Julie Morgan: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Everyone in Wales deserves to have their rights recognised and made real, and raising the awareness of older people about the rights they already have and making sure those rights are embedded in both the way public services are delivered, and, indeed, in society more broadly, is of the utmost importance, and I do believe it is this concern that has prompted...
Julie Morgan: The Welsh ambulance service continues to exceed the national target to respond to immediately life-threatening or red calls within eight minutes. In November 2018, 72.3 per cent of emergency responses to red calls arrived within wight minutes, with a median response time of five minutes and 21 seconds.
Julie Morgan: A few speakers have already said that we’ve made a lot of progress but we’ve got a long to go, but I think very significant progress—and I’d like to mention it, because I was there—was the passing of the minimum wage legislation, which was introduced by the Labour Government that went in in 1997—part of its great reforms. I think that was the beginning that has led now to this...
Julie Morgan: Just a few quick points. I really welcome this proposal and congratulate the Member on bringing it forward. I agree, it's very difficult to go much further with recycling—we've got to reduce, reuse, and recycle. I'm very pleased that the Member mentioned the deposit-return scheme issue, as did Llyr Gruffydd. Because I think that it is a bit of a no-brainer, really, that we should bring in a...
Julie Morgan: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, for calling me to speak in this very important debate. As other speakers have said, it's 70 years since the universal declaration of human rights was adopted by the UN General Assembly, which gathered in Paris on December 10, 1948. And it was voted in by 48 votes to none with eight abstentions, and Eleanor Roosevelt, the chair of the declaration...
Julie Morgan: I thank the Llywydd for that response, and I congratulate the Commission on the work that it’s done to get the Youth Parliament off the ground. I think it’s an absolutely wonderful achievement that we’ve now got the Youth Parliament. I’m due to meet the newly elected Youth Parliament Member for Cardiff North, Betsan Roberts, soon to congratulate her. So, I think that’s very exciting...
Julie Morgan: Mark Drakeford.
Julie Morgan: 1. Will the Commission provide an update on the Welsh Youth Parliament? OAQ53106
Julie Morgan: I welcome this statement, and I look forward to seeing the blueprints when they are published. As a general point, I know that these blueprints are covering two particular areas of female offenders and young people, but would the Cabinet Secretary agree that there is a very strong case for making great concerted efforts to generally bring down the prison population in Wales? Because,...
Julie Morgan: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that response and look forward to reading the updates. The latest safety figures, published in October, reveal that the number of self-harm incidents in prisons in Wales is rising and that, of course, includes Parc and the young offenders institution there, where I believe there have been a staggering number of incidents already this year: 777 incidents...
Julie Morgan: I'm aware that many childcare businesses in my constituency in Cardiff North are very concerned about business rates. Will the Cabinet Secretary confirm that all childcare providers will be exempt from paying business rates in Wales from April 2019?
Julie Morgan: 6. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on youth justice services in Wales? OAQ53036
Julie Morgan: The UK Government announced in October that it is going to review the highway code guidance on how road users should behave in relation to cyclists and pedestrians. And it's going to highlight the dangers of close passing and encourage people to adopt the Dutch reach—a method of opening a car door with the hand furthest from the handle, to force drivers to look over their shoulders for...
Julie Morgan: 2. What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had with the UK Department for Transport on revisions to the Highway Code? OAQ52992
Julie Morgan: I wanted to raise the issue about folic acid. The UK Government, as the leader of the house will know, recently announced its plans to fortify flour with folic acid to reduce spina bifida and other preventable birth defects linked to low folic acid. I think we know that, at the moment, two children a week in the UK are born with preventable birth defects. It's very good news that the UK...
Julie Morgan: I welcome the statement today. I think it's very important that we do celebrate this day, Universal Children's Day, and it gives us the opportunity to assess where we are in terms of children's rights. I am a member of the committee, and I'd like to thank the Chair for her statement. It gives a flavour of the committee's work, and I think she's covered the areas very comprehensively. I think...
Julie Morgan: First of all, I also want to reiterate how shameful it is that Wales has not been consulted meaningfully on the withdrawal agreement. It's not good enough, as the Cabinet Secretary for Finance said yesterday, just to listen to what we say and then go away and we hear no more. The last of the Labour Party's six tests is: does it deliver for all regions and nations of the UK? And it certainly...
Julie Morgan: I wanted to raise two issues with the leader of the house. The first is the Which report, which came out last week, revealing the fact that two thirds of banks have now closed—over the last 30 years, two thirds of banks have closed—and this has left communities without access to a local bank, and leaving high streets empty. In Cardiff North, we've lost banks from Rhiwbina, Whitchurch,...
Julie Morgan: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer, for calling me to speak in this very topical debate, as we move into an even more nail-biting time over our future relationship with the European Union. I'm not a member of the committee, but I did give evidence to the committee as chair of the Wales programme monitoring committee, along with Sioned Evans, the chief executive of WEFO,...
Julie Morgan: I thank the Llywydd for that response. Last month I attended the event to launch the Commission's annual environment report and I was thrilled to be taken to the roof of the Pierhead building to see the two beehives the Commission has installed there in partnership with Cardiff University, whose aim is to make Cardiff the UK's first bee-friendly city. So, that's fantastic that we're...
