Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Minister for her answer; I appreciate it was a very broad question. I don't know if the Minister has noticed that contained in the budget there is a commitment to a £30 million changing places fund. I'm sure that she would agree with me that the situation that so many of our disabled people face, where they can't be out of the house for more than a certain length of time...
Helen Mary Jones: 6. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the UK Chancellor's budget statement? OAQ55212
Helen Mary Jones: 1. What legal advice has the Counsel General provided to the Welsh Government regarding the legal impact of the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women? OAQ55206
Helen Mary Jones: 3. What legal representations has the Counsel General made on behalf of the Welsh Government in support of the Backto60 appeal about the alleged mishandling of raising the state pension age for women born in the 1950s? OAQ55205
Helen Mary Jones: 2. What action is the Commission taking to raise awareness amongst those newly eligible to vote of their right to do so in the May 2021 Senedd elections? OAQ55211
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you very much. I'm grateful to you for taking the intervention. Would you also agree with me that, of course, this body is being asked to look at the whole social care as well as health, and that if they're going to be able to do that adequately, then, surely, the amount of resourcing they're going to need is going to be a lot more than what the community health councils use and need at...
Helen Mary Jones: Would you take an intervention, Angela?
Helen Mary Jones: I'm very grateful to you. Do you agree with me that, if we persist in passing laws in this place where there are no clear consequences on the face of the law for the people who break the law, we risk bringing the whole democratic institution into disrepute? I, for one, am sick and tired of being asked to vote for legislation where nothing happens to somebody who breaks those laws.
Helen Mary Jones: Will you take an intervention?
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to you for taking the intervention. You may wish to take this opportunity to share with the Chamber the news that you gave me about the Flybe jobs that have already been saved at the airport. Of course, that's no consolation to those employed in other airports who were not so fortunate, but I think it would be helpful to have that on the record and perhaps reassuring.
Helen Mary Jones: I rise on this occasion to support the Government motion—and these benches will not be supporting any of the other opposition amendments—unusually for me. Some Members who don't know me as well as others will be very surprised to hear that I love a bit of consensus, me. It's been really good to see that there is an element of consensus around this debate. We all do agree that our nation...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Minister for her answer. She'll know, and will be very pleased to know, that the Plaid Cymru-led administration there is a year ahead of target in delivering its initial 900 new council homes. And I know that the Minister will be glad that just yesterday, the local authority committed to a further 370 new homes over the next three years. And it does show what a local...
Helen Mary Jones: 4. Will the Minister make a statement on the availability of social housing in Carmarthenshire? OAQ55163
Helen Mary Jones: I heard what the Deputy Minister has said in response to David Melding about the existing support, but she will be aware that we have, in recent months, seen smaller local housing associations, who are very well-rooted in their communities, losing out on funding bids to bigger organisations that may not be as well rooted. The Deputy Minister will be aware of women-led third sector local...
Helen Mary Jones: I think you'll remember in Dai Lloyd's contribution that he was very clear that devolution had achieved some good things. Many of those things were delivered by Plaid Cymru Government Ministers, some of them have been delivered by Labour Ministers or by Liberal Democrat Ministers. We're not saying it's a total wash-out, but we are saying that it hasn't reached its potential and on this, I...
Helen Mary Jones: Will the Minister take an intervention?
Helen Mary Jones: I'm very grateful to Huw Irranca-Davies for taking the intervention. I entirely take your point about poverty, but I know people in the region that I represent where the mother of the family is eating bread and tea at the end of the week because she has to put petrol in her car to get to her minimum-wage job in a rural area. So, let's not just assume that people who are economically...
Helen Mary Jones: Sorry, Darren, I'm going to have to cut across you now, because time is short. I think I've got your point. I simply disagree. I believe in the principle of subsidiarity—[Interruption.] Darren, I've taken your intervention, will you be kind enough to listen to my response? I believe in the principle of subsidiarity, which says that the decision should be made at the most local appropriate...
Helen Mary Jones: If the Presiding Officer will allow it.
Helen Mary Jones: Briefly I will, but I'm just conscious I've got some other points I need to make.
