John Griffiths: Minister, we've heard some reference today to the health service increasingly addressing non-COVID conditions, and the quarter 1 plans, I know, are to be submitted shortly. But I know that the cancer charities, for example, remain very concerned that we're not seeing the consultations, the diagnosis, the detection and early treatment of these very serious cancer conditions, which are all too...
John Griffiths: First Minister, as we go through this pandemic, it's becoming increasingly clear that there is greater incidence of the disease in our black and minority ethnic communities. I know that there's work going on at a Wales and UK level to try and understand the reasons for that, and address it as effectively as possible. But, as we move out of lockdown, First Minister, and perhaps we move towards...
John Griffiths: First Minister, you made mention of the restrictions on movement and leaving home, and I think that everybody understands the importance of discipline and compliance, as you mentioned, and that you will be guided by the medical and scientific advice in terms of any easing of those restrictions. I wonder if there's any more that you can say at this stage in terms of what early easing of...
John Griffiths: For.
John Griffiths: Diolch, Llywydd. I'm very pleased to be able to contribute to today's debate as Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, and I'd like to thank all those who gave evidence to us to help inform our work. I note that the tight timescale for undertaking our scrutiny caused difficulties for some stakeholders, so we're even more grateful for their input. Much reference has...
John Griffiths: How is the Welsh Government working with local government in Wales to respond to the coronavirus outbreak?
John Griffiths: Minister, I think the current coronavirus crisis illustrates yet again how inter-connected the modern world is in terms of communications, in terms of trade, in terms of the way we all work together, and I would say, to a great extent, how we either thrive or suffer together. And in that context, I think international development is very, very important and worth while, as indeed it is...
John Griffiths: 4. What action is the Welsh Government taking to strengthen links and relations between Wales and the world? OAQ55260
John Griffiths: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Minister, thank you for your response to questions, and, particularly, stating that you will have in mind all the Tata sites in Wales in your discussions with UK Government and with Tata in general, because, obviously, for me, the Llanwern site in Newport East is still very, very important, having several hundred jobs and being very important to suppliers and...
John Griffiths: What further measures will the Welsh Government take to address child health inequalities in Wales?
John Griffiths: Thank you for that, First Minister. I do think that that strong partnership between Welsh Government, Newport City Council, business, social landlords and others has borne considerable fruit and helped to meet the challenges of finding alternative uses for our city centre. And soon there will be a further example of that when a substantial four-star hotel opens up in Newport city centre,...
John Griffiths: 5. What further steps will the Welsh Government take to work with Newport City Council and other partners to regenerate Newport city centre? OAQ55231
John Griffiths: First Minister, the Construcciones y Auxiliar de Ferrocarriles train manufacturer in my constituency is a very welcome addition to the local economy, and it's been a pleasure to visit there and talk with management about the future of the plant. They do have one frustration—well, they may have more than one, but one frustration is the lack of women and girls coming forward to take...
John Griffiths: I'm pleased to speak in this debate in my capacity as Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee. I do believe that the commission's 'Impact Report' lists a wide range of activities across almost all areas of devolved responsibility, and so is very much a matter for important and significant debate here. Of course, the commission acts as an important source of...
John Griffiths: I very much agree with the point that Delyth Jewell made as well—if the UK is the fifth, sixth, whatever biggest economy in the world then it's totally immoral not to have a much better way of organising ourselves as a society in order to avoid these incredibly stark problems that so many people in the public are very shocked by. The number of people that have said to me that they just...
John Griffiths: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. May I start by thanking everybody who took part? There is obviously a strong degree of consensus across the Chamber, I think, in terms of the importance of these issues and the need to try and make sufficient progress so that, in years to come, as a number of Members said, we're not having more or less the same debate in the same circumstances. We need to move...
John Griffiths: We are hopeful that some of the short-term actions, in particular around assertive outreach, will have started to help get some people off the streets. This is even more pressing when we consider the recent publication of the annual rough-sleeping count. As we stated in our original report, this count can only ever provide a snapshot, and cannot be seen as a definitive figure. However, it...
John Griffiths: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm pleased to open today's debate on the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee report on the level of support for rough-sleepers with substance misuse and mental health issues, or co-occurring disorders as they are regularly referred to. As a committee, we have been looking at rough-sleeping since the winter of 2017. Since we began this work, I think...
John Griffiths: I welcome your statement today, Minister, and the publication of the housing support grant guidance for local authorities. As you know, the equality committee that I chair has been doing a lot of work on rough sleeping, and in particular, in our recent work, we've dealt with co-occurring disorders and issues around commissioning. Indeed, we'll be debating that report here in the Chamber...
John Griffiths: I think that is the most effective thing, but I think you often see idling engines for minutes and minutes and minutes, and turning them off would be a very good idea. But I applaud the fact that you've met with Public Health Wales, Hefin, and, obviously, that's been very informative from your contributions and thoughts on these matters. But, yes, we also spoke earlier, didn't we, about...
