Dawn Bowden: Carwyn Jones.
Dawn Bowden: Will the First Minister make a statement on the benefits of EU membership in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney?
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank the Minister for her statement? Minister, I recently met with the principal of Merthyr college and our dialogue included discussions around apprenticeship programmes delivered in conjunction with employers such as General Dynamics in Merthyr, which, working in partnership with Merthyr college, is creating two new all-age apprenticeship programmes starting in September 2016, when...
Dawn Bowden: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Will the First Minister please make a statement on the role the Welsh Government sees for sport—
Dawn Bowden: Oh, sorry. [Laughter.] The Minister. [Interruption.] Yes, well, one day, Becs, one day. [Laughter.] Sorry, I’ll start again.
Dawn Bowden: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on the role the Welsh Government sees for sport in helping to improve the health and well-being of the people of Wales? OAQ(5)0015(HWS)
Dawn Bowden: Thank you, Minister. Merthyr council has secured funding of almost £12.9 million under the Welsh Government’s Vibrant and Viable Places programme to support regeneration projects in Merthyr Tydfil. Will the Minister then join me in commending the initiative of both Merthyr Town Football Club and Merthyr council in utilising a grant from this funding arrangement to support the development...
Dawn Bowden: I suppose we all have experiences that help us to reach a particular view on the question of our membership of the European Union. In my case, I draw upon 30 years’ experience as a trade union official before being elected to this Assembly. I know from first-hand experience that workers in Wales and their families are better off because the EU provides for a basic range of workers’...
Dawn Bowden: Can I say at the outset that I certainly support the thrust of this motion and also regret that the draft Wales Bill does not provide for the devolution of policing and justice? The UK Tory Government funding cuts to policing in England led to significant reductions in the number of PCSOs there. So, we should congratulate the last Welsh Labour Government on agreeing to fund the employment of...
Dawn Bowden: Cabinet Secretary, you might well be aware of a recent report from Sheffield Hallam University Centre for Regional Economic and Social Research. They highlighted the disproportionate impact on welfare benefit cuts on the people of Wales compared to the UK as a whole—I think that’s the point that’s already been made—and this is even more pronounced in the Welsh Valleys. It notes that...
Dawn Bowden: I’m sure the First Minister would appreciate that Members will want to ensure the best outcomes for their constituencies. It’s what we’re elected to do, and I’m no different to that, so I’m going to be taking this opportunity to join the call for assurances for my own constituency, which is, of course, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney valley—a constituency that has been a major...
Dawn Bowden: Diolch, Lywydd. I was hugely disappointed at the outcome of the EU referendum. Throughout the campaign, I sought to truthfully set out some of the dangers as I saw them, on leaving the EU. I campaigned from both my heart and my head on what I genuinely believed was the best for some of the most deprived communities; not just in Wales, but across the UK. What is clear is that many people voted...
Dawn Bowden: No, I won’t. At the weekend, I met Alex, a 14-year-old girl from the Gurnos, who said to me, ‘Why have old people thrown away our future?’ Unfortunately, I didn’t have an answer for her. So, for Alex and her friends and for the deprived communities in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney and elsewhere, I urge the First Minister to be relentless in holding the exit proponents to account over...
Dawn Bowden: I thank the business Minister for her statement. I’m just kind of repeating some of the stuff that we've already talked about in the debate, but I do think this is particularly important because, whilst many of us, I think, probably could have predicted a number of the consequences of the ‘leave’ vote in the EU referendum, which included the alarming and disgusting wave of racist...
Dawn Bowden: Huw Irranca-Davies.
Dawn Bowden: Second.
Dawn Bowden: Cabinet Secretary, many of the employment protections offered to workers in Wales are based on protections emanating from the European Union. We’ve already seen indications, as I mentioned yesterday, from some of the leading Brexiteers, that they see part of the negotiations around the UK’s exit from Europe as a chance to undo much of this employment rights legislation, including...
Dawn Bowden: Diolch, Lywydd. I actually think that the Cabinet Secretary has probably just answered my question, but I’ll ask it anyway. I think, Cabinet Secretary, we can all be rightly proud here in Wales that we have not seen wide-scale privatisation of local authority services as we’ve witnessed in England. That’s built on the premise that our key public services are at their best and most...
Dawn Bowden: First Minister, during questions to the Cabinet Secretary last month, I was able to highlight a report from Sheffield Hallam University, which identified the disproportionate adverse impact of Tory Government welfare benefits cuts on poorer communities, with particular reference to limiting the local housing benefit to the local housing rate. Another proposal under the new arrangements is to...
Dawn Bowden: Before I just ask my question of the Minister, I just wanted to note, and note that this Chamber notes that the UKIP AMs that have been lauding their representation of the Valleys throughout the Assembly elections and have been telling Labour how out of touch they are with the Valleys—
