Mark Isherwood: Legal aid is intended to help meet the cost of legal advice, family mediation and representation in a court or tribunal. The rules about who qualifies are set out in the Legal Aid, Sentencing and Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 and regulations referred to by the Counsel General. Whether you qualify will depend on the type of case and your financial circumstances. Does the Counsel General...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch. Well, across the globe, slavery has been a grim and evil reality throughout most of human history. Slavery across Britain itself long predated Roman occupation and continued over many centuries afterwards. The Britons, i.e. Celts or Welsh, and Anglo-Saxons frequently kept slaves, as did the conquering Vikings, with the victor enslaving or selling the vanquished. A gruesome history...
Mark Isherwood: A literature search was conducted, then data gathered from case studies from deaf people and British Sign Language interpreters, evaluations of mental health promotion initiatives involving deaf people, statistics from British Sign Language interpreting services and information from UK specialist deaf mental health services. Forty per cent of deaf people experience mental health...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. I've agreed to allow one minute for both Joel James and Jane Dodds to speak in this debate. Regrettably, I'm advised that it's not possible for this short debate to have live British Sign Language interpretation, not least due to the complexities of doing so under the current restrictions and in a fully virtual Plenary meeting. But it will be made available with British Sign...
Mark Isherwood: Okay, thank you. Moving to your overarching responsibility for fuel poverty finally, last month, on Fuel Poverty Awareness Day, the Welsh Government published its cold weather resilience plan for people at risk of living in a cold home, something I've been calling for as chair of the cross-party group on fuel poverty and energy efficiency, as you know. Although fuel poverty coalition members...
Mark Isherwood: Well, as Professor Debbie Foster told the Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee this morning, which I was chairing, to drive the change required will need change to the way we work across the public sector in Wales, with embracement of true co-production not political soundbites—I'm not referring to you here, but soundbites that often misunderstand and misuse the term. And in...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. I was re-elected as chair of the cross-party group on disability at its first meeting this Senedd term on 17 December. The online meeting included a presentation by the chief executive of Disability Wales on the 'Locked out: liberating disabled people’s lives and rights in Wales beyond COVID-19' report, which originated from discussions at the Welsh Government's disability...
Mark Isherwood: What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Climate Change regarding Welsh Government action to address the accommodation needs of Gypsies and Travellers in Wales?
Mark Isherwood: How do you respond to concern raised with me by deaf community representatives in north Wales about the lack of information in British sign language on the official website on how to take lateral flow tests and PCR tests, where, as they state, if their members are struggling, even with their assistance, then others must be also? Concern was also raised with me by constituents after the...
Mark Isherwood: Therefore, Minister, what work is being done to identify and deliver the skills needed to support the model for the future? And finally, how is access to the branches for disabled people with both visible and hidden impairments being designed in?
Mark Isherwood: I thank the Minister for his statement. I'm also grateful to the team at Banc Cambria for the time they've given in recent months to keeping myself and colleagues updated on the development of a community bank for Wales. Having previously worked in the mutual building society sector for more than two decades, I particularly welcome the fact that the bank's partnership with Monmouthshire...
Mark Isherwood: I call for a Welsh Government statement on the provision of support for the families of veterans with mental health conditions. Last week, the Forces in Mind Trust published their new report, developing a model of the Restorative Approaches Veterans and Family Service. This followed a three-year evaluation study, carried out by the Children's Social Care Research and Development Centre at...
Mark Isherwood: I move amendments 1, 2 and 3. As our amendment 1 states, every human being has a right to a nutritious and adequate food supply. Every day, people in Wales go hungry because they're in crisis. There are many reasons for this, including low income, debt, access to benefits, substance misuse and mental health. As foodbank network the Trussell Trust state, statutory organisations are often not...
Mark Isherwood: Speaking here in September, the health Minister said it was important to note that a summary report was published in 2015, including the Holden recommendations. But this is the very brief summary report referred to above, which did not describe the 31 concerns listed by staff. Throughout my time as a Member of the Senedd, since 2003, I have supported a succession of principled whistleblowers...
Mark Isherwood: My recent call for a Senedd debate in Welsh Government time on the Holden report published last month, documenting failings on the Hergest mental health unit in Bangor, was rejected. We have therefore brought forward this opposition debate on a matter that has long-standing Welsh Government involvement. In 2012, the deputy coroner wrote to the health board outlining her concern after a...
Mark Isherwood: At the weekend, I was contacted by a constituent who said, 'I took the train from Cardiff about 3.23 and arrived in Chester after midnight on a train that should've arrived at 6.23 p.m. Passengers and I think Transport for Wales were aware of the problem before we left Cardiff Central. This was 17 November.' Last Monday, like Llyr, on the twenty-ninth, I pre-booked my ticket from Wrexham...
Mark Isherwood: Will the Minister make a statement on the choices available to parents when it comes to settings for their children's education?
Mark Isherwood: Diolch. Working alongside Plaid Cymru’s Jocelyn Davies and Liberal Democrat, Peter Black, I was one of the three party spokespeople in the fourth Assembly who took the Welsh Government to the line over passage of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, securing Welsh Government pledges in several areas. We called for a commitment to introduce healthy...
Mark Isherwood: Would you accept that I was quoting from committee reports in the Senedd, which were cross party, based on detailed research, and identified some good practice, which did work with the families at the time?
Mark Isherwood: Finally, the Welsh Government should take heed of NEA Cymru's 2021 fuel poverty monitor, launched yesterday, which focuses on the decarbonisation of domestic heating for fuel-poor households. Diolch.
