. Will you acknowledge, when you say that maths results are worse, that you’re talking of OECD system processes, and will you acknowledge the hard work that teachers the length and breadth of Wales have undertaken to actually improve level 2-plus data on GCSEs? They have improved and they continue to improve, as A-levels are continuing to improve and you’re bringing the whole of...
Rhianon Passmore: And the OECD have acknowledged—
Rhianon Passmore: Will the Minister provide an update on the support the Welsh Government is giving to former members of the armed forces community?
