Mabon ap Gwynfor: I had the pleasure of going to speak to a group of pupils at Ysgol Glan y Môr, Pwllheli, about 10 days ago—talk about informed, curious and welcoming young people. It was a pleasure to be in their company. Anyway, one of them, Elan Davies, asked me the following question: 'I love sport'— Elan said— 'but I see a lack of equal opportunity for young women. What opportunities do you see...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you. I didn't hear you clearly—I'm sorry. Thank you very much, Llywydd, for that. May I also declare an interest and draw your attention to my register of interests, please? These regulations are a significant step in the right direction to improve the quality of housing in Wales. We will therefore be supporting this proposal today, but I would seek clarification on some points,...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: What consideration has the Government given to including wool in its economic growth plans for rural Wales?
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you, Llywydd. May I also take this opportunity to wish the Minister a happy birthday through you, Llywydd? Thank you.
Mabon ap Gwynfor: 6. What assessment has the Minister made of the findings of the Royal College of Surgeons report on vascular services in North Wales? OQ57656
Mabon ap Gwynfor: I thank the Minister for that response. Well, after three years of establishing improvement groups, task and finish groups, a change of leadership personnel, and, ultimately, commissioning an independent report, at last there is recognition that substantial mistakes have been made with this service. Is someone going to be held to account for this, Minister? Can you confirm whether anyone who...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you very much, Llywydd. I want to ask for two statements, if I may. I want to ask you to ensure that the Minister for health brings forward a statement on the provision of dentistry services. The people of Dwyfor Meirionnydd have the worst access to dentistry services in Wales, and another practice is to close in Tywyn this month, which will make things even worse. The Government has...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: How will the Government's new space plan benefit the people of Dwyfor Meirionnydd?
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you very much, Llywydd. The Wales Co-operative Centre has just released a report that calls on the Government to introduce a community ownership and empowerment Act to assist local community groups to develop permanent affordable housing in their communities. The report demonstrates how the current housing system, controlled by the open market, is failing people and communities in...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: I thank the Minister for that response and, for the record, I'd like to thank Vikki Howells for presenting the report in the cross-party group this morning. There is cross-party support for developing such proposals, and therefore I look forward to seeing the steps that will be taken to that end. If I could move on to retrofitting, please. Fuel poverty is a huge problem across Wales, as you...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: I'm coming to it now, thank you for your patience. The final budget—
Mabon ap Gwynfor: —sets aside an additional £35 million from financial transactions capital to experiment and develop new funding models in order to assist with accelerating the scale and how quickly we can decarbonise housing in Wales. Can the Minister confirm whether the social housing sector will be able to access or benefit from that funding—[Interruption.]
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Later on, maybe. Later on.
Mabon ap Gwynfor: And how will the fund be used in order to accelerate the policy and the funding for the decarbonisation of housing?
Mabon ap Gwynfor: 1. What assessment has the Government made of the impact of the United Kingdom and Aotearoa (New Zealand) trade agreement on agriculture in Wales? TQ602
Mabon ap Gwynfor: I thank the Minister for that response. Now, whatever the spin of the Conservative Government in Westminster, the truth is that this trade agreement will leave Welsh farmers at the whim of a market that they have no control over. If something changes in the lamb market, particularly in terms of China or the United States, then there will be far more New Zealand lamb reaching these shores or...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you very much, Llywydd. I want to continue on the theme of TB, if I may. On a number of occasions over the past two years, the Government here has talked of the need to follow the science when it comes to COVID. We should use the same principles in dealing with other diseases such as TB. The work done recently in Gloucestershire and Somerset, where badgers have been controlled, has...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you, Llywydd, and thank you, Minister, for that response. But to continue with TB, two years ago, DEFRA published a report showing the financial impact of TB on cattle farms in England and in Wales. It shows that the median cost paid directly by businesses is huge. Over nine months, a farm that has to deal with a chronic case of TB will have to pay £16,000. To put that figure in its...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Well, friends, what is to be? This is a question that many people are asking themselves today. The future is a foreign country, and at this moment it is a terrifying one. But in thinking of this future, it's worth looking back to our history, and history clearly shows us that that war is a waste, a waste of life more than anything else. My aunt Sheila, a Jew, fled Belarus after seeing real...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Well, the United Kingdom is amongst the most unequal states in the world. That isn't a political statement to cast aspersions on others, but a declaration of fact, according to the research undertaken by, amongst others, the OECD. Poverty is now endemic in some communities, and a large proportion of that is the huge cost that people have to pay towards a place to live, be that a mortgage or...
