Rhianon Passmore: Diolch, Minister. Thank you for that answer. The Welsh Labour First Minister, Mark Drakeford, has stated that keeping schools open was a top priority for the Welsh Government. For the parents and children in Islwyn, it is imperative for their social and mental well-being that they are able to continue their education in school with all the necessary precautions. From Risca Primary School in...
Rhianon Passmore: 8. Will the Minister provide an update on the number of incidents in Islwyn of children who have been sent home from school to self-isolate following a positive test for COVID-19? OQ55586
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you. So, to summarise, health Minister, what message, now, would you give to the people of Islwyn about how they can influence the next six months, and what message of hope would you give them that these regulations are needed and work? Thank you, Llywydd.
Rhianon Passmore: Health Minister, the COVID-19 pandemic has now claimed over a million people's lives across the world, according to researchers at Johns Hopkins University. In the United Kingdom, the current death toll with coronavirus is 57,860, and in Wales, our death toll is 1,612. These numbers represent human beings—someone's mother, someone's father, someone's brother and someone's sister. As the...
Rhianon Passmore: It is clear that the UK wishes to plough ahead and intentionally break international agreements, whilst simultaneously hiding the Bill's true intent, to attempt to take back control of this democratic place, but with a new ability to top-slice the budget of Wales for Tory priorities. What would this mean for the programme of government that the people of Wales have democratically elected this...
Rhianon Passmore: First Minister, prior to this morning it had been many months before that the Prime Minister of the UK had called a COBRA meeting with the devolved leaders across the United Kingdom's family of nations. Would issues of cross-border transport during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as on many other matters, be far better served by regular and routine communication between the relevant...
Rhianon Passmore: What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the support required to aid Islwyn’s cultural and musical organisations through the pandemic?
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you, Deputy Llywydd. I wish to thank the Welsh Conservatives for bringing today's debate to the Senedd, and, if I may, I will take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to the residents of Islwyn within Caerphilly County Borough Council for their compliance and the very real sacrifices being made. I also wish to thank and pay tribute to Councillor Philippa Marsden and her...
Rhianon Passmore: The bonus of the UK Government being able to top-slice our income in Wales is not on. Counsel General, what representations and actions can the Welsh Government take, working with colleagues in Westminster, to combat this serious attack on Wales and Britain's good name? And what priority is being given to the proposed erosion of Welsh powers contained within this Bill?
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you. Can you hear me, Deputy Llywydd?
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you very much. Thank you for re-calling me. Let's be frank—the UK Tory Government's internal market Bill is the latest in a long line of totally incomprehensible actions by Boris Johnson and his Government. And I very much welcome today's statement by the Welsh Counsel General and Minister for European Transition. The people of Wales now, more than ever, will need the full functional...
Rhianon Passmore: I keep losing my screen. Sorry, Deputy Llywydd. Can you come back to me?
Rhianon Passmore: That question has been withdrawn, Llywydd.
Rhianon Passmore: The COVID-19 pandemic is not yet over and a second spike is deemed probable, and, as we look to the horizon, we now see an economic hurricane fast approaching, and it is my duty as the representative of proud Gwent Valleys communities such as Aberbargoed, Newbridge, Crosskeys and others to demand that the Senedd supports this Welsh Government in its determination to safeguard the people of...
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you, acting Presiding Officer. The prospects for the economies of Wales and the United Kingdom are troubling. As the Welsh Government looks at its spending priorities for the draft budget for 2021-2, let nobody in this Senedd pretend that the economic prospects facing the Welsh Government are anything other than grim and of utter criticality to Wales. Yesterday, the Office for Budget...
Rhianon Passmore: What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the extra amount of money Wales will receive as a consequence of the UK Chancellor’s summer statement?
Rhianon Passmore: It's correct to say that the current curriculum devised in 1988 by a Westminster Government is not fit, as has been said, for contemporary Wales and the pedagogical need, as consensually agreed across this Chamber, to continue to develop higher standards of literacy, numeracy and critical digital thinking, and for our students to become confident, capable and compassionate citizens of Wales...
Rhianon Passmore: I support amendment 2, as tabled by Rebecca Evans, and particularly as the Member of the Senedd for Islwyn, I support her wish to insert, 'agrees that the new curriculum should support all learners to learn Welsh and English.' Wales is a proud and historical multilingual nation of many languages from across the Commonwealth and beyond. In law, we are a bilingual nation, with Welsh and English...
Rhianon Passmore: Thank you, Deputy Llywydd. I read with both alarm and agreement that the committee has considerable concerns about what it sees as one of the defining longer term challenges of this deadly pandemic: a likely dramatic spike in youth unemployment, a spike that, without action by Welsh Government, threatens to scar and stunt the employment prospects of a generation of young people and frustrate...
Rhianon Passmore: First Minister, it is being reported today that the US Government has secured virtually all the stocks of one of the two drugs that are shown to currently help COVID-19 patients. The White House said that it had bought up more than 500,000 courses of remdesivir, an antiviral that trials suggest helps some patients spend less time in hospital. This includes all of the supplies that will be...
