Huw Irranca-Davies: It is fair to say that we had not expected, during the first year of the sixth Senedd, to have spent quite so much time reporting on the Welsh Government's legislative consent memoranda for UK Bills. We expressed concern at the extent to which the UK Government is seeking to legislate in devolved areas, notably in circumstances where it is with the support of the Welsh Government. Reporting...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Llywydd, and in my short response here, can I just first of all thank the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution for the serious, thoughtful and considered way in which he's responded to this debate, and it typifies his approach to the broad remit of the work of this committee? We really welcome that. And on that basis, can I first of all turn to the comments from current...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 5. What discussions has the First Minister had with the UK Government regarding the main priorities for Wales in the forthcoming autumn budget statement? OQ58692
Huw Irranca-Davies: I'm truly glad to hear that Welsh Government has laid out its priorities in advance of the autumn statement. We know, as a matter of fact, from our constituents, from our local authorities and our third sector that mark 1 Conservative austerity tore the guts out of local government and has imperilled the continuation of the third sector, despite the best efforts of our local authority...
Huw Irranca-Davies: 1. What recent assessment has the Minister made of the hospital to home service provided through the partnership between Bridgend County Care and Repair and the Princess of Wales Hospital? OQ58690
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, I welcome that really positive response. Sarah Murphy and I attended in the last month a celebratory event to mark the ten thousandth individual referred on to that pathway from Princess of Wales, through Bridgend Care and Repair. What it does is a wraparound service around that individual, which makes sure that the home adaptations are done, that the nursing and other clinical...
Huw Irranca-Davies: A point of order, Presiding Officer.
Huw Irranca-Davies: A point of order, Presiding Officer. It's not the same point of order.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thanks, Presiding Officer. I concur with the points made by Joyce, and you could hear the sentiment in the thing. But actually my original point of order that I was raising was on behalf of backbench Members who are not frontbench spokespeople. In introducing the substance of the remarks from the individual to my left behind me, he made it clear that he was using the opportunity as a...
Huw Irranca-Davies: What assessment has the Minister made of the impact on the local and Welsh economy of Sony UK Technology manufacturing operations based in Pencoed?
Huw Irranca-Davies: 9. What assessment has the First Minister made of the implications for Wales of the UK Chancellor's autumn statement? OQ58728
Huw Irranca-Davies: Minister, my constituents are already struggling to afford their bills—not just people on low incomes but on middle incomes as well. The Office for Budget Responsibility forecast last week, in response to the autumn statement, states that the next two years will see the biggest fall in household incomes in generations. More than half of households will be worse off after the autumn...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. We laid our report on the Welsh Government's memorandum in respect of this Northern Ireland Protocol Bill on 9 November, and my thanks to our clerking team and also Members for their consideration and diligence. Our report expressed our concern with the Bill, for many reasons. Firstly, on introducing the Bill, the UK Government said it envisages the non-performance...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Would you take an intervention?
Huw Irranca-Davies: The intervention isn't on Men's Sheds per se. One of the interesting things from your very good contribution here, I have to say, is the need for diversity within this space, that in one community it might be a hub that does multiple things. Would you agree with me that the strength of this is having communities where there are a myriad of options for different parts of the community with...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Will the Minister give way?
Huw Irranca-Davies: I do hear what you're saying, and I think there's a valid point on this going too rapidly on agency staff. But I think there is an issue here on the reliance on agency. You often speak to front-line NHS workers who will say, 'If some of that proportion of what's been spent in additional agency was actually spent on mild enhancements to encourage us to come back in or stay after shift'. Can we...
Huw Irranca-Davies: In your initial response to this question, First Minister, you referred to the other health professionals who can play a role in alleviating the pressures on GPs themselves. You may be interested to know that I visited only last week with Jonathan Lloyd Jones in the Caerau pharmacy. It's a pharmacy at the top of a very disadvantaged area—very much that issue of the inverse healthcare...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Logan Mwangi should be alive and well today, and being brought up in a loving, caring family and community. Ben Mwangi and his family should be looking after him. The teaching community of Tondu Primary School should be wrapping around him, as they did, as they tried to. It's right that the perpetrators of Logan Mwangi's brutal murder are behind bars for a long time, but it's right as well...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. We considered these regulations last week and our report has been laid before the Senedd to inform this afternoon’s debate. As the Minister has stated today, these regulations form part of a suite of subordinate legislation required to support the implementation of the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016. The single merits reporting point that we have focuses on one...
