Joyce Watson: I'd like to call Peredur Owen Griffiths, the spokesperson for Plaid.
Joyce Watson: I'd like to now call Russell George, the Conservative speaker.
Joyce Watson: We move now to item 4, a statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Future approach to optometry services. Eluned Morgan.
Joyce Watson: Diolch, Llywydd. We all know what the goal is, and it's simple: it's to see Wales as a net-zero emissions country by 2050. That's what this is all about, and the policies are critical to achieving that because we know that farmers look after 80 per cent of our land. It's just that simple. So, paying them to help fight climate change and look after wildlife rather than how much land they...
Joyce Watson: What discussions has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government regarding its plans to cut universal credit?
Joyce Watson: It's been just an amazing insight into the other benches today. I just want to say one thing. They talked about HGV drivers and training them, well, I just want to say this to you: by the time you've trained an HGV driver, the food will be rotten in the lorry. Just a thought for you to think about, that's all, and I thought it might be useful to help you in that deliberation. But I want to...
Joyce Watson: Will you take an intervention?
Joyce Watson: Thank you for taking the intervention. Do you agree that the UK Government have rightly identified that the amount of money that people are receiving on universal credit isn't sufficient, and that is why they actually increased it by £20 a week, so that those people could just survive? Do you also agree, if you agree with that, that it is a really wrong move and a bad move to remove it now...
Joyce Watson: I thank you for that answer, but according to research by Wildlife Trust Wales, Powys now has more than 150 intense poultry units, housing an estimated 10 million chickens. As a result, an extra 2,000 tonnes of phosphate a year are estimated to be spread onto land in the Wye catchment area. Last September, I asked you for an update on the intensive agriculture working group that was looking...
Joyce Watson: I thank you for that answer, Minister, but I'm not at all surprised by it. I have put on record my doubts about free ports. I'm not convinced of the economic argument, and I have concerns relating to the environment, and also to any labour standards that go alongside that. But what I am sure of, however, is that Wales must not be short changed, our key strategic ports like Milford Haven must...
Joyce Watson: 5. What assessment of the tax implications for Wales has the Minister made of the UK Government's freeports policy? OQ56832
Joyce Watson: 2. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the environmental impact of intensive poultry units in Mid and West Wales? OQ56831
Joyce Watson: Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I think it's absolutely essential that we support those who've supported us, albeit that they've supported us in another country. We know that we support our own armed forces, and that is absolutely right, yet the work that they do, predominantly, is elsewhere. So, I'm really proud that we here in Wales are a nation of sanctuary. Of course, many of the...
Joyce Watson: Will the Minister provide an update on the school COVID-19 bubble system?
Joyce Watson: It's okay.
Joyce Watson: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm really pleased that you've delivered this statement today, and it's very clear that you are determined to drive this forward. And I think that you've identified together the issues that are in the way, and that is making life easier to achieve this, and I think that is fantastic. Because we're limited in time, I want to talk around the hedges and edges part of your...
Joyce Watson: Trefnydd, could we have a statement on universal credit, please, specifically on the UK Government's assessment of the planned withdrawal of the £20 top-up at the end of September? The Tories, it seems, are intent on taking money out of the pockets of those who can least afford it. In Wales, more than 237,000 households were on universal credit in February, and more than 30,000 of those were...
Joyce Watson: I'm sure that Russell George would also agree with me that the £15 million upgrade to Machynlleth hospital, which is currently under way thanks to Welsh Ministers and Welsh Government money, is welcome, as is the ongoing multimillion-pound project in Llandrindod Wells. But more than geography—and the pandemic has exposed this particularly—the biggest inequality in health outcomes is...
Joyce Watson: Diolch, Llywydd. As you said, Minister, free ports policy does, indeed, predate Brexit. It was proposed in Britannia Unchained, the 2012 manifesto for turning the UK into a low-tax, deregulated economy, written by right-wing Members of the current Tory Brexit Government, and the Prime Minister just happened to receive a £25,000 donation from Bristol port too, so I'm sceptical of the policy,...
Joyce Watson: Will the Minister provide an update on routine cancer screening programmes in Wales?
