Jenny Rathbone: I'd like to thank Plaid Cymru for putting forward this important debate in advance of the veritable tsunami that will hit us this winter as a result of the Tory cost-of-living crisis—the cost-of-living crisis devised and delivered by the UK Tory Government. I agree with everything that Mike Hedges says. We need to do something urgently to tackle the actual cost of living in a home—not...
Jenny Rathbone: That's excellent news, Minister, because COVID, Brexit and the war in Ukraine have all weakened the security of our food supply lines. Notoriously, Welsh milk had to be poured down the drain during the lockdown because the west London processor refused to come and collect it. And obviously, the rise and rise of petrol prices makes it much more expensive to process food outside our country....
Jenny Rathbone: 2. What action is the Welsh Government taking to increase the amount of Welsh food that is processed in Wales? OQ57915
Jenny Rathbone: I just wanted to follow on from what was said by the Tory spokesman on the foundation stage and primary schools. I just wanted to look at the most important sector, in my view, which is the early years sector, because that is when you can make the most difference in terms of disadvantage. I suppose the first thing I'd like to say is that I am concerned about the reduction in non-statutory...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much. This proposal was discussed at the Equality and Social Justice Committee yesterday, and I don't think there was any dissent on the importance of passing this measure, although I think there's some dissent on the way in which we do it. I can't believe that anybody would oppose it, but I think it's important to understand who is it who needs to use British Sign Language,...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you. I congratulate you on not trying to fix a broken system, but instead to have a whole-system change. So, I fully support the work you outline in your plan. Cataracts, hips and knees are the biggest issues that I find it very difficult how to advise constituents on, because they're obviously things that need to be done by specialists. I'm aware, for example, that a consultant...
Jenny Rathbone: Yesterday, the Deputy Minister for mental health and public health and I attended a wonderful event in the Senedd, the City Hospice Forever Flowers launch, which enables people to sponsor a sunflower to commemorate somebody who's died of cancer, and then it will be displayed in Cardiff castle in the first two weeks in August, both an uplifting idea as well as a very effective way of...
Jenny Rathbone: We agree. We all know that learning through play is the very best thing to do and that is the best outcome for young children. But I think the three challenges we all face—. One is cost, the other is the need to be child focused and the third is that consistency of curriculum across all settings, wherever the childcare is being delivered. Those are the three things we need to move forward on.
Jenny Rathbone: Quickly.
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much for everybody's contributions; it's been a really rich debate. Sam Rowlands, thank you for your participation in our inquiry. Certainly, there's an important role for grandparents. If they're too decrepit to get down on the floor, which is what you need in early years, then, of course, there's a very important role for them helping children read in school. But there really...
Jenny Rathbone: It's very good to know that Flying Start teams are required to have other strategies for engaging with families and are expected to outline these as part of their annual plans, and I think that's a very important thing. But, unfortunately, you also say in your response that Flying Start itself is going to be using more social media platforms to communicate key messages to Flying Start...
Jenny Rathbone: Diolch. Access to good, affordable childcare is key to happier, healthier lives and a stronger, fairer, more productive economy. The lack of affordable childcare is one of the main drivers of the gender pay gap that is persistently seen. As we saw during the pandemic, it was assumed that women would pick up the pieces when schools closed, and that is exactly what happened. We know that women...
Jenny Rathbone: What is the Welsh Government doing to get private sector landlords to decarbonise their properties?
Jenny Rathbone: Sticking with P&O, step forward the company that actually employs people with different working conditions in the shipping industry; as far as I'm aware, they're all using offshore places to register their companies, and they're all paying really appalling wages, and the conditions that they house these people in are really quite dreadful. But there's very little that Welsh Government can do,...
Jenny Rathbone: What about Costa Rica? I think they probably are not suffering the same pressures because they have a rich abundance of food—[Interruption.]
Jenny Rathbone: We have all the ingredients for food security in Wales; we have water, land and sun, and we really, really do need to get on and ensure that we have that nature-secure, coherent food strategy to improve our food security and the well-being of our people.
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you. Sorry—just chasing the lectern. Thank you very much. I agree that this is an extremely important debate, and I thank the Conservative Party for having tabled it. I can't say I disagree with any of the motion or the amendments, and I have to say that there's a huge amount of agreement in what we need to be doing. So, in 2020, Tyfu Cymru conducted a survey of the 200 horticulture...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you. I'm very interested in your answer and I appreciate the interest you're taking in Cardiff and the Vale. Talking to my constituents, I find that far too many patients who are approaching their doctor because they've got low mood, loneliness or anxiety are offered a script rather than other talking therapies or other things, which just masks the problem and it can lead to long-term...
Jenny Rathbone: —and excellence in everything it does, and it has a commitment to not dumping individual pupils who become hard to teach, who may have difficult lives at home or who have additional learning needs. So, I do hope that you can give a commitment that schools will not simply be allowed to get rid of kids who they think are going to cause them problems and particularly are going to affect their...
Jenny Rathbone: Minister, I very much welcome your commitment to put rocket boosters under the ambition to make all schools community focused. Like Laura Anne Jones, I feel this is a little bit overdue, but it's really good to hear that you are really going to deliver on this. It's really important that what the taxpayer funds is available to the taxpayer, rather than this deficit model that keeps families...
