Joyce Watson: We shall move on now to item 7, the Welsh Conservatives debate on local government funding. I call on Sam Rowlands to move the motion.
Joyce Watson: I now call on Jack Sargeant as Chair of the Petitions Committee to respond.
Joyce Watson: I now call on the Deputy Minister for arts and sport, Dawn Bowden.
Joyce Watson: We've heard many arguments, but I think we need to take ourselves back. Sixteen and 17-year-olds were allowed to vote in the 2021 Senedd elections for the first time, and this year, of course, it will be the first time that they'll be able to vote in local government elections. If you look at the figures, out of 65,000 16 to 17-year-olds who were eligible to vote in the 2021 Senedd elections,...
Joyce Watson: Do you agree with me, Minister, that the future of health services in our region is in need of a genuine discussion, and that politicians should help solve systematic challenges, like how to attract and retain staff and how to deliver as many of the services as possible as close to home and where people live? It would be more useful, rather than simply obstructing change and investment that...
Joyce Watson: There are many things that we could all say, those of us who oppose this consent today, about this Bill, and many of them have been said. But I'm going to focus here particularly and speak to the issue at hand, and the issue at hand is about medical examinations and age assessments of unaccompanied minors seeking refugee asylum—children. And I think there's one message that has to be...
Joyce Watson: Thank you, and thank you, Deputy Minister for Social Services. We will now suspend proceedings to allow a changeover in the Siambr. If you are leaving the Siambr, please do so promptly, and the bell will be rung two minutes before proceedings restart. Any Members who are arriving after a changeover should wait until then before entering the Siambr.
Joyce Watson: I now call Peredur Owen Griffiths.
Joyce Watson: Thank you. I want to now call Gareth Davies to speak.
Joyce Watson: So, we're going to move on now to item 4, a statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Services: the real living wage for social care workers. And I call on Julie Morgan.
Joyce Watson: As you know, Minister, thousands of women in Wales work shifts and that often entails unsociable hours, where they're expected either to start or finish work late at night. Understandably, many workers, particularly women, have expressed concern about their safety when travelling to and from work during the night. In most instances, it's the responsibility of the employee and not the employer...
Joyce Watson: —they have never fixed the roof when the sun was shining. Just one more sentence, if I can. What I would like, Minister, is some feedback from the 17 February meeting that you have alluded to, particularly for my area, where many people are off-grid, to see what help we can give those people who are accessing gas and oil off-grid and they don't have the luxury of that price cap.
Joyce Watson: Diolch, Weinidog. I thank you for your statement. You set out this afternoon that there is a clear divergence between Government interventions in Wales and those Government interventions in England. The UK scheme, as we all know, is too little too late. It's going to saddle every householder with debt, giving with one hand and taking back with the other, whereas the Welsh Government has...
Joyce Watson: I hope, First Minister, that you'll agree with me that it would be a good thing to focus on the £1.3 billion that's on the table for a new hospital—the sort of investment that's badly needed in our area. It is transformational money that can bring about transformation in the services that are currently provided. I hope you will share my opinion that the health board must listen to the...
Joyce Watson: I thank Plaid Cymru for bringing in this debate today, as stalking, as we've heard, has a significant and lasting effect on the lives of victims, survivors and their families. The impact on the victims' mental health is often profound. A survey carried out by the Suzy Lamplugh Trust in 2020 found that, of those who responded to the survey, 94 per cent said that stalking had indeed impacted...
Joyce Watson: Okay, this is a speech now.
Joyce Watson: Well, I'm sorry that you are a bit sensitive to the facts and that you see it only in political terms, but they were facts, and I quoted them. And I want to move on, to conclude, with a point about domestic abuse. We all know that adverse childhood experience and violence are highly related, but there remains work to be done to ensure that children and young people are central to our ending...
Joyce Watson: In a minute. That is what the Tories have done for childhood experiences in the country. I also want to move on and talk about domestic abuse, but I'll take the intervention.
Joyce Watson: I do welcome today's debate, and I'm grateful to organisations like the WAVE Trust that consistently promote and influence progressive policies like the 70/30 campaign. The trust's fundamental message is that most family violence and maltreatment can be prevented by known, economically viable programmes to break damaging family cycles. It also says extensive research highlights the crucial...
Joyce Watson: What is the Minister doing to ensure that the council tax system in Wales is fair?
