Cefin Campbell: 3. What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure adequate support for rural households across Mid and West Wales as they face the challenges of the cost-of-living crisis? OQ58509
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much. As you know, homes across mid and west Wales are more reliant on off-grid fuel such as oil and biomass than other parts of Wales. In Carmarthenshire, 39 per cent of homes are not connected to the gas grid; 55 per cent in Powys, and 74 per cent in Ceredigion. This compares with an average of 19 per cent across Wales. Unlike gas, there has been no cap on the cost of this...
Cefin Campbell: 2. What support is the Government providing to university students across mid and west Wales as the cost-of-living crisis intensifies? OQ58543
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much. Perhaps I should be declaring an interest because I have two daughters at university at the moment, and I've had a number of e-mails from students, many of them in the two universities that happen to be located in my region. So, I'm very aware of the increasing pressure on university students as a result of the cost-of-living crisis. Indeed, whilst inflation continues to...
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much. Last week, Minister—
Cefin Campbell: Sorry, I skipped ahead.
Cefin Campbell: 9. What assessment has the Welsh Government undertaken of NHS staffing levels in mid and west Wales? OQ58544
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much. Last week, as I said, I had the pleasure of meeting with the RCN here in the Senedd to discuss their latest report, and in the evening I had the pleasure of meeting a number of nurses from the mid and west Wales region. I heard about the huge work pressures that they're facing: a lack of staff; insufficient pay; morale being low; and they said that they were exhausted,...
Cefin Campbell: 7. Will the Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government's measures to tackle the spread of bird flu in Mid and West Wales? OQ58624
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much. Those measures are, of course, welcome because the current strain of avian influenza is recognised as the worst to have affected the UK, with the recent news in Norfolk that some 0.5 million chickens have been destroyed a result of the inflection, and concern in the industry that this will have an effect on the number of turkeys available for Christmas. But, in addition...
Cefin Campbell: I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate S4C, which has its headquarters in Carmarthen, on celebrating its fortieth birthday last week. The channel was established on 1 November 1982, and I'm sure that many of us will have fond memories of gathering around the television on that historic evening. I have some very fond memories of the launch. Over the past few decades, the channel has...
Cefin Campbell: 4. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to address the increasing demand for social housing in Mid and West Wales? OQ58724
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much. As you know, almost 90,000 households in Wales are on the waiting list for social housing at the moment. This has increased from 65,000 homes in 2018, and charities expect that number to increase further. And trends across Mid and West Wales are very concerning indeed, with the number of households on waiting lists in 2022 up by almost 50 per cent in Pembrokeshire and...
Cefin Campbell: 4. What discussions has the Welsh Government held with the UK Government regarding the relevance of the shared prosperity fund to local authorities in Mid and West Wales? OQ58719
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much. It's good to hear that, because as we know, this announcement was made at the beginning of the year, and not only does this new budget undermine the devolution settlement, but it also breaks Brexit promises of not a penny less. The £585 million available to Wales over three years is short as compared to the figure of £375 million available previously through the...
Cefin Campbell: What is the Welsh Government doing to raise awareness of the potential dangers of vaping among young people in Mid and West Wales?
Cefin Campbell: Thank you very much, Llywydd, and thank you for the opportunity to introduce this debate, and I'm very grateful to Carolyn Thomas, Luke Fletcher and Mabon ap Gwynfor for accepting an invitation to contribute to the debate. The pandemic made all of us more aware than ever before of the importance of strong and resilient communities. Our communities were in the vanguard of the response to the...
Cefin Campbell: Social enterprises and community-owned businesses thus come in all shapes and sizes, and they play a vital role in community development, in social regeneration and economic transformation. They are central to the foundational economy, and keep capital—human, social and cultural, as well as economic—circulating in local communities. Crucially, they demonstrate that commercial success can...
Cefin Campbell: The majority, if not all, of the community businesses, co-operative enterprises and social enterprises prioritise sustainability and protecting the environment as core elements of their business models. In St Davids, for example, Câr-y-Môr is the first regenerative ocean farm under community ownership in Wales. It's a community benefit society that has two key objectives: improving the...
Cefin Campbell: The success of all these initiatives is owed to the knowledge and drive that exist within our communities. Support to incubate and nurture this needs to be long-term and structural. I would therefore call on the Welsh Government to consider this evening how it might both broaden and deepen its support for community-owned businesses, social enterprises and co-operatives. The Welsh Government...
