Mike Hedges: I welcome the setting up of a constitutional commission. Up until now, only Plaid Cymru, with independence, and abolish supporters have been consistent and have had an end point. Despite that, the majority of the Welsh people, in every opinion poll we've seen, want devolution either as we've got it now, or extended. I welcome the co-chair suggestion. Can I just remind the Minister that...
Mike Hedges: I'm asking for two statements by the Government. The first one is on how health will be improved and how life expectancies will be increased by improving the overall health of people in Wales, as opposed to intervening when people are seriously ill and need hospitalisation. Take type 2 diabetes—the number of cases can be reduced by diet and exercise. We need to do more in prevention,...
Mike Hedges: I'm very pleased that we have had this statement today. We have too few houses, we have too few affordable houses. House prices have increased due to a shortage of accommodation, but also Government policies such as Help to Buy and the land transaction tax holiday have pushed up prices. The biggest housing shortages are in Cardiff and Swansea and I refer the Minister to the council house...
Mike Hedges: I welcome the Welsh Government's programme; fair work rights are long overdue. I hope that the social partnership Bill will ensure that companies who engage in fire and rehire, and who have exploitative contracts paying less that the real living wage, will not get public sector contracts. I welcome the taxation Bill to enable a quick end to tax-evasion loopholes—I have previously asked for...
Mike Hedges: As others have said, we are fast losing biodiversity in Wales, with the latest 'The State of Natural Resources Report' stating that the overall trend is one of serious decline, reflecting the global situation of an internationally recognised nature emergency. The danger is a dystopian future, with the only mammals surviving being pets, farm animals and scavengers such as rats. Could Kenneth...
Mike Hedges: My question really is about looking at job sharing for Members at the Senedd. You, Presiding Officer, and the Deputy Presiding Officer, effectively job share controlling Senedd proceedings. Will the Commission look at allowing job sharing for other posts, such as committee Chairs and commissioners? I heard what you said in the answer to the last question, but I think that this is something...
Mike Hedges: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the statement. I have three comments and two questions. A union of four parts cannot work with England being between five and six times larger than the other three combined. Devolution has to be the same for every devolved nation and region, as it is with American states and German Länder, but devolution must not stop at Cardiff. The only people...
Mike Hedges: Can I ask for an urgent Government statement on cladding on buildings? In Swansea East and the SA1 area, there are several buildings with cladding and a large number of very concerned individuals, regarding the cost of removal and making it safe. I know this problem is replicated in other constituencies, including Swansea West and including Cardiff—I'm not going to make a list of them...
Mike Hedges: I second it.
Mike Hedges: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank Jack Sargeant for giving me a minute? I agree with everything that Jack Sargeant and Sarah Murphy have said about fire and rehire, but I am not going to rehearse that. I'm going to move on to another topic about how workers are treated so badly, and that's wages. The minimum wage was brought in over 20 years ago, but we've now reached the stage...
Mike Hedges: Thank you. This year, Morriston Ladies Choir is celebrating 80 years since its formation, and I’m very proud to be president of the choir. The choir was formed in 1941 by Miss Lillian Abbott and members of the local first aid defence group. At the time, there were many popular male voice choirs in the area, as there are today, such as the world-famous Morriston Orpheus. The choir’s...
Mike Hedges: We get very little of the benefit of food production beyond the sale of the raw materials. Does the Minister agree with me that we need to develop the food processing industry in Wales, and will the Minister look at the Felindre site in my colleague Rebecca Evans's constituency as a location for food processing by a large number of companies so that the profit made from food processing is...
Mike Hedges: Can I ask the Minister to look at the number of spoilt ballot papers we had the length and breadth of Wales when we had the Senedd elections? But I can think of no worse electoral system than STV. Can I ask the Minister to look at the size of the wards and results from the Scottish council elections, which were held under STV? Can the Minister provide information to the public, not just to...
Mike Hedges: Can I welcome the response given by the First Minister? I think this is something that many people across the Chamber are very much in favour of. On Friday, I met with pupils from Glyncollen school online, who were unanimously in favour of a deposit-return scheme. I told them about the old Corona pop scheme, which I mention fairly regularly here. Does the First Minister agree that the Welsh...
Mike Hedges: Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government's strategy to grow the economy of the Swansea Bay city region?
Mike Hedges: Can I say how glad I am that housing is being discussed so early in this Assembly term? To many of my constituents, housing is incredibly important. Many are inadequately housed, in temporary accommodation or homeless. We also know that household size has decreased, with more people in single-person households, and it's a trend likely to continue. Far too many houses are empty, not enough...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Deputy Minister for the statement? Starting with the science, carbon oxidates to form carbon dioxide. Carbon dioxide is a greenhouse gas and traps heat. We know this because Venus, which has mainly a carbon dioxide atmosphere, despite being much further away from the sun than Mercury, is substantially hotter. Whilst saying these few words, I've been expelling carbon dioxide...
Mike Hedges: What is the Welsh Government doing to promote greater awareness of the causes of climate change?
Mike Hedges: I'm asking for a Government statement on proposed tree planting, to include how the public can become involved. If everyone in Wales who has a garden planted a new tree then we'd have an additional 1 million trees. I am sure that some Members will remember as children 'Plant a tree in '73, plant one more in '74'. Will the Government consider implementing such a scheme for 2023 and 2024? I...
Mike Hedges: [Inaudible.]
