Mike Hedges: There are three things that either get overlooked or are presented in a confusing manner in the way the amount that each local authority gets is presented. I can think of no other area of Government expenditure where the percentage increase rather than the actual amount is announced, so the actual amount is lost and discussion resolves around the percentage change. Ceredigion, which we heard...
Mike Hedges: This budget may very well be replaced by a substantially changed budget in the first supplementary budget produced post May, depending on the result of the election. Whilst council tax funding is set for the year, all other areas of expenditure can be either increased or decreased. With less than nine weeks to go to polling day, it would be helpful if the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru...
Mike Hedges: I thank the Minister for that response. People with a disability, especially those with hidden disabilities like arthritis, multiple sclerosis, myalgic encephalomyelitis and deafness, often feel overlooked. What is the Welsh Government doing to ensure that more support can be given to people who have these types of disabilities to ensure they are not disadvantaged?
Mike Hedges: 1. What action is the Welsh Government taking to protect the human rights of disabled people? OQ56381
Mike Hedges: Diolch, Llywydd. I'm going to talk about John Hughes. During the past year in Swansea we have been celebrating 'Calon Lân' with words by Daniel James, better known by his bardic name of Gwyrosydd. While not underestimating the importance of the words of the hymn, we must not forget the importance of the tune. When listening to Radio Wales in early February, I heard someone in America trying...
Mike Hedges: The WDA brought in a number of basic assembly plants—often described as 'screwdriver plants'—from all over the world. Many came, and they've mostly gone. Does the Minister agree that we need inward investment that will bring high-quality and high-tech employment that will last, no matter where it comes from, and that the last thing we want is a number of post office box investments, where...
Mike Hedges: I very much welcome the statement by the Minister, but fuel poverty can't be dealt with in isolation to poverty, it's part of poverty, and food poverty and fuel poverty are just different sides of the same coin. The definition of spending 10 per cent of your available income on fuel means that those who control their fuel costs cannot be caught in fuel poverty by definition, but are...
Mike Hedges: First of all, can I put on the record that my sister is profoundly deaf and uses sign language? I will be supporting the Member's legislative proposal today, but we're so close to dissolution it is very unlikely to succeed in becoming law before we dissolve. But that's no reason not to support it. In 2018, the Petitions Committee produced four recommendations, all which I agreed with. If you...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank the Minister for her response? And I know that she shares my concern regarding loneliness and isolation. No-one should go a day without speaking to someone, but, unfortunately, many do. Does the Minister agree we need to ensure either whole contact or virtual meetings for those living alone, who don't have any family who they can form a bubble with, to ensure that they have...
Mike Hedges: 2. Will the Minister make a statement on the support available to people living alone during the COVID-19 pandemic to avoid the risk of loneliness and isolation? OQ56300
Mike Hedges: Can I first of all thank the Deputy Minister for his statement? Can I also say the post-COVID economy is going to be very different to February 2020? It's not a return to the past. Of course, there is a difference between the foundation economy and the foundational economy—although people sometimes confuse them. The foundation of Swansea's economy was coal and metal; it is now Government...
Mike Hedges: The Minister launched the action plan over two years ago, and although some progress has been made, we are still in a position where only 11 per cent of further education staff and 7 per cent of apprenticeship staff are able to teach through the medium of Welsh. Can the Minister explain what the Welsh Government is doing to ensure that colleges have the resources that they need to employ more...
Mike Hedges: 6. Will the Minister provide an update on progress in implementing the Welsh-medium and bilingual further education and apprenticeships action plan? OQ56258
Mike Hedges: Diolch, Llywydd—that came faster than I expected. I would like to cover two areas: firstly, a general budget alternative; secondly, funding for the environment. Where I agree with the opposition: with the Conservatives, if we reduce the cost of the Senedd's Commission, then we'd have more money to spend on services; with Plaid Cymru, I support free school meals to those on benefits. I'm...
Mike Hedges: I would like to ask for two Government statements, one a statement on designation of something as a sport or whether it's play and leisure. I would suggest designating anything that is an Olympic event as a sport. Now, this designation has a major impact on when a facility can reopen and what tier it reopens in, and I think that there are a lot of people who are very concerned that they are...
Mike Hedges: Can I thank Suzy Davies for giving me a minute in this debate and also for the enthralling way that she's led this debate, which I certainly enjoyed, and I'm sure other people did? In 2019, the BBC reported that foreign languages were being squeezed out of schools' timetables by core subjects like the Welsh baccalaureate. There's been a 29 per cent fall in language GCSE entries in Wales in...
Mike Hedges: Will the Minister provide an update on proposals to improve cat and dog welfare in Wales?
Mike Hedges: I again say that an election on 6 May must happen if at all possible, as my friend Alun Davies has said on several occasions. What I would say is, for those who oppose the possible extension, how would you deal with postal votes that cannot be collected, large-scale breakout of COVID-19 where people were told to stay at home, or where it's not possible to staff polling stations? For those who...
Mike Hedges: When I think of tax, I think of the children's story where someone is told, 'You have a great power; be careful how you use it.' The Minister refers to the new taxes—the land transaction tax, the landfill disposals tax and the Welsh rates of income tax—which have been added to council tax and business rates. Taxation needs to be progressive, with those with the most money and ability to...
Mike Hedges: As the First Minister is aware, I've been talking about the DVLA for a very long time, and I also spoke about it in a Senedd debate last month. I've also raised it with the health board regularly, as Suzy Davies pointed out. In the first lockdown, after the initial problems, most people at the DVLA worked from home. If you access the distributed system or main network, location is not...
