Caroline Jones: I move amendment 1 in my name. Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. I would like to thank the Welsh Conservatives for bringing forward this debate today. As the Welsh Affairs Committee discovered, the increasing divergence between the healthcare systems over the border not only causes confusion for patients who rely on cross-border services, but also difficulty in accessing services. As others will no...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Lywydd. Cabinet Secretary, it was extremely distressing to read in the papers of a family’s torment of an 86-year-old man who killed his dementia-suffering wife, aged 85, and then, himself unable to cope, stepped in front of a train. He was his wife’s devoted carer and they leave six children who feel let down and claim social services provision was inadequate. This is...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your answer, Cabinet Secretary. In 2014, a review of residential care, ‘A Place to Call Home?’, was completed. It concluded that too many older people living in care homes had an unacceptable quality of life. Although a series of requirements for action on care homes has been implemented by Sarah Rochira, our older people’s commissioner, who is dedicated and has a team of...
Caroline Jones: Finally, Cabinet Secretary, there is much publicity and concern at present regarding top-up fees in care homes and what these fees are being used for. How can we assure relatives and, indeed, residents in care homes that their fees are being used appropriately?
Caroline Jones: I apologise for a similar question, but, First Minister, with around 400,000 children living in south Wales, the fact that the region is still without a dedicated multidisciplinary paediatric rheumatology service is shocking. Currently, services are being provided part time by an adult rheumatologist, but there is no formal clinical network or adequate multidisciplinary input. What plans does...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. It is pleasing to note that progress has been made in reducing child poverty. However, we still have an awful long way to go if we are to meet the goal we all share of eradicating child poverty once and for all. I note from your statement today that you will be unable to meet your target to eradicate child poverty by 2020, and to a degree you...
Caroline Jones: Cabinet Secretary, the proposed tidal lagoon for Swansea will be the first such scheme in the world and, as such, is unproven technology. The developers claim the scheme will deliver 320 MW of installed capacity, but we have no way of knowing how much electricity will be actually generated. As we have seen from the Ramsey sound tidal scheme, things don’t always go to plan. Cabinet...
Caroline Jones: 6. What is the Welsh Government’s policy on youth justice? OAQ(5)0084(CC)
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. However, it was disappointing to read that a prison within my region has over 60 per cent of its 15 to 18-year-olds entering the prison with a drug-related issue. It was also highlighted that many of these teenagers will have spent time in the care system, truanted from school, or suffered with learning difficulties and/or mental health issues. With these...
Caroline Jones: 9. Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government’s priorities on tackling child poverty in south Wales? OAQ(5)0081(CC)
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Wales continues to have some of the highest levels of child poverty in the UK. Within my region, South Wales West, we have over 36,000 children living in poverty, and that’s 28.4 per cent of the region’s children. The UK Social Mobility and Child Poverty Commission annual state of the nation report was critical of the Welsh Government’s policies, stating...
Caroline Jones: First Minister, one of the biggest challenges facing the economy in my region during 2017 continues to be poor infrastructure. A thriving economy is dependent upon good transport links. With the rail network undergoing electrification works, businesses in South Wales West are at the mercy of the traffic flows on the M4. What plans does your Government have to reduce congestion on the M4 over...
Caroline Jones: Cabinet Secretary, the fact that the vice-president of the Royal College of Emergency Medicine in Wales says patient safety is compromised and staff are struggling to cope with the intense demands should deeply concern us all. Rightly or wrongly, the Red Cross described the situation across the border as a humanitarian crisis and Dr Roop says that in some areas performance is as bad as, if...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. The goal of making Wales a dementia-friendly nation is one we all share. Dementia is now the leading cause of death in Wales, and the number of people affected by dementia is expected to rise by around 40 per cent over the next decade. The fact that Welsh dementia sufferers, their families and carers can directly feed in and shape Wales’s...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary, and your letter earlier today. The news that patients can now benefit from the new treatment fund is most welcome and will be of great relief to many Welsh patients, some of whom have gone to England previously for treatment. When access to medicines is discussed, it usually relates solely to cancer drugs, so it is refreshing to see that new...
Caroline Jones: Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government's plans for transport infrastructure improvements in South Wales West during 2017?
Caroline Jones: I would like to thank the Welsh Conservatives for bringing forward this debate today. So far, winter 2016-17 has been a mild one and apart from the north-east of Wales, there haven’t been any major outbreaks of influenza-type illnesses. However, this hasn’t reduced pressures on our NHS. According to the Royal College of Nursing, our hospitals are so full all year round that the system...
Caroline Jones: I would like to thank the Welsh Conservatives today for bringing forward this debate on obesity, particularly just after Christmas, as Angela has said. Doing something good for ‘Jan-YOU-ary’ is a pledge we can all support during National Obesity Awareness Week. It is a matter of national shame that nearly two thirds of Welsh adults and a third of Welsh children are overweight or obese....
Caroline Jones: I’d like to thank my colleague Neil Hamilton for proposing this debate today. Those who opposed the UK leaving the EU are determined to find any possible way of keeping us shackled to an unelected, undemocratic bureaucracy, overburdened by restrictive regulations and unable to control our own borders—all for the sake of access to the so-called single market. The First Minister visited...
Caroline Jones: What is the Welsh Government doing to increase the number of Welsh students studying medicine at Welsh universities?
