Mark Isherwood: Well, on a similar theme, to justify its announcement that any self-catering business unable—[Interruption.]
Mark Isherwood: To justify its announcement that any self-catering business unable to meet its increase to 182 days let annually will be removed from the business rate register and may have to pay a council tax premium of up to 300 per cent, your Government stated that respondents to the consultation, respondents representing the wider tourism industry, clearly support a change to the criteria and...
Mark Isherwood: How does the Welsh Government support the tourism sector in Wales?
Mark Isherwood: Colonel Phillips will report directly to the Secretary of State for Wales, the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the UK Minister for Defence People and Veterans. As the Secretary of State for Wales said: 'The Armed Forces have a long and important tradition in Wales and we are exceptionally proud of our Welsh veterans. Our ex-servicemen and women and their families deserve recognition,...
Mark Isherwood: Speaking personally, I grew up amongst that stoic generation. They were our schoolteachers and shopkeepers, local businesspeople and local service providers, family friends and family members. At least they had the unspoken support and understanding of people in their local communities, most of whom had also experienced war in some way. Of course, this was not the case for the generations...
Mark Isherwood: One of the presents my wife gave me last Christmas was a book telling the real story of a family entwined in the second world war. This included the following lines: 'Like many returning service personnel, he struggled for years with disabilities and other repercussions that went unrecognised and untreated. Instead, they were encouraged to pick up the reins of family life, get a job, forget...
Mark Isherwood: They'll be glad to hear your offer to meet because, as they say, elder abuse remains an under-supported and under-reported area. My final question. Your equality and human rights responsibilities also include the issue of period poverty. Working with their active ambassadors, Grŵp Llandrillo Menai developed the 'It Won't Stop Us' campaign. In February 2019, prior to COVID lockdown and...
Mark Isherwood: Okay. The UK Home Office have supported this service in England, and in Wales Hourglass is using its own reserves to fund the service. What consideration have you therefore given to ensuring the same level of specialist support for older people at risk, and will you meet with Hourglass Cymru to discuss this vital service and consider providing specialist support?
Mark Isherwood: You and I attended in 2005 the launch of the report on accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in Llandrindod Wells, if I remember correctly, and the legislation followed. But the point here is that the members of the community themselves are saying that their voice has not been heard in the assessment that's been submitted to you, and therefore it doesn't reflect real need and sets up...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch. As you know from correspondence, Gypsy, Roma and Traveller communities in north Wales have expressed serious concern that local authority Gypsy/Traveller accommodation assessments have not engaged with them, and, therefore, fail to identify their accommodation needs. An advocate for them wrote to your department, stating that they're continuing to campaign for new sites, even if...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch. As you will know, in December 2018, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation stated that, of the four countries of the UK, Wales has consistently had the highest poverty rate for the past 20 years. In November 2020, they said that even before coronavirus, almost a quarter of people in Wales were living in poverty. And last May, the UK End Child Poverty coalition stated that Wales had the worst...
Mark Isherwood: 1. How is the Welsh Government tackling poverty in Wales? OQ57781
Mark Isherwood: Well, speaking here two weeks ago, I called on you to ensure that the Welsh Government provides local authorities with support to enable and encourage them to come forward with a quicker ability to provide support to refugees fleeing Ukraine. But of course, effective delivery will also require local authorities to work with community organisations, and much of the heavy lifting across Wales...
Mark Isherwood: I recently found a speech I gave to a housing audience externally—I'd been invited as somebody who used to work in the sector, I emphasise in the mutual sector and the housing association sector. But I quoted a letter I'd received from the Principality Building Society, which stated that high house prices are being driven by a lack of supply of both private and social housing. I also quoted...
Mark Isherwood: I just wanted to comment on your opening comment about the law, and, you're quite right, the housing revenue account system was exactly as you described. Of course, the post-2010 Government then scrapped that in England so councils were able to come to an arrangement on their debt levels and start reinvesting the proceeds. But the Welsh Government took years to implement the same measures...
Mark Isherwood: I welcome your comments. I've just had an e-mail, actually, from a constituent: 'Is the Welsh Government going to set up a family sponsorship scheme for Ukrainian refugees? I know many people would support and sponsor a Ukrainian refugee family.' I wonder if you're able to answer my constituent.
Mark Isherwood: Do you recognise that the devolution to Manchester, for example, you refer to, are the powers of police and crime commissioners? We have those in Wales. If you're talking still, however, about merging into a single force and having powers in the Government, then you're talking about political decision making over the hiring and firing of chief constables.
Mark Isherwood: Do you agree that, in 1536, the penal systems of every place across the world were treating women and men abominably within the criminal justice system?
Mark Isherwood: Do you recognise, as has been debated here, and referred to by the Counsel General, that the UK Government has announced precisely that policy in relation to women—that they should not be in prison, they should be in the community—and that they're funding a series of new women's centres, including one in Wales? The Counsel General told us last November in this Chamber that that was...
Mark Isherwood: [Inaudible.]—the power to hire and fire chief constables. I'll conclude. Given Labour Welsh Government's record of creeping and often intimidatory politicisation of devolved public services, this is a chilling proposition. [Interruption.] I can introduce you to the whistleblowers who are victims of what I've just described.
