Gareth Bennett: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on capital investment in South Wales Central? OAQ52360
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for today's statement. I agree with the sentiments underlying the statement. The majority of households that have pets have dogs, and there are several issues over the welfare of dogs, one obvious one being: in today's society, are they getting enough exercise and general stimulation? These days, a lot of households contain couples who are both out working during the...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the committee Chairman for bringing today's debate and also to the people who took part in the inquiry, including the homeless people who took the time to recount their personal experiences to us, which, as Bethan Sayed mentioned, was very illuminating—probably the most illuminating part of the inquiry. One factor that became clear to me during this interaction was this intimate...
Gareth Bennett: Formally.
Gareth Bennett: Diversity is something that we are about to explore on the local government committee, so we will, hopefully, feed into that process, and that is something that does concern us. You gave an interesting answer about the local referendum issue, citing the example of California, so I'm encouraged by that. Given your interest in these ideas and these different forms of democracy—representative...
Gareth Bennett: Right. I think that we may accept the difficulty of actually getting local councils run by the Labour Party, which do well under first-past-the-post, actually going towards a different system. I think you may actually recognise that that may be a problem. But we will move on. Another area where we have something of a democratic deficit in Wales is in the planning system. Many local...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Llywydd. I was interested in some of your remarks earlier, Minister, in response to Janet Finch-Saunders's contribution, particularly when—[Interruption.]—particularly when you talked about empowering the citizens and how the key issue facing local government is how to empower citizens, and you also said that it is the people who own the country, which are very noble sentiments....
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for her statement today, and thanks also for the briefing earlier on. As you mentioned, we, UKIP, have been supportive of this kind of move. We did cover the issue of letting agency fees in one of our own debates last year, so it's an area where we are sympathetic to the issues faced by tenants in the private rented sector. On that occasion, all three opposition parties...
Gareth Bennett: How is Welsh Government funding currently being used to support the reduction of homelessness?
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Llywydd, and thanks to everyone who contributed to what turned out to be a fairly lively debate. It warmed up a bit at the end, but it was interesting all the way through, I must stress that. Michelle Brown opened the debate. She talked about the lack of relevant information for prospective students when they're going through the school system and the lack of information regarding...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, the point was made by Simon Thomas earlier, and I would agree that the biggest danger is caused by the cars. I think the point I'm making is that the three different things don't really mix at all. Cars, cycles, pedestrians, the difficulty is trying to find a viable way of cyclists and pedestrians becoming more active and using that mode of transport without everything interfering with...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Conservatives for bringing today's debate. We broadly support what they're calling for today. The motion itself is a little vague, but it does refer us to their White Paper, 'Liveable Cities'. The White Paper is interesting and it focuses on, among other things, the nitty-gritty areas of transport and housing, to which I think they should have also added the related issue of...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for your statement today. I appreciate, from what you’ve said and from what the other contributors have said, that this has been something of a long-running issue. As you mentioned, opinions have tended to be polarised, particularly on the one particular issue of the commission rates. So, it has been a difficult job for you. I can see that that would be the case. Now,...
Gareth Bennett: One of the issues that was mentioned yesterday in press reports was that the payments made to the new franchisee will depend to some extent on their delivery of service, which sounds good. Now, some of the criteria that were mentioned included cleanliness, quality of service and punctuality, but one of the problems with the privatised rail services that we've had in the last 20 years is that,...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Petitions Committee for bringing today's debate. As many people have said, there is a lot of public concern about this issue. Evidence for that is the 7,000-plus people who have signed this petition. So, I think it's entirely right that we are debating this subject today here in the Assembly. Public knowledge of the science behind this may be limited, but we do have to allay...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, a diolch, Llywydd, for your statement today. You mentioned that there has been cross-party support for the idea of the youth parliament in the past and that, indeed, remains the case. UKIP continues to be supportive of the idea. You recognise that there are many challenges and issues facing young people in Wales today, and having a regular channel of communication...
Gareth Bennett: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the provision of school playing fields?
Gareth Bennett: What guidance does the Welsh Government provide to local authorities regarding the recovery of unpaid council tax?
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for bringing today's debate. There is a phrase, a particular phrase that we're using here today, and that is 'placemaking'. It's a pretty phrase, but we do have to make sure that it actually means something. The Welsh Government's chief planner recently spoke about planning needing to take a holistic approach so that planners can shape places that are attractive and...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, I appreciate that you're making a distinction between alcoholics and hazardous drinkers, and such a distinction does exist, but all the same we don't believe that this legislation will even effectively tackle the problem of hazardous drinkers. To go back to what I was saying, an alcoholic may simply spend more of his or her money on alcohol after MUP and spend less on basic essentials,...
