Michelle Brown: The majority of employees are employed in small and medium-sized businesses. The business owners are usually from, or are living near, the community they trade with. Their interest in seeing a sustainable town centre is personal as well as professional, and profits, unlike those of Amazon, Tesco, Asda and the others, are far more likely to stay in the local community rather than be sent to...
Michelle Brown: Counsel General, which specific demands are you making of UK Government, and how much success have you had so far?
Michelle Brown: Working in the gig economy suits some workers—it always has suited some workers, probably always will. But I’d suggest that the majority are not in the gig economy out of choice. What they’re actually getting in reality is no job security, no ability to budget. I’m sure you agree with me on all those things. The UK Government has identified the problem as being a reduction in the tax...
Michelle Brown: Well, Cabinet Secretary, you can call it progressive if you like; I call it saddling young people with debt. So, we are where we are anyway; you’ve taken the position that you have. Like I said, these students are going to be incurring large amounts of debt at a time in their life when they’re perhaps not used to handling large amounts of money, running a monthly budget or running a...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. According to figures given by the BBC earlier this year, student debt in Wales is estimated to be about £3.7 billion, with the average graduate debt in Wales already approximately just over £19,000. That was before you effectively forced Welsh students to get into further debt. You can say that the debts are incurred in return for the so-called...
Michelle Brown: Cabinet Secretary, Philip Hammond recently said that he was considering slashing tuition fees at higher education institutions in England to the tune of £5,000 a year. So, we’ve got the situation where the tuition fees may be going down in England and you’ve introduced new student loans in Wales. So, basically, Welsh students are going to be looking at England if they actually do this...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary, although I must say I don’t welcome the statement and the decision to go with the red route. I appreciate it’s been a difficult decision and, yes, it’s very, very true that congestion at Queensferry is absolutely appalling. I used to have to commute through that interchange every day, and I know from personal experience it’s an absolute...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. I do welcome your announcement that the new curriculum will be phased in, but I do so with a little bit of caution. On the one hand, a phased roll-out makes sense, for instance, it enables teething troubles to be resolved and it gives more time for teachers, as you’ve said, to adapt; however, it’s surely going to involve at least some...
Michelle Brown: Cabinet Secretary, winter’s fast approaching and there’s going to be many people in Llandudno and along the north Wales coast and elsewhere who are going to be forced to rough-sleep this winter because they’ve literally got nowhere else to go. What measures have you put in place already to ensure that these people are helped into safe, secure, warm accommodation—and long-term...
Michelle Brown: Does the First Minister not see that perhaps the reasons we seem to be reliant on migrant workers are twofold? Firstly, there’s little incentive to train local people for jobs when they can simply import ready-made, qualified workers. And, secondly, pay and conditions are so poor that it’s often only a migrant worker from a country with living standards that are worse than ours who is...
Michelle Brown: As has been pointed out in this Chamber on numerous occasions, there’s a nurse shortage in the NHS. This shortage has been getting progressively worse for years, and that’s basically because both UK and Welsh Governments have failed to ensure that there are sufficient nurse training places being funded to provide care for an ever-increasing population. What measures are you taking to...
Michelle Brown: Let’s be clear: Labour and Plaid’s proposals regarding Brexit, including this continuity Bill, are an attempt to remain in the EU in all but name by those who campaigned to stay in the EU and are not willing to accept the result and voice of the majority of Welsh voters. But the ‘remain’ side seem to forget their line of attack at times. In one breath, they’ll say that leaving the...
Michelle Brown: Thank you very much for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. If a local authority isn’t maintaining a rural school properly, would you ever consider it appropriate to remove that school and a relevant proportion of the revenue support grant from the local authority and fund it directly as a delegated school?
Michelle Brown: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. Last year, when you became Cabinet Secretary for Education, and again today, you quite rightly said that there should be a presumption against the closure of rural schools, and that pupils in rural schools deserve the same opportunities as children in other areas of Wales. What action, if any, would you take if you suspected that a local authority...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, in 2012, you said that the welfare of pupils, teachers, and staff at our schools is paramount, and also, when talking about the discovery of asbestos, that the Government will try to shift responsibility on to local authorities and schools. Do you still believe, as you did when in opposition, that the Welsh Government should take responsibility...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for your statement, Minister. I agree with you that there’s an urgency for jobs and growth to be brought to communities across Wales. However, I note that the Minister sets out the support that she’s giving to businesses in the Valleys, but other regions of Wales, such as north Wales, are conspicuous only by their absence from the Minister’s statement. True, the Valleys of...
Michelle Brown: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. I welcome the parity that you’ve announced between part-time and full-time students, and between undergraduates and postgraduate students. I’d like to add my own thanks to those of the Cabinet Secretary to the National Union of Students for fighting the good fight for part-time and postgrad students for so long. I also welcome the proposal...
Michelle Brown: I support this motion as well. Children and young people who want to help a parent shouldn’t be denied the right to do so if they freely choose, and they should receive support in that. But I think the question we all need to ask ourselves is: how do we ensure that children and young people do not feel excluded from their parent’s life whilst at the same time preserving their childhood...
Michelle Brown: I support this motion, along with the Plaid amendment. Part-time study can be vital to those who cannot afford to give up work but need to study in order to improve the future for themselves and their family. A healthy part-time education sector can be a major attraction for businesses looking for a new home that want the option of being able to upskill their workforce. It gives increased...
Michelle Brown: Cabinet Secretary, have you considered how staff at Flying Start and Families First can identify possible parental alienation in children, and have you investigated ways they can help foster healthy family relationships in cases of parental alienation?
