Carwyn Jones: We have no intention of repeating the mistakes made by the UK Government with regard to the last contract. She rightly refers to what the former Member for Ynys Môn, Ieuan Wyn Jones, said. He was in charge of transport for four years, but there was little that he could do because of the fact that it wasn’t devolved. His frustration was shared by me. Better trains, more frequent trains and...
Carwyn Jones: I’m glad that the growth is increasing, but the leader of Plaid Cymru doesn’t mention the metro. The whole point of the metro is to make sure that we have more frequent services and better rolling stock, that we don’t have 40-year-old refurbished stock running on the Valleys lines with no air conditioning, and that we don’t have a situation where the track operators and the stock...
Carwyn Jones: She says ‘services that we are responsible for’, but we’re not responsible for rail services. We will be from next year and we welcome that. We want to make sure that the Wales and borders franchise properly serves people with decent quality rolling stock—they don’t have that at the moment—more frequent trains and reasonable fares to pay. Those, amongst other things, will be our...
Carwyn Jones: It depends on the patients who come through the surgery on that particular day. For some people, they can be seen in five minutes; for other people, it takes longer. It depends on the nature of the patient. GPs will have a good idea of the communities that they work in and the patients that they’re seeing during the course of that day. But the point is, the last thing we want to do is to...
Carwyn Jones: Well, our £43 million primary care fund is supporting that, with the emphasis on new and improved ways of delivering services. That involves delivering services, and developing the services of nurses and pharmacists, physiotherapists, and social workers, to work alongside GPs. The answer lies not simply in increasing the number of GPs; it lies in ensuring that there are sufficient...
Carwyn Jones: No, we’ve been funding GPs, and, indeed, other health professionals who work in primary care, at a level that we think is right and appropriate. For example, if you look at social care, we fund social care at 6 per cent per head higher than England does, which is why we’ve not had the ‘humanitarian crisis’, to use the words of the Red Cross, that England has had within its NHS. We are...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I think there are two issues about the industrial strategy. I mean, there’s little in it that could be disagreed with, but, of course, it’s a bit of a mishmash, because some of the pillars are actually devolved—they’re not the responsibility of the UK Government. Some of them are, some of them are mixed, so there needs to be greater clarity there. Yes, I think there will be a...
Carwyn Jones: I think we are in very new territory in terms of what will be needed in the future to attract investment into Wales. For example, there are issues such as tax incentives, which I think need to be further developed. Should there be the ability, for example, to look at tax incentives for research and development, and see them devolved? Air passenger duty—a great driver, not just for Cardiff...
Carwyn Jones: I heard the comments of Mr Roberts, the FUW’s president, last week, when he expressed his concern about a perfect storm, and he is right to do so. At the moment, we have no clarity beyond 2020. There are some within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs who suggest there should be no farming subsidies at all. That is not something that we would support as a Government. And...
Carwyn Jones: A promise was made by some in the campaign last year that Wales would not lose out a penny if Wales left the European Union. I expect that promise to be honoured. If not, then the people of Wales have every right to ask why they were, if it is the case that this is true, misled. Secondly, it’s hugely important that the economic policies that we’ve developed here, the lowest unemployment...
Carwyn Jones: I have raised the issue of replacement funding, which is needed to finance regional policy. I raised that at my very first meeting with the Prime Minister last June. And we have been very clear about all our priorities, including regional policy, at each Joint Ministerial Committee since.
Carwyn Jones: I’m not sure what the Member was trying to say. She did give me the impression that she was suggesting that every primary school should be Welsh medium. I think there are issues surrounding that, particularly practical issues in terms of recruiting teachers. I firmly believe that it’s right that our national languages should be compulsory until the age of 16. There are issues about the...
Carwyn Jones: Well, yes, of course. We must ensure that there are more places available in nursery schools, but we must also ensure that children at nursery schools then remain in the Welsh stream as they enter primary and secondary schools in order to ensure that they don’t lose the language skills that they’ve acquired as they go through the school, by changing the language medium of their education.
Carwyn Jones: Well, thank you very much. I hope to always receive a warm welcome in Cefn Cribwr, because, at one time, that village was in my constituency, before it was moved into yours. As one who has worked hard to raise funds for the Urdd Eisteddfod—I’ve organised with my wife two quiz nights in order to raise funds—I’m very supportive personally and, of course, I support everyone who supports...
Carwyn Jones: Well, local authorities, of course, are duty bound to publish their strategic plans on supporting the Welsh language in schools, and they have to present those plans to us in order for us to approve them. If there is any scheme that is not adequate, then the Government will not approve it.
Carwyn Jones: Our vision is to have 1 million Welsh speakers who use the language by 2050, and we have consulted on a draft strategy in order to achieve that.
Carwyn Jones: Diolch, Lywydd. Can I thank Members for their contributions to what has been the most important constitutional debate that we’ve had in Wales for some time? We’ve had a lot over the years, and no doubt we’ll have more to come in the future. Could I thank my colleague, Huw Irranca-Davies, for emphasising again, strongly, the points that I made, pointing out the flaws in this Bill, but...
Carwyn Jones: If you look at agriculture, we take the decisions on agriculture. If you look at fisheries, we take decisions on fisheries. There is no question of there being some kind of UK-wide agricultural policy that’s not devolved on the basis of what the Prime Minister said. That is quite clear to me. The point that I have made on many, many occasions is that it is hugely important that, where we do...
Carwyn Jones: The issue with Brexit has been the issue of Sewel for me. The Prime Minister herself said today that there will be no roll-back of powers, and I have to take her on her word, but if it is enshrined in law that there’s a requirement of consent from a devolved parliament or assembly, then that obviously carries more weight than if it’s just a convention. So, enshrining that in law is...
Carwyn Jones: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. May I move this motion to allow the Assembly to give its consent to Westminster to proceed with the Wales Bill? Some of us have been here since 1999, and you are one of those people, Deputy Presiding Officer, and remember those days when we were in a very intimate Chamber—a very small Chamber—and it was a common occurrence to see the cameras turned off...
