Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, First Minister. The Housing (Wales) Act 2014 places a legal obligation and a statutory duty on local authorities in Wales to both assess and provide for residential and transit provision for Gypsy and Traveller communities, and yet nearly eight years later several local authorities have either no permanent sites or insufficient sites for Gypsy and Traveller communities, or...
Jenny Rathbone: 7. What action does the Welsh Government take when local authorities submit inadequate housing needs assessments? OQ57676
Jenny Rathbone: What discussions has the Counsel General had with the UK Government in respect of the condition of the Civil Justice Centre building in Cardiff?
Jenny Rathbone: I understand your argument that Natural Resources Wales needs more money to chase all the people who are polluting our rivers, but I wonder whether you could indicate where you think the money might need to come from to actually do that? For example, would you support the Farmers Union of Wales's proposal to cap basic payments, so that we're not funding millionaires?
Jenny Rathbone: I will sum up by saying our additional concern is on the—. There's no increase at the moment in the well-being of future generations commissioner's budget. She is the lowest-funded commissioner of all the four commissioners. How does the Welsh Government expect their office to take up additional public bodies and support them and scrutinise them without additional money? That simply doesn't...
Jenny Rathbone: Diolch, Llywydd. I appreciate the huge difficulties that the Welsh Government is under trying to engineer a budget that doesn't enable the population to fall into even more poverty and inequality at this difficult time, with the cost-of-living crisis that has really taken off in the last couple of months. The Minister for Social Justice pointed out, in evidence to our committee, that...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much to Plaid for proposing this debate. I thank Joyce for highlighting the fact that only two stalking orders were granted in the last available set of figures in one year, and I think it makes point (c) and point (e) of the motion particularly important, which I'd like to talk about in relation to one of my constituents, who has been persistently stalked over two or three...
Jenny Rathbone: Will you take an intervention?
Jenny Rathbone: I just wanted to highlight that the most important thing about the Platfform thing is to move away to a trauma-informed approach, so that we're not saying, 'What's wrong with you?', but saying, 'What happened to you, and how can we help rectify it?' Would you agree with that?
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much. James was right to mention that this is a global tragedy. The poorest countries are also the ones who are being absolutely bombarded with advertising of sugary drinks, otherwise known as fizzy drinks, and also processed food, when these countries absolutely cannot afford to treat the diabetes that is the inevitable consequence. So, it is appalling that these multinational...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much. I appreciate all the work that the Welsh Government is doing to try to ensure that everybody is taking up the benefits they're entitled to. But, as you said earlier, mainly, the levers are with the UK Government. And I appreciate it must be very difficult to get anybody to answer the phone when the UK Government is in the grip of a leadership crisis, but I wondered if you...
Jenny Rathbone: I definitely support your ambition for effective and preventative community solutions, and we doubtless need a great deal more prevention, as we've got 20 per cent of the population awaiting hospital appointments across Wales—that's a pretty devastating figure. Anyway, two years ago, almost to the day, I visited the Cwm Taf neighbourhood nursing team just before the pandemic broke, and I...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much, Llywydd. I'd like to ask for a statement from the Minister for health on the diagnosis and treatment of women with endometriosis. You will recall that, back in 2018, the recommendations of the endometriosis task and finish group were published. It seems like a million years ago, given all that's happened since, but I believe that the Welsh Government sought assurances...
Jenny Rathbone: I note you haven't told us how many there are in Wales. I've never come across it in Wales at all. So, how would you respond to my constituent who said that her parents won't be able to vote because they don't have a passport and they don't drive?
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, James. Did you not hear me when I said earlier: we need face masks in order to prevent COVID spreading in the classroom, both to fellow pupils and also to protect staff? Otherwise, we'll have the situation we've got in parts of England where there are just swathes and swathes of children and staff off with COVID.
Jenny Rathbone: Okay. Just to say that it is completely untrue that Wales has lower funding. As the Labour motion points out, we are spending much more money on trying to repair the inevitable damage that has taken place amongst our children and we should all regret that. But the things that we need to do: employing more youth workers, employing more counsellors, ensuring that we are promoting play as a way...
Jenny Rathbone: I think it's a bit early for statistics. I'm just telling you about the experience of both Preston hospital and all the schools in Essex, because that is where my daughter teaches. I can tell you that the supply teaching agencies are simply unable to supply the schools with the people they need. They are desperately ringing everybody around to see if anybody will work extra hours or extra...
Jenny Rathbone: Yes.
Jenny Rathbone: I just want to clarify whether this is a debate about the impact of COVID on young people and their education, or whether it's a rant about the bits of the curriculum that the Conservatives don't like, because I think there's a bit of confusion in my mind, or rather in Laura Jones's mind, on this matter. I completely agree that it was disappointing that learners in Wales missed more days of...
Jenny Rathbone: Well, I haven't got the Act in front of me either, but I'm absolutely of the view that this is a great opportunity for all learners—the new curriculum as well as the additional learning needs Act. I just wanted to ask you what plans you have to co-locate all special schools on mainstream school sites in the future so that people with ALN, who come in all shapes and sizes, can benefit from...
