Michelle Brown: No. Oxbridge intake from state schools has decreased since grammar schools were largely abolished and studies have shown social mobility has decreased. [Interruption.] Listen again: social mobility has decreased since the abolition of grammar schools. If you don’t care about working-class kids, carry on with your policy. To those who say grammar schools are for the elite, we say, ‘Yes,...
Michelle Brown: No, thank you.
Michelle Brown: No. I also call upon my Conservative colleagues to join me in applying pressure on the Government to improve the prospects of future generations of young people throughout Wales, regardless of their financial background. To those who believe grammar schools are a relic of some sepia-tinted bygone era, I would offer one word: PISA. This December, the latest PISA results will be published, and...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Who could have predicted 20 years ago that team GB would go on to win 27 gold medals in the Olympics? Probably no-one in the Labour Party. Why? Because the name ‘Labour’ has become synonymous with failure, and because they lack ambition for their own country and people. Instead, they choose to do down the people who have entrusted them with power. In the same...
Michelle Brown: Some years ago, it was decided that there should be an additional junction at Broughton off the A55 to serve Airbus and the newly built retail park. The new junction, in conjunction with the old one, results in the traffic being taken off the A55 at the top of Broughton village and then through the village. There’s no way to travel west from the retail park at Broughton and Airbus without...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. It’s encouraging to hear in your statement that you believe it’s important to look at alternative routes into teaching. Many gifted and talented people from many different walks of life who could inspire children and support their fellow teachers using their different work experience are discouraged from...
Michelle Brown: Following Brexit, we will be able to set our own public procurement rules to suit our own economic and procurement needs, rather than the needs of big business in other countries. What measures are you going to put into place to give preference to Welsh businesses when awarding public procurement contracts, and what changes are you going to make to public procurement rules to make it easier...
Michelle Brown: Cultural practices are transmitted down the generations, and FGM in particular is inflicted on girl children by adults, ultimately for the benefit of men in the patriarchal culture. What are you doing to challenge the cultural values that give rise to FGM, particularly amongst males belonging to cultures where FGM is practised?
Michelle Brown: Many people from communities where FGM is or has been practised are working hard to prevent FGM in Wales and help its victims. What support is the Welsh Government giving to charities involved in this vital work?
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I’m just going to cut straight to the questions. What is the Welsh Government doing to identify and protect girls at risk of female genital mutilation and what resources have been provided to the NHS, social services and schools to support those measures?
Michelle Brown: The local development plan provides residents with a framework within which to challenge planning applications and have a say in what happens in their area. Without the LDP, residents are disadvantaged and developers have the potential to ride roughshod over local authorities and residents. What measures does the Welsh Government have in place to ensure that each local authority has an LDP in...
Michelle Brown: An ONS survey found this year that almost 14 per cent of adults in Wales admitted to drinking the same amount of alcohol in a day as experts advise you shouldn’t exceed in a week. So, strategies to deal with substance misuse are to be welcomed. The Government has gone to great lengths to control or make unlawful all sorts of substances, including tobacco. However, the last Labour Government...
Michelle Brown: I would agree with the First Minister that Wales needs an impact on the Brexit negotiations—it shouldn’t all be left to the Government in Westminster—but sending any of the Europhiles that pack the Welsh Government to represent Wales in the Brexit talks is merely setting the fox to guard the hen house. You wouldn’t send a salesman who had no faith in his product into a negotiation...
Michelle Brown: Wales has the opportunity at the moment to attract investment from England by providing a more favourable place to set up a business, which would bring desperately needed jobs into Wales. I’m sure everybody will agree with me that the more businesses we can attract here and the more jobs that are created the better. The present business rates regime hampers the creation of new businesses...
Michelle Brown: Research strongly suggests that physical activity such as sport can have a positive effect on an autistic child’s ability to communicate and relate to others and can reduce the stress caused to them by their issues. Each person with a disability is unique and has their own specific educational needs. Where professionals are of the view that a particular child would benefit from a particular...
Michelle Brown: First Minister, given that the pollution created by shipping is 260 times that produced by all the world’s cars and that action is required on a global level instead of a continental one, what discussions has the First Minister had with the International Maritime Organization and others in an effort to seriously address the global air pollution problem?
Michelle Brown: The focus this afternoon in this debate seems to have been mainly on cars, industry and individuals, and of course sensible efforts to reduce emissions from these sources are to be commended. However, there’s a far bigger polluter than cars or people. There are approximately 90,000 cargo ships on the world’s seas. They burn 7.29 million barrels a day of the dirtiest and most polluting...
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I note that the Cabinet Secretary acknowledges the need for information about the needs of current and ex-servicepeople. Will the Cabinet Secretary give an undertaking to lobby the UK Government for the inclusion of questions in the next census to ascertain the needs of current and ex-armed-servicepeople and their children, so that services can be targeted at...
Michelle Brown: First Minister, who do you believe contributed more to the protection of workers in the UK? Was it the trade union and Labour movements, or was it the EU? And is your Government’s commitment to remaining in the EU an admission that Labour is unlikely ever to form a Government in the UK again?
Michelle Brown: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the pledge to create myriad and loads more apprenticeships. Quality training is extremely important, and the intentions in creating these apprenticeships are laudable, but apprentices need work to go to after they’ve finished their apprenticeships. So, without those jobs to go to, the apprenticeship is of personal value for the apprentice, but...
