Bethan Sayed: Thank you for the advanced notice—it's timely, given that we have a debate on further education this time tomorrow also. We've always recognised in Plaid Cymru that, to have a successful highly skilled and productive economy, we need the facilities and the institutions that are world class, competitive with a clear mission and a plan to deliver. And further education is something that needs...
Bethan Sayed: Apologies for my late arrival. Thank you for advance notice of this statement. Following Brexit, it needs to be ensured that international students continue to be welcomed to Wales and are aware that they are valued. It also needs to be ensured that students from Wales are encouraged to be outward looking and to seek opportunities to study abroad. Plaid Cymru believes that students from Wales...
Bethan Sayed: There was an event in the UK Parliament yesterday by the Cystic Fibrosis Trust to mark three years since they had been campaigning for the drug Orkambi to be put on the NHS. We had a cross-party meeting here last week with regard to this important issue as well. Now, 'A Healthier Wales', your strategy, says that we need to be having more personalised care, more precision medicines on the NHS,...
Bethan Sayed: Can we have a swimming pool as well?
Bethan Sayed: The UK Government has been urging Welsh businesses to apply for their gigabit broadband voucher scheme. I'm sure you know what it is, but it's a scheme where SMEs were given £3,000, but it's now been reduced to £2,500 because it's had such a big uptake, for SMEs to have fibre broadband installed in their businesses where they require that support. But, to me, it was quite shocking to find...
Bethan Sayed: Will the Leader of the House provide an outline of recent and planned broadband investment?
Bethan Sayed: Will the First Minister provide an update on inward investment into South Wales West?
Bethan Sayed: I wanted to take this opportunity today for each and every one of us to remember our friend and colleague Carl Sargeant, on this, the anniversary of his passing. I know that we are all thinking about his family and friends here today, and we all remember him in our own unique ways—from his mischievous grins to his unconventional speeches, to the care that he had for others. He always had...
Bethan Sayed: Could I request an update on what the Welsh Government is doing for those with complex care needs, especially those people with muscular dystrophy? I hosted an event last week—a cross-party event—with regard to muscular dystrophy, and we had many families there who raised concerns about the lack of medical awareness among key staff in the NHS. Two of the people at the meeting told the...
Bethan Sayed: I think many Assembly Members have given the context of Brexit and how that may impact EU students and also those coming from further than the EU. But, looking at the current situation, there are no Welsh universities in the top 10 across the UK for EU student numbers, so that is something in the here and now that we are not performing well on. Yes, your Government has confirmed that EU...
Bethan Sayed: My second example is a photo, apparently of the Standing Rock protests in North Dakota in 2017. The aim was to prevent a pipeline being built across Native American lands—I nearly said ‘naked’, then, but that would have been another story altogether—threatening their environment and water supplies. Some activists clearly decided that it would be good to inflate the size of the...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you. I decided to bring this debate forward this week because I've been considering the wider question of the quality and plurality of the Welsh media since being elected in 2007. In 2017, I said to my party conference that, quite often, the problem in Wales wasn't fake news but no news. I said it because it reflected what I and many others perceived to be such a scarcity of media in...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you very much to the clerking team as well and to everyone who’s taken part in this important work, and to the people who've turned up here today for this debate. It’s important that the public are a vital part of the work that we do as a committee. Thank you very much.
Bethan Sayed: I'm conscious of time, and not having much of it to go through everybody's comments, but thank you to everybody who has taken part. I know that you have been lobbied to attend and to take part in this debate, and you would do it anyway because it's so important. So, thank you very much—and to all the committee members, past and present, who have showed such enthusiasm in this regard. Thank...
Bethan Sayed: To conclude, if we, as a nation, value our rich musical heritage and would like the benefits of this most valued part of Welsh life to extend long into the future, we must act now to address this crisis.
Bethan Sayed: The value of music to Wales and to those living and learning within our country has long been a powerful asset, one that brings great pride, joy and fulfilment to us and so it must be continued. It's worth a huge amount to our creative industries sector, and I think it must be acknowledged that it does not only affect just one sector of society, it transcends our lives here in Wales and it...
Bethan Sayed: The absence of such direction has led to inconsistency and complication. Direction is now needed urgently to avoid the further deterioration of the services on offer. This is not to say that the services themselves are the only things affected by the lack of an overarching strategy. The terms and conditions of staff within the sector vary greatly between authorities. This must also be...
Bethan Sayed: Another central recommendation of our report is that the Welsh Government take strategic ownership of music services by consulting stakeholders in order to create a national action plan for music.
Bethan Sayed: As a musician myself, who was brought through the music service system, I can testify to the truth of these statements. Through music education, I was afforded amazing opportunities and experiences that enriched my education. They're experiences that I cherish to this day.
Bethan Sayed: Such things as travelling abroad as part of a team and playing some of the world’s most renowned orchestral music, had a very tangible, positive impact on me, in ways that I am still benefiting from today. And I can't listen to Mahler 1 without remembering fond memories of my last national youth orchestra course. As such, I am passionate about ensuring that every child in Wales has the...
