Suzy Davies: 1. Will the Minister provide an update on funding for additional learning needs? OAQ54913
Suzy Davies: Well, of course, Ogmore is in my region, so perhaps I can piggy-back on the back of that invitation, Huw—thank you. As we've heard before in the Chamber, of course, constituents in Ogmore, as well as other parts of my region, will have worked at Ford and the supply chain companies that have supported Ford. The Welsh Government committed to match fund the Cardiff capital region's £50,000...
Suzy Davies: Yes, I shall do, but right at the end.
Suzy Davies: Okay. Well, just to finish then, I just want to go back to that 2012 point, when I made that policy announcement in the Eisteddfod. The main reason that I switched to Welsh was actually because I'd forgotten most of my French. It's strange for me that my second language is now Welsh and not any of the ones that I learnt in school or elsewhere, not just because it mattered to my friends and my...
Suzy Davies: But, in looking at the aims of that AoLE and looking at the Scottish equivalent as well, the commitment to our children acquiring facility with other languages in any way that can be comparable to the language that they grow up with—it's still quite difficult to identify. I'm not saying it's not there, but I'm struggling to see it. With more autonomy, of course, some schools will have space...
Suzy Davies: However you look at it—culturally, economical or simply in terms of better mutual understanding between fellow human beings—we are at a disadvantage. We are less than we might be, and in Wales we can't afford to be less than we might be. And, in fact, we have an advantage that we don't promote and value highly enough. In theory at least, we are the linguistically agile nation in this...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. In 2012, with the permission of Angela Burns, who was our shadow education Minister at the time, I did something which I now wonder whether it was actually allowed, because I launched our trilingual Wales policy on the maes at the National Eisteddfod, and I did it in French, which is why I'm not sure whether what I did was within the rules. I did switch to...
Suzy Davies: Well, perhaps I could try to respond to that question. Just to avoid a future of buck-passing on this issue, can you be clear about the changes to the budget of the Welsh Language Commissioner that can be attributed directly to his new promotional responsibilities? What funding will be retained by the Welsh Government to cover its promotional responsibilities? Because I would want to keep a...
Suzy Davies: That was interesting to hear, really, but these contract reforms have been going on in terms of pilots, or general progress, for about three or four years now. Bearing in mind that the change in the contract was about helping people become better at taking care of their own oral health, I would have thought that there might have been a reduced need for Welsh Government spending, not just due...
Suzy Davies: But, of course, not all councils have that money, to that amount, held centrally. I'm very pleased for Plasmarl school, actually, and I'm going to come on to the indicator based assessments here in a minute. Because the point that did impress me in your earlier comments was about prevention. And, of course, schools are not just about academic education; they're community builders. To me,...
Suzy Davies: This has been a fascinating debate. I hope the Minister is listening to this and bearing in mind that it's a debate on a statement and we're all looking forward to hearing some answers to questions in your response to this debate. And I think the first of those questions I'm going to steal from Helen Mary, which is 'how?' And, unfortunately, Alun Davies has nicked all my thunder here because...
Suzy Davies: Well, of course, this report is part of a bigger picture of reviews that have been taking place over many years. For those families and friends of the young people who killed themselves in Bridgend in 2007 and 2008 and beyond, obviously, for them, those events don't feel so very long ago. And of course, the use of the internet implicated in that suicide cluster, which is now so embedded in...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Llywydd, and may I wish everyone a merry Christmas in case you don't believe me after this debate?
Suzy Davies: Can I thank you, Presiding Officer? And I'll move the motion, as on the papers today. Now, it's interesting, isn't it, once again, to see from the Welsh Government amendment, how a party that's been in power for 20 years treats criticism made by the official opposition in this Assembly? The cybermen of Welsh politics continue to delete the truth if it gets in the way of what they want the...
Suzy Davies: Can I say it's a pleasure to remind the Chamber that 18 December marks the fortieth anniversary of the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, CEDAW? The convention is a bill of rights for women, and it covers everything, from the rights of women to take part in political life, to having the right to the same job opportunities...
Suzy Davies: As you say, the management plan includes a significant amount of replanting, and back in October, you sounded very positive about the idea of NRW and schools working together so that children could learn to plant trees as part of their wider education. As it happens, on that very day, Sophie Howe, the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales, met with NRW to discuss eco-literacy, and she...
Suzy Davies: I wonder, Deputy Minister, if I can just push you a little bit further on that. Because, as you know, fairly recently, South Wales Police, in order to try and combat street prostitution in particular on Swansea's High Street, have introduced, with some controversy, the public protection orders. The result of this, perhaps predictably, is that both the women and those who exploit them have...
Suzy Davies: I'm sure you'll join me in thanking the many volunteers who love the Kenfig reserve and who have contributed countless hours of their time to it, and, of course, they've challenged the trust that owns the site about its future. Could I also just to take this chance, as it's Christmas, to thank the environment Minister and NRW for their correspondence and engagement on this over recent months?...
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Minister. I now call on Russell George to reply to the debate.
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much. I call on the Minister for Economy and Transport, Ken Skates.
