Caroline Jones: I thank Helen, Dai and David for tabling this debate. As I've said many, many times before, nurses are the backbone of our NHS. Unfortunately, successive Governments have failed to recruit and retain enough nurses, and Wales has an abysmal record on workforce planning, and we are seeing the results, because there are more nurses leaving the profession than joining. The fact that we needed to...
Caroline Jones: A few weeks ago, Cwm Brombil Ladies WI hosted an event for Age Connect at Neath Port Talbot in Margam Abbey as part of the Women's Institute link together to alleviate loneliness campaign. I'm proud to be a member of Cwm Brombil Ladies WI. In addition to working hard to tackle loneliness and isolation, the women in Cwm Brombil also work to reduce the impact of dementia, to raise funds for...
Caroline Jones: While we welcome the Welsh Government's decision to use the consumer price index rather than the retail price index, this will still see business rates rise for struggling businesses across Wales. Using CPI still results in a 1.7 per cent increase for business rates across Wales, and, at a time when businesses are struggling and our high street is in serious decline, the worst thing we can do...
Caroline Jones: Thank you, First Minister. With my region home to one of the last remaining colonies of the fen raft spider, and as the species champion for this rarest of British spiders, I take a keen interest in preserving the biodiversity of South Wales West. My region is also home to one of the greatest example of sand-dune habitat in Europe—the Kenfig national nature reserve, as you've just...
Caroline Jones: 1. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to protect and enhance biodiversity in South Wales West? OAQ54847
Caroline Jones: I would like to put on record my thanks to the committee clerks and all those who took part in our inquiry into empty properties. I was not on the committee at the beginning of the inquiry and did not get the opportunity to question the majority of the witnesses, but I am grateful to all those who took time to inform us. We have a housing crisis in Wales, with over 60,000 households on a...
Caroline Jones: I thank the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee for their report into community and district nursing services. Community nursing is an essential service that helps keep patients out of hospital and remain in their own homes. As our demography changes, as we all live longer with increasingly complex chronic illness, the services provided by district and community nurses become more...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Minister. NHS staff are our most important resource. Pumping millions of pounds extra into healthcare is to no avail unless we have the doctors, nurses, radiographers, lab technicians and healthcare assistants needed to deliver first-class care. I welcome the progress the 'Train. Work. Live.' campaign is making, and the fact that you have managed to exceed the...
Caroline Jones: Will you give way?
Caroline Jones: That they would see whether the voluntary approach suggested by Public Affairs Cymru increased transparency sufficiently to negate the need for a statutory register. Yet here we are, nearly two years later, and we are no closer to fully open and transparent lobbying in Wales. Here, the sector is a prime example of the revolving door, with staff either working for or running their own lobbying...
Caroline Jones: It is on record, because everything is recorded.
Caroline Jones: It is on record, because everything is recorded. Were you in the Cabinet?
Caroline Jones: Were you in the Cabinet?
Caroline Jones: It's all recorded.
Caroline Jones: This Act introduced a requirement for a register of consultant lobbyists in England, and Scotland soon followed suit with the Lobbying (Scotland) Act 2016, which requires anyone who undertakes face-to-face lobbying of MSPs, Scottish Government Ministers, special advisers or Permanent Secretaries to sign the Scottish lobbying register. In Wales, the Standards of Conduct Committee looked at...
Caroline Jones: Okay. I thought she wanted an intervention, I'm sorry.
Caroline Jones: By 2008, the professional lobbying industry was believed to be worth nearly £2 billion. In January 2009, the House of Commons Public Administration Select Committee published a report, 'Lobbying: Access and influence in Whitehall'. That report highlighted the revolving door that exists between Members of Parliament and lobbying firms, and the committee recommended a statutory register of...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I have pleasure in moving this debate today. Our request is simple: we have to introduce a statutory register of lobbyists in Wales, the only part of the UK not to have a register of lobbying activity. Lobbying is defined as any attempt by individuals or private interest groups to influence the decisions of Government. In its original meaning, it referred to efforts...
Caroline Jones: I thank Lynne, Dai and David for tabling this important debate. As the other contributors have pointed out, pancreatic cancer is the deadliest of all the cancers, yet the majority of people have never heard of it. I became acutely aware of pancreatic cancer over 30 years ago, when doctors discovered a tumour on my pancreas. Thankfully, in my case, the tumour was benign, but the symptoms that...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for that answer, Minister. And, of course, as we enter the winter period, the pressure placed upon the ambulance service is enormous. We have seen record rates of sickness absence in the Welsh ambulance trust, putting more pressure on the service. Difficulty in accessing out-of-hours care continues to drive patients towards our overstretched accident and emergency departments, which...
