David Rowlands: My interest in this subject is prompted by the many years I spent as a justice of the peace, where I saw first-hand the terrible effect that domestic abuse has not only on the victims but also on the families. So, can I thank the leader of the house for her statement? It is gratifying to see the steps being taken by the Welsh Government to eradicate these abhorrent crimes. The Violence...
David Rowlands: Will the First Minister outline the costs of bringing Aston Martin Lagonda to Wales?
David Rowlands: Diolch, Llywydd. Can I thank the Members for their contributions to the debate, and thank the petitioner again for bringing the petition forward? I will make a short synopsis of some of the comments that were made. Andrew R.T. Davies made the point of a rural school often being at the heart of a community, citing Llancarfan school in his constituency as an example of closing a school that...
David Rowlands: Diolch, Llywydd. On behalf of the Petitions Committee, may I thank Members for the opportunity to hold this debate today? This petition, 'Presumption in Favour of Rural Schools', concerns the Welsh Government's school organisation code and the protection afforded to schools in rural areas. As Members will know, recent revisions made to the code attempt to provide stronger safeguards and...
David Rowlands: Again, I thank the Cabinet Secretary for her answer. Regional labour market reports published by the Welsh Government also have an interesting story to tell with regard to skills shortages. My region of south-east Wales has its highest skills shortage vacancies in the sectors of manufacturing, construction, transport and communications. The mid Wales region, where of course your constituency...
David Rowlands: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your answer. We in UKIP believe that many students would be better off following another route to their desired career path; in other words, education should be more closely linked to employability rather than pure educational qualifications. Given such statistics as those quoted in the Wales section of the employer skills survey of 2017, which shows a...
David Rowlands: Diolch, Llywydd. Some 18 to 20 years ago, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair famously made a pledge to have 50 per cent of young adults progressing to a higher education by 2010. This target seems to have been enthusiastically embraced by the Welsh Government, because latest figures show that we are close to achieving that target in Wales. However, Cabinet Minister, the problem lies in that...
David Rowlands: Will the First Minister make a statement on the process for awarding the new Wales and Border franchise?
David Rowlands: As my colleague Gareth Bennett said, UKIP's debate today is about one thing: improving the lives of farm animals from rearing to slaughter. UKIP has been at the forefront of dealing with animal welfare policy. As a party, we have promoted high standards of animal welfare for livestock and domestic animals. Indeed, long before the changes to the law in England, my party was calling for...
David Rowlands: Again, I thank the leader of the house for an honest answer to that question. Can I move on to another aspect, which I indicated earlier that you had alluded to? I was pleased to see that a survey for Wales showed no significant gender differences in personal internet use for ages 65 and below. However, for the ages 65 to 74, the survey records a somewhat puzzling statistic: that 75 per cent...
David Rowlands: I thank the leader of the house for her answer, and you have pre-empted part of my third question. The most recent survey for Wales indicated, on page 7, that 10 per cent of unemployed people are not regularly internet users and this exactly matches the previous year's figure of 10 per cent. Now, whilst this does show some positive aspects in that the figure has not increased year on year, it...
David Rowlands: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. As you know, leader of the house, I have often been complimentary about the success of the Welsh Government's digital roll-out in Wales. But, leader of the house, I'm sure you will agree that digital exclusion is where a person is not a regular internet user. This can come about for a number of reasons, not just lack or not of physical infrastructure. It can be as a...
David Rowlands: Which was always covered by visas.
David Rowlands: I don’t think I can in any way match Dai Lloyd’s poignant reflections on the first world war, but we must remind ourselves that our armed forces do not go to war of their own volition; they go usually because politicians have failed. But it is the personnel of our armed forces who pay the price for that failure. Men and women from our cities, towns and villages are remembered each year by...
David Rowlands: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that non-answer. The WLGA, which is of course yet another unelected body that costs the public purse some £7 million per annum, seemed to be totally confused at your proposal to reduce local authorities. Was this because they were in the throes of responding proactively to the previous reform programme, as well as progressing the city deal agenda? Was their...
David Rowlands: 7. In light of the Welsh Local Government Association's rejection of Welsh Government plans to reduce local authority numbers, what are the Cabinet Secretary's plans for local authority reorganisation? OAQ52850
David Rowlands: Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his comprehensive statement today? On Sunday, across Wales and the rest of the UK, our servicemen and women, ex-armed forces and many organisations, along with the public, will come together to honour those who have lost their lives in service of this country. This year being the one-hundredth anniversary of the guns falling silent at the end of world war...
David Rowlands: Will you take an intervention?
David Rowlands: Again, I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his answer, and I do acknowledge that there is a problem, which you mentioned, with switching lanes, particularly the late lane changes, that is from the Malpas turnoff lane back onto the main carriageway. They pose a very serious problem. But having experienced the approaches under almost all traffic conditions, from light to excessively heavy, I am...
David Rowlands: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that answer, and I recognise the interventions that you talked about. If I can talk about a much more direct intervention, you've just mentioned speed limits, but as someone who faces the congestion on an almost daily basis, it has become obvious to me that speed limitations that are used at certain times actually greatly exacerbate the situation. A speed...
