Caroline Jones: I would like to offer my group's condolences to Her Majesty and all the royal family. The Duke of Edinburgh was a devoted husband, loving father and grandfather, and his sad passing will be keenly felt by all those who loved him, and my thoughts and prayers are with you at this sad time. The Duke of Edinburgh's passing is not only a loss to family and friends, but to all of us. As a committed...
Caroline Jones: My group strongly objects to these proposals as we feel they are anti-democratic. The upshot of these proposals will deny independent Members the opportunity to work together on common issues, deny independent Members the ability to feed into the workings of this institution, and deny independent Members the same opportunities as those in established political parties, the very political...
Caroline Jones: What steps is the Welsh Government taking to monitor new variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus?
Caroline Jones: What action is the Welsh Government taking to respond to the mental health needs of young people?
Caroline Jones: First Minister, Aberavon continues to have one of the lowest employment rates in Wales, with a quarter of the residents economically inactive. Do you accept that your economic policies have failed the people of Aberavon and the entire South Wales West region? So, what the people in my region need is greater support for domestic businesses, particularly those pursuing green technologies, as...
Caroline Jones: Here in Wales, we have had some of the longest periods of restrictions on our social activity in the world, so it is little wonder that we have experienced some of the greatest impacts. We are, for the most part, social animals, and spending time with friends and family is a vital part of our emotional and mental well-being. Having to cut all face-to-face contact for a staggering 212 days has...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. The coronavirus pandemic may have begun as a physical health emergency, but it has become a mental health crisis. The fallout from dealing with the SARS-CoV-2 virus has had a profound impact on the mental health of people of all ages and from all walks of life in every corner of Wales. And we are not unique: studies have shown the impact the pandemic has had on mental health...
Caroline Jones: I welcome the amendments to our emissions targets. Faced with one of the biggest threats to the planet, our nation and our way of life, the previous response was not sufficient to meet the threat head on. Thankfully, the debate has moved on from whether or not human activity has irreparably damaged the climate to what we're going to do about it. Even with us achieving net zero over the next...
Caroline Jones: Thank you, First Minister. For many people, their dog is not just a pet, they are a family member, and to have that family member violently ripped from you so someone can profit is unimaginable to me, and I'm sure every person with an ounce of compassion feels that way. I cannot imagine the heartache those people are going through. So, while I accept, First Minister, that crime and sentencing...
Caroline Jones: 3. What action is the Welsh Government taking to combat the rise in dog thefts in Wales? OQ56467
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. I ask the public to listen to my contribution in its entirety, as David Rees has deliberately tried to misinterpret my contribution for his own political gain.
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. I move the amendment tabled in my name. Before Christmas and for five weeks after, my husband was critically ill in hospital with coronavirus and he saw first-hand the stress on all NHS staff. We owe them a huge debt. We have discussed many times the need to recruit and train doctors and nurses from the local population, and here in Wales, this is doubly important, because of...
Caroline Jones: Minister, while your Government is on track to meet its affordable homes target for this Senedd term, do you accept that this target was woefully inadequate? I congratulate you for doing more than previous Welsh Governments, but I'm disappointed that you have failed to address the real need that exists for social housing. The new homes that have been built had been snapped up before the first...
Caroline Jones: Minister, while it's vital that we decarbonise our energy and transport infrastructure as quickly as possible, it's also equally important that we don't create other problems in our bid to cut carbon emissions. While biomass is carbon neutral, it can also create problems with air quality due to increased release of particulates. The move to electric transport will both tackle rising carbon...
Caroline Jones: Whilst there are some aspects of the Welsh Government's budget that are welcome, such as the additional moneys for the NHS, overall there is much to dislike in this spending plan. One of my major concerns is regarding the lack of business support. The coronavirus pandemic has not just been a health crisis; it has been an economic disaster. Wales experienced the greatest increase of economic...
Caroline Jones: First Minister, whatever your plans for helping Welsh businesses, will you ensure that they are fair and equitable? I've previously raised the plight of high-street arcades, which your Government refuses to help. These businesses have suffered the same losses as other leisure businesses, and yet you are denying them any recourse to business support. Welsh Government will gladly collect their...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. I formally move the motion tabled in my name. From a young age, I learnt a valuable lesson—that bigger is not always better. I was perhaps 12 when my small community school was merged with a much bigger one. We lost the personal relationships with our teachers, becoming just another face in the sea of faces. Thankfully, back then, such mergers were rare, and community...
Caroline Jones: What steps is the Welsh Government taking to help small businesses in South Wales West to recover from the coronavirus pandemic?
Caroline Jones: Like RSE, the teaching of religion, values and ethics generated a large amount of correspondence from concerned parents, particularly from those whose children attend faith schools. Once again, the Welsh Government has ignored the wishes of parents who wanted to be able to remove their children from lessons that went against their religion, values and ethics. And it's not the job of the...
Caroline Jones: It has been this part of the Bill that has given me the greatest concern. If the Bill had not removed the rights of parents to be able to remove their children from relationships and sexuality education lessons, I feel it would have had less opposition. I thought long and hard about tabling amendments to enable parents to remove their children from RSE lessons, but I was informed that such an...
