Carwyn Jones: I will pass that message on to the AM for Bridgend. [Laughter.] He is right; for Bridgend railway station, like so many others, it’s not practical for buses to go there and that’s part of the problem. Originally, there was a plan to put buses in the car park behind. The police objected and now the police have moved. So, there is an issue there. So, we have to look at new alternatives in...
Carwyn Jones: It has huge potential and we know that integration of public transport is an important aim of the south Wales metro. The next phase of metro development will be focused on the core Valleys lines. Proposals such as the hub will be considered in future phases.
Carwyn Jones: There are plenty of other countries that do not rely on coal where energy prices are lower. Spain is one example of that, where coal is not a major factor in terms of energy production. What he’s suggesting—. He’s wrong about China. China is moving—. Coal is yesterday’s technology. Apart from in America, people are not looking to build more and more coal-fired power stations—
Carwyn Jones: [Continues.]—as a matter of energy policy. China has a problem with pollution. It knows it; it sees the smog in Beijing, it sees the smog in its major cities and it knows its population will not put up with that. What he’s suggesting, if he thinks about it, is, first of all, we should have more air pollution so that people find that that is a problem for their health. Secondly, we should...
Carwyn Jones: I’m going to pause for a second at the irony of that, and at the fact that in the 1980s—again he returns to this point—
Carwyn Jones: [Continues.]—he sat there while thousands upon thousands—30,000 jobs—were lost in the mining industry in Wales. And now he is saying that we’re not doing enough to protect coal jobs. The reality is that if we were to have more coal-fired power stations, we would have to import the coal. Germany is in a difficult position because it relies heavily on Russia for the gas that it has to...
Carwyn Jones: No. The issues is this: energy prices in Germany, for example, are around 20 per cent cheaper; in Spain, they’re 37 per cent cheaper. It’s nothing to do with renewables, because the amount of renewables that feed into their national grids is roughly the same in percentage terms as ours, if not more. It’s simply to do with the obscurity of the market within Great Britain and the fact...
Carwyn Jones: We’ve been absolutely clear that we want to see powers over water devolved. That has been conceded by the UK Government. It was always a matter of great regret—and that’s probably saying it mildly—to me that the people of Wales did not have control over one of their major natural resources. That will change in 2018. I very much welcome that. That will give us the opportunity to look...
Carwyn Jones: I know that the Minister is looking at this very carefully. She has received representations, I know, from constituency members and concern will be expressed from us as a Government along the lines that I’ve just mentioned.
Carwyn Jones: This is a matter of concern. It’s been raised by Members. The concern is, of course, that it will reduce consumer choice. It will see increased prices, and this is something that, to my mind, would not be acceptable for the people of Wales. I do not believe that that people would accept higher prices for their water when they can see the reservoirs in their locality that provide that water.
Carwyn Jones: He can’t have his cake and eat it. He can’t say, on the one hand, ‘This is a good project’ and on the other hand say, ‘Well, this project shouldn’t have been financed in its initial stages.’ If he’s suggesting that, in some way, it was possible for the company to sponsor events in order to get the decision they wanted—well, they didn’t, did they? The whole point was that...
Carwyn Jones: Well, that’s a matter for the Minister who was in place at that time, who is no longer a Member of this Assembly. What I can say, as far as this Government is concerned, is that we will seek to ensure, as she did, that there is prudence in terms of money that’s accessed from the public purse. And that’s why, despite criticism from his party and others in this Chamber, we didn’t...
Carwyn Jones: I have to say to the leader of the Welsh Conservatives that it’s a member of his party that has provided that drip, drip of criticism—not him, I accept, but certainly a member of his party. Do we have confidence in the company? That’s a matter for them, of course. We have to make sure that we are prudent in terms of public money being made accessible, and we’ve done just that, to make...
Carwyn Jones: Well, of course, we know that it’s vital to ensure that we have an effective manner of working with the profession. We are dealing with training, for example, but we don’t deal with terms and conditions and pay, and that will change in the future. There is a kind of artificial distinction between teacher training and remunerating teachers, in my view. Of course, by doing that, it would be...
Carwyn Jones: The Member knows full well that it’s a local authority decision, and he should direct his anger at the local authority and not at Welsh Government. He knows full well that Welsh Government only intervenes under certain circumstances. I wonder if he has made those representations to the local authority; I’m sure his constituents would want to find out. But, generally, as the education...
Carwyn Jones: Yes. As set out in ‘A Curriculum for Wales’, the digital competence framework was made available to schools and settings on 1 September, and development of the wider curriculum and assessment arrangements is on track to be available from September 2018, to support learning and teaching from September 2021.
Carwyn Jones: We are committed to creating an inclusive education system for all learners, and delivery of that reform can only happen if we have such a system and a workforce that embraces inclusive education and delivers for every learner in every classroom. So, we will work with the teaching profession, of course, to make sure that the right level of support and training is available to them to ensure...
Carwyn Jones: Well, we do that. I mean, there will be trade missions to the US and to the United Arab Emirates, which is a major export market for us. We must guard against a scenario, however, where we have barriers in place in terms of accessing the European market and the American market. I am totally unconvinced that we will see a free trade deal with the US that will do anything other than benefit the...
Carwyn Jones: Well, we’ll be able to give full consideration to that issue once we know what the Chancellor has announced in his autumn statement. If he is generous, then so, of course, can we be.
Carwyn Jones: We’re in the process of planning our overseas activity for 2016-17. That programme will include a balance of traditional markets that we need to maintain, and seeking new markets. And there will be six trade missions that will take place over the next six months.
