Suzy Davies: 5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the progress of city deals in South Wales West? OAQ54398
Suzy Davies: Lynne Neagle mentioned earlier the Children, Young People and Education Committee report, which in very strong terms criticised both Governments regarding school funding. The UK Government has responded and increased the Welsh block as a result of increasing its own UK schools budgets by £14 billion. So, we do now need to see action on this from Welsh Government, and I'm afraid, Minister,...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that reply. I look forward to seeing that report, First Minister. The safety, of course, of the air that we breathe remains an issue around certainly the western part of the M4 running through my region. You'll recall that the extended 50 mph temporary zone west of Port Talbot is no longer temporary. However, I seem to recall that Government officials advised that the legal...
Suzy Davies: Thank you, all, for bringing this report to the floor of the Chamber. I took part in the joint scrutiny session that informed part of the creation of this report. I don't mind saying that, in the nine years that I've been an Assembly Member, I've found the process of budget scrutiny to be one of the least satisfying elements of my work as an Assembly Member. Trying to connect spending...
Suzy Davies: May I thank you, Siân, and members of the official languages scheme team, for this report? Once again, it reflects an organisation where increasing numbers of people feel comfortable working and being included in a bilingual environment. But this is the first time that I've felt that it's actually captured the perspective of our learners. Yes, the scheme has always been clear about the...
Suzy Davies: Minister, residents who live on or near to Kilvey Hill in Swansea have spoken about living in constant fear of forest fires on the hill. Some of the owners of the smallholdings there have taken to installing their own fire bricks, while Natural Resources Wales, as you've mentioned, have taken steps and, in this case, have taken down trees to reduce the risk to people's properties. I remember,...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for that answer, Minister. You may have heard yesterday during the business statement that the Trefnydd told me that the £200 million originally earmarked by Welsh Government to support a Swansea tidal lagoon was still available in reserves, but, of course, it would depend on the details of any project brought forward before any future commitment could be made for all...
Suzy Davies: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on renewable energy in South Wales West? OAQ54272
Suzy Davies: Can I just say 'thank you' to everyone involved in the preparation and the passage of this Bill through this place? And can I welcome particularly, again, the Counsel General's respect for the parliamentary process and his willingness to engage directly with Assembly Members, not just in committee but outside as well, and allowing us to have some visible influence over that process? In...
Suzy Davies: Perhaps I can invite the First Minister, first of all, to perhaps hold a debate on our legislative programme at some point, just to prove that there actually was one, and of course there have been several policy announcements since then. Thank you for your statement, though. You began by saying: 'We will press on with important measures in respect of education…and transport'. So, I...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Llywydd. Okay, I'll choose this one. [Laughter.] As you know, Trefnydd, there has been some revived interest in the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, in particular in different ways ahead, for this fantastic idea actually proceeding in some way or another, one of which, of course, is based on pre-sales, so the strike price becomes less relevant, as a matter of public interest....
Suzy Davies: You may remember, of course, Dame Rosemary Butler's campaign to try and encourage more women into public life, so it's this Assembly as a whole and not just Welsh Government that has something of a good story to tell on at least the beginnings of progress. I've just come back from the final session of the all-Wales BAME engagement programme, run by Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team...
Suzy Davies: Will the First Minister provide an update on the development of energy projects in South Wales West?
Suzy Davies: It's a perfectly good answer, Siân. 'We are AMs, not detectives,' I suppose would be my response to that, but it's not a reason for not having more AMs, incidentally. Mark Reckless—school performance and how to judge it. Actually, I think this is worthy, perhaps, of a full debate at some point. I'd be very happy for the leader of the Brexit Party to table that. My thinking at the moment is...
Suzy Davies: Yes, of course.
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you very much to all Members who took part in this debate today, and I'm glad, Jenny Rathbone, you thought this was important enough to discuss. Perhaps I can just begin with the Minister's points. This has been brought at a higher level to the Chamber before; it's not complete news to us. But the very specifics of English, maths and Welsh, we hadn't had a chance...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I move the motion. I tabled this motion today for two particular reasons. The first is that these are pretty important changes to the current system of assessing the performance of a school, and the second, which isn't a matter for this Minister in particular, but, I hope, for Government generally—I hope, Minister, that you will forgive me for using this...
Suzy Davies: David Rees is absolutely right. And the opportunity, not just in the Afan valley, but both the Neath valleys as well, for tourism development is extraordinary. And I still consider it a missed opportunity. What's available in the Neath Port Talbot borough is just amazing. We've obviously been hit by some bad news recently, not just the newspaper pieces that you've referred to, but the sad...
Suzy Davies: Trefnydd, I hope you can help me with this. After several months of—during the Pinewood experience, if I can put it like that—waiting for replies to written Assembly questions and not getting them, I'm sorry to say that the situation has arisen again. On 24 May, my office tabled a question asking the First Minister for details of stress leave taken by Welsh Government staff, and, on 3...
Suzy Davies: Afternoon, First Minister. In the summary of responses to the consultation on the school uniforms—we saw the summary of responses last month—one of the questions was whether people agreed that school governing bodies should have regard to the affordability of setting school uniform policy. A very sensible question. But value for money and affordability aren't always the same thing....
