Bethan Sayed: Thank you very much. I’m very pleased to open this debate on the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee’s report, 'Hitting the Right Note', on funding for and access to music education. No matter what our backgrounds, our professions or our allegiances, I’m sure that, at some point, we've all drawn great satisfaction and pride from our country’s status as the land of...
Bethan Sayed: In an interview with the BBC in December 2016, Dr Owain Arwel Hughes, founder of the Welsh Proms, and a former conductor at the National Youth Orchestra of Wales, explained that cuts to school music services, and a consequent lack of tuition opportunities, were causing what he described as a crisis in Welsh music education. Dr Hughes's concerns were also reflected in the committee's public...
Bethan Sayed: Go on, John. [Laughter.]
Bethan Sayed: Unlike Russell George and Julie James, I'm relatively new to this area now, so do bear with me, but I look forward to working with you on this particular area, leader of the house. I note that in previous updates on superfast and connectivity, it's been pointed out that this is a market intervention, and I agree, actually, that it would be easier to make progress in this area of delivering...
Bethan Sayed: I think if it's the case that people are not informed, then that's why people are raising it here, so that they can get information from you as Cabinet Secretary, and I think that that would be something that we should be mindful of here. I understand, from speaking with Vertex, that there was some frustration in dealing with all-Wales medical procurement, which resulted in significant delays...
Bethan Sayed: I'd like to thank you for this statement, and I'm encouraged by it. It's clear that the chosen schemes will add up to 657 new homes, rather than the 276 built last year, and the budget for this has increased considerably. In the past, I and my colleague Siân Gwenllian have called for the scheme to be more ambitious in its target and scale, and significantly more than doubling the number of...
Bethan Sayed: He beat me. [Laughter.]
Bethan Sayed: I was wondering if we could please have a debate regarding general traffic and pollution control measures on major roads here in Wales? This is in the context of the fact that, last night, I arranged a packed public meeting about the proposed closure of junction 41 westbound. Now, this will affect the people of Port Talbot detrimentally. But there are other roads in Wales where I think that...
Bethan Sayed: As you've mentioned, as part of the exit from this scheme in 2015, a borrowing cap of £1.85 billion was placed on councils that retained housing stock. Given that Theresa May has announced that English councils will no longer have a cap on their ability to borrow to build new homes, will the Welsh Government look into renegotiating the current deal with the Treasury? After all, it makes more...
Bethan Sayed: The Welsh transport appraisal guidance report that proposes the closure of junction 41 westbound states there is a goal to try to ease congestion in that particular area, and they're trying to say that people need to get out of their cars, something that I would agree with. But in that particular area, we've seen downgrading of bus times through the Afan valley, and a new Transport for...
Bethan Sayed: 8. What assessment has the First Minister made of the reform of the housing revenue account subsidy scheme? OAQ52800
Bethan Sayed: I look forward to hearing from that expert group, because I was sincerely disturbed by the fact that those council officers told us that they hadn't been out on site for 20 years, when they used to go out all the time. So, I would like for the message that you're giving here today to resonate throughout all the local councils here in Wales. My third and final question is to do with the...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for the answer, but I'm frankly not as reassured as you. In our local government committee last week we heard evidence from the fire service, and they said there are people who are undertaking fire-risk assessments who are not competent, that people are taking off fire doors from flats and replacing them with those that are not as safe, and that there is no money for either the fire...
Bethan Sayed: Minister, can you indicate how confident you are that, if a fire breaks out in a high-rise block of flats here in Wales, we won't see a tragedy that we saw in London?
Bethan Sayed: A few weeks ago, we heard from the chief executive of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council saying that they would have to make people redundant unless funding was made available for the teachers' pay rise from the Westminster Government centrally. Now, I’m proud to say that Ben Lake, Plaid Cymru MP, has requested that funding from the Westminster Government in Parliament there, and he...
Bethan Sayed: Something that animates quite a lot of local people is the fact that there's no mandate within the planning system for facilities for many of those new estates. So, sometimes you have housing estates that are well-kept and they have provision in that regard, but they don't have parks, they don't have any surgeries, they don't have those things that would create a community. The system,...
Bethan Sayed: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline the Welsh Government's funding settlement priorities for Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council? OAQ52690
Bethan Sayed: Clearly, there's a link between drug abuse and mental health problems, and, from research I've looked at today, it would cost about £500 million to deal with drug-related crime for the individuals involved here in the UK. Now, there are many arrest referral schemes, but the take-up for them is quite low. They do things like methadone maintenance programmes to reduce both illegal heroin and...
Bethan Sayed: I welcome the decision that has been made and I wanted to congratulate the League Against Cruel Sports for the work that they've put into this particular campaign. I want to understand what your engagement will be, as a Minister, with Natural Resources Wales in relation to the groups that are involved from all sectors of society in light of this decision, because I have grave concerns about...
Bethan Sayed: Will the Cabinet Secretary outline the Welsh Government's economic and industrial strategy for South Wales West?
