Rhun ap Iorwerth: At a recent meeting with Action on Hearing Loss, I heard a story about a deaf woman who had a sign on her front door saying, ‘I’m sorry but as I can’t hear the bell I am keeping the door open, so do come in’. Now, clearly that’s not acceptable. What she needed, of course, was assistance in getting the necessary technology to inform her when someone was at the door, to keep her safe....
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you. I believe that there’s real scope to create an international image for Wales as a nation that is truly promoting electric cars and vehicles, and one area where I believe the Welsh Government can encourage this is through a strategy to exchange the current fleet of public vehicles to one that is zero emissions—from council vans to health board vans to public transport, even. The...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Is the leader of the house aware of the report of the Mental Health Foundation, ‘Food for thought’, which looks at the link between nutrition and mental health? Now, I believe that the kind of strategy on obesity that we’re calling for through the public health Bill—. Am I okay to continue? I will start again.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I believe that the kind of obesity strategy that we’re calling for through the public health Bill could promote mental health, as well as physical health. But, does the leader of the house believe that that should be a consideration as part of the Government’s food strategy, in addition to being part of strategies in the sphere of health?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 9. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to reduce carbon emissions? OAQ(5)0123(ERA)[W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 1. What support can the Welsh Government offer to ensure that deaf people received the relevant adaptations to their homes? OAQ(5)0130(CC)[W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Yes, 12 months have passed since the legislation came into force, but, in reality, a large part of the Act related to giving powers to the Government to make regulations over a period of time in various areas. So, there’s been less than a year of action in a number of different areas, if truth be told. In order to retain focus, I want to concentrate on carers, because the Act took the...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The Member certainly emphasises, again, the narrowness of the window that we have in front of us. Mae Ysgrifennydd Cymru, rydw i’n meddwl, i gloi, wedi ei gwneud hi’n berffaith glir nad oes ganddo ddiddordeb mewn cynrychioli barn Cymru yn y Cabinet, ond yn hytrach mai ei rôl o ydy cyfathrebu wrth Gymru beth mae’r Cabinet yn Whitehall wedi ei benderfynu ar gyfer Cymru, p’un a ydy...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I will make some comments that are relevant to the whole of Wales, and then look at my constituency of Anglesey. We’ve all heard people discussing the importance of taking back control. What we’re not clear about is what exactly we’re talking about: what kind of control we’re talking about, and what will the cost of that be. The risk that we face in Wales now is that we could lose...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: A statement by Lloyd’s Bank this week that they intend to shrink a number of bank branches is concerning in a number of ways, particularly in terms of the job cuts that that is bound to lead to, and the erosion in the face-to-face counter service available, but we could also take a positive view of the announcement in part, because what we seem to be seeing is the bank adapting in response...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Would you see that the very core issue at the heart of this debate is that, if we are to give people the choice over whether to use the Welsh language in their adult lives, we have to give them the ability to speak that language, and that education is the key way to ensure that they have those skills?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Can I welcome those words? Would the Member agree that support has to be at all times more than just words? I think what you’re saying also is that words must be matched with action, and that we must accept that there will be opposition in places, and that, where there is opposition, we must work with those people to explain to them, which is why I believe there is a duty on all of us here...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Could I thank Margaret Hutcheson for submitting this very important petition? I read the report with great interest and some shock as well, because the petition itself noted the astonishing effect that ovarian cancer has had. We’ve heard some of the figures already: in 2014, 365 women diagnosed and 238 women died of this disease. The percentage of those who failed to survive is incredibly...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for the short written statement today. We all, of course, share the aspiration of the Minister of ensuring that Sport Wales does operate in the most effective way possible, but there are serious questions to ask, I think, in terms of how the Government managed to allow this body to reach the level of ineffectiveness. And what the statement today and the latest steps do is prove...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: But where units are based does matter. It matters in terms of access, as the Royal College of Psychiatrists say. It is quite clear, I think, from our figures and case studies, that the consequences of outsourcing have been to see mothers choosing no in-patient treatment over treatment that means separation from their families. So, patient care has suffered. There are child safety issues...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Referring to the answer of the First Minister yesterday, Steffan Lewis asked specifically, as I have done today, about mother and baby unit referrals. We have no mother and baby unit in Wales. Community services, they only came in three years after the closures, but, of course, we appreciate that they’re needed. But, in instances of post-partum psychosis, for example, we need in-patient...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Diolch, Llywydd. My colleague Steffan Lewis yesterday asked the First Minister to reopen a specialist mother and baby perinatal unit, following the closure of Wales’s last unit in 2013. The First Minister said that, in the past few years, fewer than five new mothers were referred to an in-patient unit in Wales. I’ve no idea what he was talking about—we haven’t got a mother and baby...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on orthopaedic waiting times in north west Wales?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The efficiency of what you can achieve with social services funding depends, of course, on what happens within the NHS and vice versa. I believe that it’s the failure of Government to put firm and sustainable foundations in place for the NHS that is responsible for the overspend that has been announced over the past day or two. But does the First Minister agree with my concern that forcing...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention?
