Luke Fletcher: 8. Has there been any correspondence between the Welsh Government and the Future Generations Commissioner's office relating to a four-day work week? OQ57314
Luke Fletcher: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I move the amendment tabled in the name of Siân Gwenllian. Wales has one of the lowest levels of local business ownership of any advanced economy. That must, of course, change. Time and time again, public money has been spent to attract new investment, and either the investor then exports the profits or simply walks away. This has been the story of economic...
Luke Fletcher: Of course, I will also be highlighting a lot of the businesses that I've been frequenting locally in the debate later on, and of course I'll be sharing my secret on where I get my hair cut as well. [Laughter.] And of course I'm very glad that the Minister says that he's engaging with businesses. More often than not, a lot of the ideas that solve a lot of the issues these businesses have come...
Luke Fletcher: Thank you for that response, Minister.
Luke Fletcher: And I'm glad he said that that's a question for businesses. As Paul Davies has already highlighted, Small Business Saturday is fast approaching, and, as part of the run-up to Small Business Saturday, many of us in this Chamber have visited our own local businesses. Part of that for me has been visiting businesses in my own region of South Wales West. One consistent suggestion that has been...
Luke Fletcher: Diolch, Llywydd. Business Wales currently has skills and training programmes over three areas: recruitment and staffing, workplace skills, and leadership. How does Business Wales choose which courses to offer, and are there any plans to introduce more courses to help boost businesses in Wales?
Luke Fletcher: I'd like to ask for a statement on stop and search in Wales. A constituent of mine in Pencoed was stopped whilst leaving an under-15s football match, and my constituent himself was 15 and had no parent or guardian present with him when searched. Not only has this knocked his own confidence, but it strikes me that this is yet again a case of profiling. Whilst I accept that the Trefnydd and...
Luke Fletcher: What work is the Welsh Government undertaking in relation to introducing a four-day work week?
Luke Fletcher: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. On 15 November, I had the pleasure of attending the annual general meeting of Baobab Bach, a community interest company that has been set up in Bridgend county with a goal of providing high-quality food to anyone who wants it—no means testing, no questions, no stigma. For £5, you can come into the community pantry and take as much as you need. Baobab Bach run a...
Luke Fletcher: There's a lot to welcome with a proposed basic income trial, and Jack Sargeant alluded to an issue that I've been aware of and have asked questions of the Minister for Social Justice in this Chamber on. The reality is that unless an agreement is struck with the DWP, this pilot has the potential to leave recipients of the basic income worse off, which is something that none of us in this...
Luke Fletcher: Thank you for that response, Minister.
Luke Fletcher: Recent analysis from the End Child Poverty coalition found that Wales has the highest child poverty rate of any UK nation. This is despite two decades of strategies, plans and Senedd inquiries, and the Children's Commissioner for Wales has called child poverty the Welsh Government's biggest challenge, yet it doesn't receive a mention in the five-year programme for government. Those on low...
Luke Fletcher: 2. What consideration does the Minister give to tackling poverty when allocating funding to the social justice portfolio? OQ57198
Luke Fletcher: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you, Minister, for your statement today.
Luke Fletcher: As I've said before, the young person's guarantee is a welcome scheme. Plaid Cymru proposed a very similar offer during the election, so we have been keen to know further details to ensure it upholds young people's rights and promotes sustainable growth in the Welsh economy. It's good to hear as well that young people will be able to feed into this directly. I can't say it any more, I can't...
Luke Fletcher: I'd like to ask for a statement relating to the Welsh Government's guidance on international travel. Specifically, a constituent in the Llynfi valley recently contracted COVID-19, but has been out of isolation since Tuesday 9 November. She is planning to travel to San Francisco on Wednesday 24 November, but in order to make that journey is in need of medical certification in addition to the...
Luke Fletcher: Thank you, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you to the Minister for the statement this afternoon.
Luke Fletcher: Traditional macro-economic approaches to economic development have failed to deliver economic gains and social benefits within environmentally sustainable limits or spread fairly those gains throughout Welsh localities. The current model that relies on continual growth, the accumulation of capital and extraction for profit is impossible to sustain on a finite planet with finite resources....
Luke Fletcher: To close, Llywydd dros dro, Delyth Jewell has touched many times in the past on climate anxiety. I definitely find it hard to shake the feeling of impending doom when it comes to the state of the planet, and increasingly find it difficult to be hopeful for the future. Both my fiancé and I—and I hope that she doesn't mind me saying this, but I guess I'll find out tonight—both my fiancé...
Luke Fletcher: Acting Presiding Officer, I want to re-emphasise the fact that measures tackling the climate emergency also have to tackle poverty. Unless everyone has the same means to make the necessary changes, we will never make progress, and this is linked to my point at the beginning of my contribution about ensuring that society now changes its culture to one that emphasises benefit to communities....
