Janet Finch-Saunders: 6. Will the Counsel General clarify what legal advice the Welsh Government has sought in relation to introducing a gender quota for the 2026 Welsh Parliament election? OQ58657
Janet Finch-Saunders: 9. Will the Counsel General outline how the proposed statute law (repeals) (Wales) Bill will help improve the accessibility of Welsh law? OQ58656
Janet Finch-Saunders: I refer Members to the declaration of my own interest in terms of property ownership. As the explanatory memorandum states, these amendments are necessary to implement the 2016 Act, to provide coherence and clarity, and to ensure consistency of the law. It is noted, however, that no formal consultation has taken place, as these regulations make only consequential technical amendments....
Janet Finch-Saunders: Well, they might have. I’d love to know your exact position. Anyway, of course, this statement today is taking place across the backdrop of the COP27 summit, in which world leaders, including our own Prime Minister, will be there to discuss how we can all move together to address these challenges. We can only take meaningful action on climate change, including clamping down on big...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you. Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. For my constituents in Aberconwy, a small modular reactor site would mean an investment of £200 million and 200 direct jobs, and it would make us a leader in high-skilled green industry. So, in order to improve our future renewable energy capacity, will you, Minister, put party politics aside, and commit to supporting nuclear power across sites such as...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you for your statement, Minister. I would like to refer to the Climate Change, Environment and Infrastructure Committee's report on renewable energy in Wales, published in May 2022, and its comments on the serious risk of your Government failing to meet its own renewable energy targets. The committee stressed how barriers to renewable energy development were not new, nor was the Welsh...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm sure the Minister doesn't need me to reminder her of the fact that Wales is lagging behind the rest of the United Kingdom in delivering energy-efficient homes, and this is confirmed by the consultation for the Warm Homes programme. Wales has the lowest proportion of dwellings with an energy performance certificate rating of C or above, at 28 per cent. In...
Janet Finch-Saunders: As Sameh Shoukry, COP27 president designate, stated only last week, 'As best available science indicates, some impacts of climate change are now irreversible and require concerted global solidarity and action, not empty rhetoric'. Whilst the world is being told to prioritise the environmental crisis, here in Wales our environmental governance has been described by Professor Steve Ormerod as...
Janet Finch-Saunders: It has already been pointed out that an estimated 7,000 people a year in Wales experience a stroke, and that can be the equivalent of a whole town having one every year. It takes on average, as has been said, 6 hours 35 minutes between stroke onset and arrival at hospital in Wales. Compare that with 3 hours 41 minutes in England, and 2 hours 41 minutes in Northern Ireland. There's been...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Minister, you don't need me to remind you that, in Great Britain, over 2,000 greyhounds died and nearly 18,000 injuries occurred between 2018 and 2021. In 2021, there were 4,422 injuries on licensed tracks, 307 deaths in Great Britain, and 39 per cent of those were at the track. We've mentioned the one independent racing track. Since April 2018, Hope Rescue and their rescue partners have...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I was just trying.
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Minister, for your statement. It's really good to see that you're going forward in terms of looking at projects that can actually help us towards our ambitions of carbon zero, as well as putting more money back into the local economy. Now, currently, you do have a Welsh Government energy service. This has supported 242 projects, saving 716,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide from being...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Good afternoon, Trefnydd. I would like a statement from the Minister for education on the fact that some primary schools now are in urgent need of support to extend their kitchens and employ more staff to manage the free school meal policy. Indeed, in a response to a written question, the Minister for education advised me, and I quote, 'further work will take place during October to...
Janet Finch-Saunders: My own local authority, Conwy County Borough Council, currently commissions around 790 beds supporting individuals in residential and/or nursing care. The gross spend within Conwy on residential and nursing services was £23 million in the last financial year, with only a potential uplift going forward of around 7 to 9 per cent—that's 7 to 9 per cent, not 79 per cent. Yet, in some other...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Yes.
Janet Finch-Saunders: Well, do you know what, I can't disagree with that, Mike, actually? And I did listen that time. [Laughter.] I do think you make a very valid point, because—
Janet Finch-Saunders: Or Home Secretary. Oh, Home Secretary's gone. [Laughter.] Sorry. There is a need for common sense in your dealings with the VOA. I know how frustrated you must get, because when I try to work on behalf of a constituent on valuations, it can take up to two years. I've raised it with the valuation office, and if I'm having difficulty, it must be difficult, but, somehow, you must pursue those...
Janet Finch-Saunders: There are 126,700 non-domestic properties in Wales liable for business rates, and I take my hat off to them. Business rates have increased by 10 per cent in the last six years; compare that with 3 per cent in England, 2.9 per cent in Scotland. That's making Wales the most business-unfriendly corner of the United Kingdom. The FSB's national chairman stated that the current business rate system...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you.
Janet Finch-Saunders: On a point of order—
