Helen Mary Jones: So, do you dispute the view of the House of Lords committee that said that this clearly goes beyond—the drafting of the legislation, even with the amendments that you've mentioned—clearly goes beyond the stated intention of the legislation when it was first tabled? And do you not have any concerns about that?
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. In February 2016, the then First Minister used an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report to defend the then Welsh Government's record with regard to health service delivery. Of course, when you look at what that report actually said, it said, among other things, this: 'at present, Health Boards do not have sufficient institutional technical...
Helen Mary Jones: I am, Llywydd, encouraged to a certain extent by what the Minister says there, but he does use the phrase 'talk about', and I think we need to refer to what is actually happening now. From April, our local health boards will be responsible for an unprecedented amount of public funds in Wales, and I think there's nobody in this Chamber that would disagree with the need to invest. Now, other...
Helen Mary Jones: Llywydd, I'm very pleased to hear the Minister say that that is his objective, but I would put it to him that his party has been running the health service for 20 years in Wales and since the very first days of the National Assembly, we have been talking about—with, again, broad cross-party support—removing resources from secondary care and investing in primary care and indeed taking that...
Helen Mary Jones: Trefnydd, further to the points raised by my colleague Leanne Wood, I'm very grateful to the Deputy Minister for equalities for her written statement in response to the dreadful occurrences in New Zealand and now, of course, in the Netherlands. However, I would ask Government to reconsider whether we could, in fact, have this presented as an oral statement to enable us to scrutinise and to...
Helen Mary Jones: What recent discussions has the First Minister had with the Minister for Education regarding the performance of the higher education sector?
Helen Mary Jones: 10. How will the Minister evaluate the work of the Valleys Taskforce? OAQ53622
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Minister for his answer. Is he able to tell me whether the taskforce does or does not now include the Aman and the Gwendraeth valleys? The Minister will know, as well as I do, that there's a constant conversation, and sometimes those western valleys can fall off the edge. This is a real concern, obviously, because, while there may be some cultural differences, the social...
Helen Mary Jones: 8. What discussions has the Welsh Government had regarding arrangements to protect health and care services from the impact of a no-deal Brexit? OAQ53623
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his reply. I've got particular concerns about the care workforce and the percentage of staff currently employed in care homes who are citizens of the European Union. Now, of course, they will be permitted to stay, but there are real questions about how welcome they'd feel and whether they will choose to continue to do so, particularly after a 'no deal'...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I am pleased to propose this motion on behalf of Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales, and on behalf of the 138,600 women in Wales born in the 1950s deprived of their pensions without due and proper notice. Now, I want to be clear here that we are not opposing the equalisation of the pension age. That is entirely just, it's entirely proper. But the issue is not...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Thank you very much. And can I thank most of the Members who've contributed to this debate? I can't possibly respond to all the points that have been made, but we've heard some very moving individual testimonies, people speaking either for their friends, colleagues or for themselves. I think the points made particularly by David Rees and Leanne were about women's...
Helen Mary Jones: All right. If he wants more rope to hang himself with, then I'm happy to provide him with it.
Helen Mary Jones: Your point is made, but your point is incorrect. Unless you disbelieve Joyce Watson, Caroline Jones and others who have said in this Chamber that they did not receive a letter, amendment 2 is factually incorrect, and I invite you again to withdraw it, because it is just wrong. The Department for Work and Pensions have said that there were many women who were not corresponded with. Now, Mark...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm very grateful to Paul Davies for giving me a few moments of his valuable time. I associate myself with the remarks that he's made. There is a real issue of trust with those local communities, not only in Pembrokeshire, but across the Hywel Dda health board. Simply, they don't believe that they will be listened to when they raise their voices. The underlying problem here is that we have...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the First Minister for his answer to Mohammad Asghar. If I can draw the First Minister's attention to research that was presented to us as Assembly Members by the charity Ovarian Cancer Action, showing that over 40 per cent of GPs in Wales wrongly believe that ovarian cancer symptoms only present at the later stages of the disease, while 40 per cent of women have to visit...
Helen Mary Jones: 3. What recent discussions has the Deputy Minister had regarding community safety in Mid and West Wales? OAQ53662
Helen Mary Jones: I thank the Deputy Minister for her answer. I'm sure the Deputy Minister is aware of a relatively recent phenomenon that gets referred to as 'county lines', where people dealing in drugs are moving young people—predominantly young people, but certainly vulnerable people—from large urban centres and using them to sell drugs and, unfortunately, sex services as well, in our smaller towns and...
Helen Mary Jones: I'd like to refer the Minister back to points that I've raised with her before, with regard to services provided through the third sector for women and girls needing support. I'm thinking particularly of domestic abuse and of rape support services. We know that those are very often most effective if they are small, locally led and locally supported, and with the active participation of...
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you, Llywydd. I'm grateful to you for allowing me to apologise to this Chamber and to any others who may have been distressed or offended by a term that I inadvertently used in a debate last week. In responding to a debate, I made a reference—a commonly used phrase for if a person is already in trouble, perhaps they should desist. But the term that I used was entirely inappropriate...
