Lee Waters: Thank you very much. I think it is important, as you’ve said, that there is as much unity as possible across the Chamber on this motion and that we come together on behalf of the Welsh national interest. Having negotiated a joint motion with the Welsh Government, can you explain why you then tabled a separate motion signalling a different tactic to the old motion that you'd agreed? Is this...
Lee Waters: I’d like to touch on three topics: fish, ambition, and St David. We’ve talked about the merits of this project being a commercial project, fully reliant on private finance, as one of its many merits, but, of course, we have a regulatory environment that risks making many of these projects non-starters. We may well want patient investors, but there aren’t many irrational investors. There...
Lee Waters: I will.
Lee Waters: It may surprise Mark Reckless to know that I was not aware of that particular sub-clause, but I’m grateful to him for bringing it to attention. It is not acknowledged that many of the private investors here have been incredibly generous in their patience, and, without them, this project would be dead in the water. David and Heather Stevens, in particular, do not seek the limelight, but,...
Lee Waters: 6. What plans are there to use big data to change the way public services are delivered? OAQ(5)0088(FLG)
Lee Waters: Thank you, Minister. Harrow Council have used big data to streamline rubbish collection and grass-cutting services, making £4 million of savings just through calculating the best routes to collect the bins and preventing overlap. Camden Council has reduced repair calls by 14 per cent by using big data to pinpoint where problems arise. When considering how the delivery of public services is...
Lee Waters: Along with workers from my constituency in Trostre and in Port Talbot this afternoon, I breathed a very heavy sigh of relief at the ballot result, and it’s testimony to the commitment of the local management and the workers that, despite the grievances and misgivings they had about the way Tata has handled this over the last 12 months, they’re prepared to make a commitment to save jobs in...
Lee Waters: Secretary, the Library of Wales series, thanks to Welsh Government investment—
Lee Waters: Oh, I’m very sorry.
Lee Waters: 2. What is being done to promote the Library of Wales series in schools? OAQ(5)0474(FM)
Lee Waters: Thank you very much. Thanks to the Welsh Government investment of some £600,000 over the last 10 years, 46 important literary works are now back in print in English. The two most recent books, ‘Ride the White Stallion’ and ‘Farewell Innocence’, by Llanelli-born author William Glynne-Jones, are an impressive addition to that canon. Just before the recess, Jon Gower and I held an event...
Lee Waters: Minister, the MP for Llanelli, Nia Griffith, and I recently held a packed public meeting in Llanelli with the affected workers—an overwhelming majority of which were women—where there was strong support for the idea of co-locating with other public services in the town. To be fair to Carmarthenshire County Council, they’ve done everything they can to make options available to discuss...
Lee Waters: 6. Why can’t people routinely make appointments to see their doctor via Skype or FaceTime? OAQ(5)0129(HWS)
Lee Waters: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The widespread adoption of digital technologies means we don’t need to require people who are ill to travel long distances to see doctors anymore. It frustrates me that the NHS often defaults to sending letters or even faxes—surely one of the last bastions of the use of the fax machine in modern society. It’s often patient confidentiality or security...
Lee Waters: Until about 10 years ago, I used to get paid to stand in the street and stop people and ask their opinions on the issues of the day. Some people would stop, some would shout abuse. In fact, when you think about it, my life hasn’t changed that much at all. I’m pretty confident that, if I were to do a vox pop today and ask people which they were most concerned about, the PISA report or the...
Lee Waters: Diolch, Lywydd. As we were reminded last week by the speculation about the future of Ford in Bridgend, and the month before by the debate around the future of Tata Steel, our economy is profoundly vulnerable—vulnerable to the decisions of foreign-owned multinational corporations, vulnerable to external shocks like Brexit or oil price fluctuation, and vulnerable, like all modern economies,...
Lee Waters: We’ve been trying a variation on the same theme in Welsh economic policy now for several generations, and we are running to stand still. Our national wealth level, or gross value added per head, has barely shifted in 20 years since we promised that the creation of a National Assembly would create an economic powerhouse for Wales. Two decades on, and we continue to search for a magic...
Lee Waters: Will the Minister make a statement on the failure to appoint a Welsh representative on the BBC board? EAQ(5)0095(EDU)
Lee Waters: Thank you, Minister. The BBC, in their reporting of Dr Carol Bell as the preferred candidate of the UK Government, has quoted a UK Government source as saying that the Welsh Government had ‘seen fit to veto the secretary of state’s choice of candidate’. Could you explain to the National Assembly the Welsh Government’s role in the process of having a BBC board member for Wales? Was it...
Lee Waters: Will the Member give way?
