Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Llywydd. It has been a great disappointment in my constituency as year 10 and 12 pupils hear that they won’t be going on work experience placements this year. I declare an interest as a father to one daughter in year 10, and another in year 12. Will the First Minister agree with this statement that Anglesey council officials certainly say is true, that what’s at the heart of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 7. Will the First Minister make a statement on mental health services for young people? OAQ(5)0656(FM)W
Rhun ap Iorwerth: That’s a new one.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much for taking the intervention. Is it not the case, though, that, were it not for those CAP payments, farmers who are struggling to get by would have gone out of business altogether, with the untold costs that that would have for them and for Welsh society?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: You mentioned the 65 per cent down to 42 per cent. Will you accept that leaving the European Union means that that figure coming from the European Union will be zero in future and that, as it stands, the money coming from the UK Government, or the promise of it, is also zero? So, that’s what we’re negotiating for for Welsh farmers.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much for giving way. Will the Member accept that there was no threat, of course, to funding for farmers in Wales if we had stayed in the EU? The vote has taken place, of course, but would he accept that whether it is three, four or however many years with regard to the continuation of the funding, that isn’t enough for farmers who are trying to make investment decisions in...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: In Bangor Cathedral today, family, friends and admirers remember, express gratitude for, and celebrate the life of Irfon. We need hardly utter his full name. Irfon Williams came to prominence through his battle with cancer. It was a personal battle for him—a battle for his health and for life itself. That battle required courage and determination, and Irfon showed those qualities in...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you. It's some two and a half years since the former Minister for the economy confirmed to me that work was ongoing to try and deliver plans to improve the links between the A55 and the port of Holyhead, where there are major traffic jams at the moment, particularly when lorries try to leave the port. Now, people ask me often when they will see this road completed, and I share their...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 3. Will the First Minister make a statement on transport links in Ynys Môn? OAQ(5)0637(FM)[W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I don’t think he is either.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Chair. I will keep my comments brief. Earlier in the Chamber, we discussed Plaid Cymru’s aim of training and recruiting and extra 1,000 doctors in Wales. I was extremely disappointed with the response of the Minister. ‘Mae hyn yn uchelgeisiol, ond nid yw’n gyraeddadwy’ were the Cabinet Secretary’s words. Now, we’re talking here of a 10-year programme. This is...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: But people aren’t stupid; they know when people are being selective with figures. There’s clearly a shortage of staff in mental health, and I hope that you would agree with that. Another area of health workforce where we have shortages is among GPs. It’s a Wales-wide problem. It’s one of the reasons to support Plaid Cymru’s pledge to train and recruit 1,000 extra doctors. Now,...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: So you keep telling us. Some of the figures that the First Minister didn’t accept this week were that waiting times for CAMHS haven’t improved. He claimed things had moved on significantly. We all know that if you want to demonstrate improvement, you simply take the month where figures were at their worst as your starting point and compare with more recent ones and, unless the performance...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Diolch, Llywydd. Now, last week was Mental Health Awareness Week, and, though that’s been and gone, we’ve got to keep the issue’s prominence, of course, on our agenda. Last week, I raised the issue of mental health services in the north of Wales with the First Minister, in particular the number of mental health patients who had been sent out of north Wales, hundreds of miles away from...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: We will be supporting this Bill today. Don’t get me wrong: I am not suggesting that all Bills should go through a similar journey to that of the Public Health (Wales) Bill through the Assembly, but I do think that the fact that the Bill, to all intents and purposes, went through this Assembly twice—it does show the work done by all parties, including Government and the opposition parties,...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It’s good to be able to note that it is Dementia Awareness Week, and I congratulate everyone involved with activities this week. It was nice to see our friends from the Alzheimer’s Society Wales here in the Assembly today, and there are events happening across Wales—I had an e-mail this afternoon drawing my attention to an event in Llangefni town hall between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. on...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: May I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement, and for all of the work staff and volunteers in the health service and the third sector do in providing end-of-life care and palliative care across Wales? I don’t think there’s much new, truth be told, in today’s statement—although it’s always useful to have an update—so may I refer, perhaps, to what should happen in the mind of...
