Mike Hedges: Thank you, Peter Fox. You've raised one country—can I just throw some others back at you? Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Russia, Singapore and Taiwan, some regions of Australia, Mexico, individual states of the United States of America. Land value tax removes the financial incentive to hold unused land solely for price appreciation. The selling price of a good when it's fixed in supply, such...
Mike Hedges: Taxation exists to pay for public services. Too many people believe that we can have the same quality of public services as Scandinavia when our taxation system is more akin to that of the USA. The Conservatives oppose increasing any taxes or bringing in new taxes. We need a debate on what public services we have and how to pay for them. When you look at the cost of private education and...
Mike Hedges: Firstly, I'm sure the Welsh Government finds the use of fire and rehire by companies as abhorrent as I do. Whilst the Welsh Government cannot outlaw it as employment law is not devolved, I'm asking for a Government statement on how companies who carry out this practice can be excluded from Welsh Government contracts, or from contracts with Welsh Government funded bodies, and also, how they...
Mike Hedges: I can only talk about Morriston, but it's not the lack of beds that's causing the problem, it's the lack of rooms in accident and emergency. Accident and emergency, the whole of that area, including the places where people are being taken, is full, and that's where the problem is. It's not—. If they had 100 extra beds, it would not deal with the problem in A&E. The A&E problem is that there...
Mike Hedges: I agree it should be one of the easiest things to solve. I can't talk about Wrexham Maelor, but I can talk about Morriston Hospital, and the thing that causes the problem there is the physical number of people. They haven't got doctors sitting around doing nothing in Morriston, but if Wrexham Maelor would like to send some of their doctors down to Morriston, we'd very much welcome them. We...
Mike Hedges: Certainly. But it's the last intervention I will take.
Mike Hedges: I agree with you entirely. I've only got five minutes, so I will not be addressing social care; I'm just sticking with hospitals and A&E and health. But, yes, I agree entirely. To help deal with patients who attend, the GP out-of-hours service should be given the job of assessing patients upon arrival, deciding in what order they should be treated and dealing with non-medical emergencies....
Mike Hedges: Certainly.
Mike Hedges: I thank the Conservatives for bringing this debate today. As Members who were present in the last Senedd know, I rarely spoke in health debates. Fortunately, for the first time since I was elected, we have a health Minister who I am confident will address the problems. I also recognise the hard work and dedication of the Welsh ambulance staff in very, very challenging circumstances. I also...
Mike Hedges: Prepayment meters are amongst the most cruel of things because people don't put their heating on because they've got no money to put the heating on. It doesn't show as being cut off; they just don't have any heating. And I think that, sometimes, that is underestimated, but people will be going cold tonight. As do you, Deputy Presiding Officer, I have a serious concern about the steel...
Mike Hedges: Firstly, unfortunately, we have to accept that a large number of people do not want to vote for any of us. [Laughter.] For a generation brought up on using their phones for everything, asking them to queue and put a cross on a piece of paper appears very old fashioned. Has the Government considered trialling online voting to engage younger people? If online banking can be made safe, I'm sure...
Mike Hedges: I agree it's very important that membership of public bodies reflects society, but it's not only about protected characteristics; it's about life experiences. Too often, diversity deals with protected characteristics, not diversity of life experiences. What is being done to get members on boards from different life experiences in different parts of Wales, including different parts of towns...
Mike Hedges: Anyone who has not been barred by a court can buy an animal. There are no tests for ownership, no statutory instructions of how to look after animals. Is it any surprise that so many animals are badly treated, not always because people want to badly treat them, but due to ignorance? Will the Government introduce some online instructions and tests for those seeking to buy different animals as...
Mike Hedges: Diolch. Thank you. Can I just agree with what Sarah Murphy raised, because I think that's a matter that is going to be of grave concern and greater concern as time goes on? But the question I want to ask is: what can we do to make contracts smaller? I agree that far too little is given out to smaller companies inside communities, but the reason is that people package it—including the Welsh...
Mike Hedges: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I wish you'd called me before Rhys ab Owen, because I was also going to raise the problem of problem high rises. I'll still raise it because it is a serious concern to a number of my constituents living in SA1. I believe we are now in the autumn and, as such, how soon can we expect this statement, because it is really affecting a number of people? We talk about...
Mike Hedges: I'll be voting against the Plaid motion today because I am opposed to universal free school meals. I do not believe that providing free school meals to children who are being privately educated is the right thing to do or the right use of resources—if you look at your motion there, it says 'all'; it doesn't say 'all in the public sector', it says 'all' and 'all' includes those in private...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Minister for that response? Educational attainment is the key to economic development. Successful parts of the world have economies built on highly qualified individuals, not on driving companies to bring branch factories for a short time. What is Welsh Government doing to continue to improve educational attainment in our schools and universities in order to improve our economy?
Mike Hedges: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on educational attainment in Wales? OQ56758
Mike Hedges: I've just understood the Conservatives' economic policy: you spend more, and you tax less. I'm not quite sure how that has worked, and I'm sure that Peter Fox didn't do that when he was leading Monmouthshire County Council, so why he wants the Welsh Government to do it, I'm not quite sure. The aim of every budget is the same: to improve health, improve the environment, reduce carbon...
Mike Hedges: I welcome the Welsh Government's statement. I requested a statement on trees a few weeks ago, and thankfully we've now got one. Can I also say how much I welcome the tone of the Minister's statement? We need a lot more trees to meet our climate change needs, to reduce flooding risk and to protect biodiversity. But we need to involve the public. If everyone with a garden planted one tree, that...
