Dawn Bowden: Can I say at the outset that I want to thank the Conservatives for bringing this motion, which I think is a very wide-ranging motion, covering lots of very important issues? I’m not today going to comment on Plaid’s amendment on proportional representation, because this is currently the subject of consultation through the local government White Paper, and I guess we really ought to allow...
Luke Fletcher: ...linked to mental health: 43 per cent of unemployed people report poor mental health, compared to 27 per cent who are in employment. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has noted that job loss, of which there have been many in Wales over the pandemic period, is a traumatic experience in someone's life and has an immediate negative impact on their mental health....
John Griffiths: We found that the lack of available information on the role of a councillor was a barrier to attracting potential candidates. People will not put themselves forward if they do not understand what the job entails, and this lack of information is also fuelling the notion among some people that a role in public life is not for them. The Minister has committed, through the Diversity in Democracy...
Alun Davies: ...to the primary legislation itself. The Auditor General for Wales's critical report 'Community safety in Wales', published in October 2016, suggested that Welsh community safety partnerships were not as effective as they should be. It highlighted important issues including the complex and confusing policy landscape in which partners now operate, and concerns about leadership and...
Jane Hutt: ...socioeconomic impacts. That's why the race equality action plan looks—and, indeed, the programme for government, which is so important—. If you look through the programme for government, it's not just equality that's addressing these issues. There are actions in terms of housing, in terms of employability, in terms of improving access to apprenticeships, and also in terms of education,...
Huw Irranca-Davies: .... First, have we picked up with regard to the drive towards increasing standards in residential sectors—is it having any impact, anecdotally? I am having the occasional piece of correspondence or representation from individual Assembly Members, which the care inspectorate is trying to deal with sympathetically. I know I convey any concerns from individual Members directly to them and...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those questions. It is a shame that they do fail to recognise the huge amount of work that has already been going on that has been supported by Government over a long period, not least through the Supporting People grant, which I know both our parties have a particular interest in. So, one example would be the Swansea Young Single Homeless Project. That is an...
David Lloyd: ...wilderness pre devolution, we looked to institutions such as the National Museum Wales and the national library as the pillars of our nation’s memory, as a definition of Wales, as an independent representation and an independent voice that spoke up on behalf of Wales to say that it still existed, despite the other bleak and black circumstances. People were asking questions in the 1980s...
Mr Neil Hamilton: ...of the economic activity within the region. Tourism is fundamental to the Welsh economy in these areas. I think it's monstrous that the Welsh Government, which is overwhelmingly urban in its representation and its interests, will be now riding roughshod over the interests and opinions of the people of mid and west Wales. What we're seeing here is a strategic centralisation of planning and...
Paul Davies: ...review since 2013, and so it's important that the Welsh Government now brings forward plans to manage these landscapes. It is disappointing that the Welsh Government's statement only confirms that another statement will be published in a few months' time. Therefore, my first question is to ask the Minister: why is this process taking so long, and does the Minister agree with me that the...
Vikki Howells: LGBT history month gives us the opportunity to look back and reflect on the progress made in advancing equality for LGBT+ people.As other speakers have noted, 2017 marks the sixtieth anniversary of the publication of the Wolfenden report, and the fiftieth anniversary of the passage of the Sexual Offences Act 1967, decriminalising sexual acts in private between two men. And in remembering both...
David Rees: ...in the report, and I'm pleased that the majority have been accepted by the Government or accepted in principle. However, I have concerns regarding the rejection of recommendation 11. I have had representations from many organisations in my role as chair of the cross-party group on mental health around crisis care and care and treatment planning and the pace at which previous...
Heledd Fychan: Someone wrote to me this week: 'Nothing is getting better; everything is getting worse day by day. Even some of the handouts that I have received are just not making any difference. What will change for me and what promises can you make?' Well, it's extremely difficult, because, even looking at this budget, the questions that we are being asked are not going to be solved or addressed. There...
Jane Hutt: ...Links Network conference, which I also attended, as you know, and delivered a keynote speech last week. And the theme of this conference for colleagues was global citizenship. Of course, we had representation from all those health boards, the Welsh organisations and African partners, universities, and NHS and health workers from across the UK, who recognise the work that we are doing and...
Siân Gwenllian: ...McAllister. I very much hope that we will move immediately to introduce the rest of the proposals. Like Jane Hutt, I'm disappointed that recommendations 10 and 11, in relation to increasing equal representation in terms of gender, aren't being brought forward at this point. But I do understand the background to that, of course. Quotas and job-sharing are an excellent way of providing women...
Ken Skates: ...available for accessibility at stations across Wales for people who are of limited mobility. There are a number of stations that I know of personally, including my own station of Ruabon, that do not have step-free access, or additional access to step-only access. That will be resolved in the coming franchise arrangements. Every station within the metro area will also be step-free...
Mike Hedges: ...out to get your newspaper, go shopping, visit a local sports club, or walk down the street, you interact with voters. STV is an electoral system promoted by many in favour of a form of proportional representation. It's used for Scottish council elections and elections to the Irish Parliament, the Dáil. When electing more than one candidate, the STV system becomes complicated, whereas only...
Julie Morgan: ...of the sector, we are currently focusing on advocacy arranged by local authorities under their duties to assist children, including looked-after children, and certain care leavers who wish to make representations in relation to their need for care and support. I do believe this is a proportionate first step, presenting an opportunity to learn before considering extension to the wider...
Mick Antoniw: ...legislation. Now, many of the powers taken are justifiable, but we were concerned to hear the Minister say that many of them allow the Welsh Ministers to respond to future circumstances that could not yet be foreseen. So, we do not consider it appropriate for the Welsh Government to take powers to deliver policy that has not yet been fully developed or foreseen. We consider this to be a...
Mark Isherwood: ...one of the four integrated autism service, or IAS, areas where the service has been launched are now saying they just want to become a diagnostic service and lose their support worker function? Another area is already making representations that, despite already receiving an extra £150,000 to £170,000 annually from local authorities and health boards on top of their IAS funding, they...
