Alun Davies: I think Members across the Chamber will welcome the words of the Member for Preseli Pembrokeshire this afternoon, in the same way as Members across the Chamber have supported the Welsh Government in making the argument to ensure that Wales doesn't lose out as a consequence of the shared prosperity fund. And the power of our argument, Minister, I'm sure you'll agree with me, is in the power of...
Alun Davies: 8. Will the Minister make a statement on patient access to urgent dental services in the Aneurin Bevan University Health Board area? OQ57671
Alun Davies: Minister, I would like to ask for a debate in Government time on Government policy for the Valleys. You will be aware, since the election last year, there have been very few opportunities to discuss the way in which the Welsh Government is going to develop policy, and economic policy particularly, for the Valleys of south Wales. I'd like that debate to be informed by two statements, with,...
Alun Davies: I wasn't going any further, Deputy Presiding Officer. I think I got as far as I could with that. But what we need to do is to ensure that we have the objectives set by Government ahead of these programmes—objectives, timelines, targets—so that we can hold the Government to account in future years for delivering, or not delivering, the commitments that they are making this afternoon. I'm...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to the Minister for introducing this debate this afternoon. In many ways, this is an excellent budget in very difficult circumstances. We will welcome the investment in NHS recovery, the support for vulnerable people, the young person's guarantee, the real living wage for social care workers, the basic income pilot, meeting our obligations in responding to climate change. All...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to the Minister for coming forward with this statement this afternoon. What I want to focus on is the impact this is having on people, on patients and families. I'd like to know what exactly are the services that the Minister is ensuring are going to be available in each one of our health boards. What are the Government's expectations for those services? Like her, I'm not...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Presiding Officer, and grateful to you, Minister, for your statement this afternoon. I hope that you do continue to recover from COVID, and I think people across the Chamber want to wish you well with that. Like others, I want to congratulate you on the appointment of Derek Vaughan. Those of us who've worked with Derek Vaughan in the past in the institutions of the...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Minister, I'm worried, and I hope you can reassure me. You're allocating £144 million a year for the next five years. That's over £700 million, and we don't know what we're going to get for it. That worries me. It worries me, because your starting point is that you're replacing previous funds, and I don't know what was delivered by those...
Alun Davies: Minister, I'd like to call for two urgent statements, please, the first on access to NHS dentistry. We've known for some time that there's been something of a crisis in accessing NHS dentistry in communities across the country. But in Ebbw Vale at the moment, there's a real emergency, where NHS dentistry has been withdrawn, there's no access for children, for pensioners, to an NHS dentist,...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm grateful to the Member for Brecon and Radnor for putting forward the debate this afternoon, although I have to say to him that there are two areas that I take issue with in his introduction. The motion itself is one where I think most of us, and many of us, will agree, but there's no point—and as a Conservative, of course, you will agree...
Alun Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on the current process of designating sites of special scientific interest?
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Presiding Officer. And I fear that I'm going to be adding to that conversation, Minister. It's profoundly disappointing that a new way of working, which was embedded, many of us felt and thought, by the statements made by yourself, by the First Minister, by the health Minister, by the economy Minister, in the midst of a crisis and a pandemic, seems to be drying up...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to the First Minister for that. I wonder, First Minister, if you could outline your vision for how this will be delivered in places such as Blaenau Gwent, where, historically, we've had difficulties accessing some of those opportunities, and to ensure that there is equality of access and equality of opportunity for people wherever they live in Wales. I'm anxious that a young...
Alun Davies: 9. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government initiatives to tackle youth unemployment in the south Wales valleys? OQ57504
Alun Davies: I very much agree with the final point that Sioned Williams just made there. Mark Isherwood is wrong when he talks about the bicameral nature of the UK Parliament. It is, of course, bicameral in its nature, but it isn't in terms of legislating, when a vast array of amendments are made after the House of Commons has already considered the Bill. That is an abuse of process, and the only reason...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Counsel General, for that statement. I have to say, listening to the Conservative spokesperson this afternoon, I think Herod missed out on some first-class defence there. There seems to be virtually no policy coming from the UK Government that the Conservatives here wouldn't seek to defend. And this is, I think, one of the most pernicious approaches that we've seen from...
Alun Davies: I would like to see a report from the Government on how far they went in delivering on those objectives and those targets at the end of the last Senedd. So, what's going to be different this time, Minister?
Alun Davies: I agree, Minister, that we don't want to be looking to and living in the past, but I hope we're going to learn from the past. I've been a Member of four Senedds, and I've seen four different Governments adopting four different approaches to these matters, and I'm yet to be convinced that any of them have succeeded. When I look at some of the corporate joint ventures that I'm hearing described...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you, Minister, for the statement and your answers this afternoon, which I think have set a lot of minds at rest. In answer to a question from Russell George at the beginning of the session, you said that it wasn't the time to discuss dismantling our regulations, if you like, when you're at the centre of a storm. I would argue that that is exactly the right time to discuss the...
Alun Davies: I haven't got the time, so I won't test your patience this afternoon, but I hope that the Minister in replying will be able to address some of the issues around how we raise funds in Wales, and how we're able to better marshal those funds in order to achieve the objectives that I think she set out, and with which I completely agree.
