Mr Simon Thomas: 5. What provision has the Cabinet Secretary made for maintaining post offices? OAQ52506
Mr Simon Thomas: What target does the Welsh Government have in place for growth in organic agriculture?
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for the opportunity for me to contribute in this debate. As the Cabinet Secretary has just outlined, this supplementary budget is not a significant one, but as a committee we do value the opportunity every time to consider any changes in the budget and we do that formally through the supplementary budget process. We've used this supplementary...
Mr Simon Thomas: First of all, leader of the house, can I say that I'm a bit surprised that we haven't had an oral statement on the consultation on land-use management and the future of common agricultural policy payments, which is going to be hugely important over the summer? I understand it's a long consultation, but it will feature strongly in the summer shows. I think an oral statement would have been...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you for that. In laying the question, of course, Counsel General, I didn't know that you were to make a statement yesterday, where I had an opportunity to ask the supplementary of you yesterday rather than today. However, events overnight just underline, I think, how sensitive the nature of the fact that the inter-governmental agreement is leading to a position where the Law Derived...
Mr Simon Thomas: I thank the Counsel General for that response. It's clear that many of us are concerned about the terminals in gambling shops and welcome the fact that the UK Government intends to limit the bet to £2 per wager on those terminals, but are disappointed that it will be at least two years before that is delivered. There are legislative tools in the hands of the Welsh Government, including using...
Mr Simon Thomas: 1. What legal advice has the Counsel General provided to the Welsh Government regarding legislating against problem gambling? OAQ52463
Mr Simon Thomas: 6. What discussions has the Counsel General held with other law officers regarding the Law Derived from the European Union (Wales) Act 2018? OAQ52465
Mr Simon Thomas: I’m sure that Rhun, in a short debate soon, will be discussing the future of that particular vessel. But I accept your point, of course. If I could just conclude: in the current context, it is very important that we fight for a non-tariff approach for Welsh fisheries. I will just close by quoting James Wilson who is responsible for Bangor Mussel Producers—I’m sure that some of you will...
Mr Simon Thomas: 'There’s a wagon waiting on the quayside when we land. We take the mussels off the boat and they’re put in the wagon, the wagon drives away. And then it's a 26 to 18-hour transit time from north Wales to northern France or the south of Holland. If they order from me on a Monday, then they expect the wagon to arrive on a Tuesday because they want to...sell them on a Wednesday. It’s that...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you very much, Llywydd, and I move the amendments, and I’m very pleased to contribute to this debate. It is about time that fisheries had a full airing; it's the first debate for some time in the Assembly. I also welcome the new report prepared by the Wales Centre for Public Policy that underpins this debate this afternoon. As has already been noted, fisheries are a relatively small...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you for giving way. Just on the general picture that she just portrayed, she's talked about the shellfish industry, which, of course, is not dependent on quotas, and earlier she talked about quotas and the potential for releasing new stock, which we'd assume would be done on a sustainable basis, and she said that such quotas should be for the public good. Does that mean that she...
Mr Simon Thomas: ‘to "pool" any of those powers through common UK wide frameworks.'
Mr Simon Thomas: But, strangely, having been given an invitation to run a sprint race, he’s decided to tie this Assembly in a three-legged race with the Westminster Government, because that’s what the inter-governmental agreement does, of course, for seven years, which is to restrict our ability to use these new powers flowing to the Assembly, but rather, through an agreement agreed between two...
Mr Simon Thomas: It would take a distinguished barrister to draw up questions on the basis of this statement, but having said that, I do have a few points to make, and at least one question to ask. May I first of all make the point that it’s not the Scottish Government that has refused its consent to this legislation, of course, but the Scottish Parliament, including the Counsel General’s own party, as...
Mr Simon Thomas: There’s already been discussion on the attitude of the owner of Trago Mills towards the Welsh language, and the First Minister, in response to Siân Gwenllian, said very clearly that he didn’t agree and was unhappy with such comments. But I would ask for a statement from the Minister for the Welsh language, or a letter, at least, to Members to explain exactly how this situation arose....
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, First Minister. After the disappointment of last week, it was good to visit Anglesey with Rhun ap Iorwerth on Friday and to see many exciting plans there related to marine energy—mainly Minesto, which has just launched its new tidal energy device in the harbour in Holyhead. The question arising is whether the £200 million that you as a Government had allocated to support one...
Mr Simon Thomas: 4. Will the First Minister make a statement on the future of marine energy in Wales? OAQ52467
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you. Can I thank everyone who took part in this debate? It was a short debate to note the publication of the report, but I can promise you I'll bore you about hydrogen for some time to come, and I've got a few enthusiasts around as well, so that's good to see. This is a technology that I think does a lot to tick a lot of boxes that we're interested in in Wales. It's innovative. It...
Mr Simon Thomas: Just on that point, I see the welcome announcement this week of a test facility for rail, also in south Wales, quite close, as it happens, to Baglan and to sources of hydrogen. Would that be a potential area where this could be explored?
