Jenny Rathbone: As the Welsh Government is now a supersponsor for receiving Ukrainian refugees, we do hope that we'll now be able to see people arriving in this country in order to take up the very kind offers that so many people across Wales have given. In light of the expected arrival of these people who really need our support, I wondered if we could have a statement from the economy Minister about...
Jenny Rathbone: That's particularly interesting to know, and do you therefore think that there really is an important role for logistical regiments to play in assisting the Polish people and others, to get our part played by bringing people from Ukraine as soon as possible?
Jenny Rathbone: My grandfather served in the first world war, and he was serving in all the worst places with the highest numbers of casualties. He was in the Royal Artillery, which was, obviously, bringing the guns up to the front with the use of horses, which illustrates how it is very important that the military has to change in line with new technology; we cannot be fighting wars with horses any longer....
Jenny Rathbone: What discussions has the Minister had with the Post Office about ensuring everybody in Wales has adequate access to services?
Jenny Rathbone: This is a very interesting debate on a very important subject. My constituency has three universities in it, so it's very important that we get this right, not just for individual areas but also for the whole of Wales, because obviously we need to ensure that we have the best possible tertiary sector to take us forward in these very challenging sets of circumstances. The University of Oxford,...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much. We've already rehearsed the disruption to food markets occurring as a result of Brexit and the war in Ukraine, but I just want to focus on what we can do here in Wales, because one of the most important agreements within the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru is the extension of free school meals to all primary school children. So, in line with the Welsh Government's...
Jenny Rathbone: 4. What is the Minister’s strategy for increasing the amount of vegetables grown in Wales? OQ57746
Jenny Rathbone: Or is this another pot of money that you might be able to identify in the future? Because there's no doubt that the decarbonisation of our homes in the context of the absolutely spiralling energy, oil and gas costs is something that we simply can't hang around for. We have to do it as soon as we possibly can.
Jenny Rathbone: Back to reality, I'd very much like to commend the finance Minister's management of the budget, because this could hardly be a more difficult set of circumstances that the people of Wales are facing. To enable you to identify £162 million extra for the cost-of-living crisis is hugely appreciated, and absolutely a sign of your excellent management of the Government's money. This morning, I...
Jenny Rathbone: It's all right. I didn't speak, actually. I just wondered, you say, 'recognising the extra we've had from the UK Government', but we've just heard in the statement of £1 billion less because of the money that's not come from what we usually got through the European budget. So, I think we're considerably worse off, not better off.
Jenny Rathbone: Following the International Women's Day theme, I want to try and explore how we're going to close the gender gap in relation to not having women in one section of the workforce and men in the other, because we need—. A bit more mixing up will benefit the whole community. So, we know from the Well-being of Future Generations Commissioner for Wales's report, 'Homes Fit for the Future: The...
Jenny Rathbone: There is much better understanding of eating disorders now than there was 50 years ago. I can recall siblings of friends of mine just desperately struggling to understand what they could do, and the medical profession didn't really know what to do beyond force-feeding people who were determined to starve themselves to death. So, we are now much better equipped to deal with this, and there's...
Jenny Rathbone: Limiting the right to public protest is somewhat ironic in the context of the UK Government's apparently Damascene conversion to the importance of democratic government when it comes to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, I think, given the way in which the UK Government since 2019 has behaved, endeavouring to prorogue Parliament when they didn't want to be scrutinised by them, and some of the...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much for the statement. I was just listening carefully to what you've been saying and I also think we do need to think about the sustainability of what we're doing, because dignity is fantastically important and we need to ensure that everybody has the period products they need to deal with their monthly periods, but we also have to think about the environment and how we can...
Jenny Rathbone: My question really is on: if you're going to change the school meal regulations, I applaud that, but who will monitor the quality of school meals? Because at the moment we rely on school governors and for them, actually, it's a bit of a mystery, and I've not yet seen school governors as a whole who take an interest in this matter. Also, what specific approaches do you plan for pregnant women?...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much to the Minister for your statement, and thank you very much for your commitment to this area, because it really does require that level of persistence on this complex issue. I was very grateful to the Farmers Union of Wales recently, who have promised to go into schools in my constituency and talk to children about where food comes from. I think that's a pretty basic...
Jenny Rathbone: First of all, I'd like to very much welcome the recent announcement by the health Minister that telemedical abortions are going to become a permanent service. This is a fantastically important issue, particularly for women living in rural areas, or women who don't have childcare or have other caring responsibilities. And it's very much supported by all the professionals in the Royal College...
Jenny Rathbone: I wonder if I could challenge you, Minister, to say that this is missing the point. Because it does not meet the criteria for sustainability, which is reduce, re-use, recycle. So, the Cadw framework needs to change, or the planning system needs to change, to capture that.
Jenny Rathbone: I'm very pleased to follow my colleague Darren Millar, and I largely agree with everything he says on this occasion, as indeed with Joel James, because I think this is a really important issue and it's excellent that this petition has enabled us to discuss it. I agree that there are some really complicated issues here, but, as with Darren Millar and the chapel in Loughor, I've got a...
Jenny Rathbone: Would you agree with me that one of the keys to this is ensuring that we have the quality social care in the community to enable people to be discharged quickly?
