David Lloyd: Turning to a separate angle, many people feel unable to talk about their mental health, mainly due to the stigma that still surrounds admitting they have a problem. We need to overcome this issue so that everybody feels comfortable to seek the help they need without fear of being judged or losing face. Access to appropriate and timely specialised services is key in ensuring people get the...
David Lloyd: Suicide is everybody's business; that’s the key message we’ve heard throughout this inquiry. That's the message we all need to remember and share. Suicide can affect anybody, there isn’t a community in Wales where people haven’t been touched by suicide, and talking about suicide does not make it more likely to happen. The committee heard clearly that raising awareness amongst the...
David Lloyd: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I consider it to be a privilege to open this very important debate today on the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee’s report on suicide prevention in Wales, 'Everybody's Business'. The number of deaths by suicide in Wales is staggering. There were 360 registered deaths from suicide in Wales in 2017, 278 of those in men. This is an increase...
David Lloyd: We have one pay scale for National Assembly staff, one pay scale for health board staff. Why not local government? What's holding you back?
David Lloyd: Would you agree that having one pay scale throughout Wales would take out the variances that we see between chief executives and directors across Wales, put an end to the competition and form of internal market that we have at the moment, and put an end to situations such as that in Caerphilly happening again in the future?
David Lloyd: Diolch, Llywydd. Given the costly and long-running farce in Caerphilly County Borough Council, what consideration is the Welsh Government giving to bringing in a nationally decided set of pay scales and terms and conditions to control senior and chief officer pay through a national framework?
David Lloyd: Now, increasing the use of electric vehicles, both private and public, is a clear way to reduce air pollution levels—pun intended—such as in Port Talbot, but the Welsh Local Government Association has been critical of progress, or rather lack of progress, on this agenda, stating that there's a lack of national direction and there has not been a concerted effort by Welsh Government to work...
David Lloyd: Trefnydd, on 4 October last year, I wrote to the then Cabinet Secretary for planning requesting that the Welsh Government call in a planned waste incinerator in the Llansamlet area of Swansea. The application to develop a waste incinerator in Llansamlet is, understandably, causing significant concern locally, given that it would be a few hundred metres only from a residential estate and close...
David Lloyd: Thank you for that response. On the romantic, isolated slopes of the Big Parcel stands the village of Felindre, and the Welsh-medium primary school in Felindre, which is located in a naturally Welsh-speaking area to the north of Swansea, is listed among the small rural schools that would be protected by the Welsh Government code. Although the process of closing the school started before this...
David Lloyd: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement on planned school closures in Swansea? OAQ53443
David Lloyd: We know there is considerable public support for a new clean air Act. The Welsh Labour Government has previously rejected calls for a clean air Act, but during the Labour Party leadership contest in Wales the First Minister Mark Drakeford committed in his manifesto to, I quote: 'Develop a new Clean Air Act to ensure that our children can go to school, be active and play outside safely...
David Lloyd: Air pollution is, therefore, a public health crisis. Across Wales’s towns and cities, people are breathing in levels of pollution that are harmful to their health. Three cities in Wales—Cardiff, Newport and Swansea—reported unsafe levels of air pollution last year. Port Talbot, also in Bethan's and my region, suffers with poor air quality and has done for years. Public Health...
David Lloyd: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The title is: air quality legislation fit for modern challenges. Now, I'm not sure whether I have ever mentioned before that I have been a doctor in Swansea for 35 years or so, with the challenges of lung health and heart health amongst the most common conditions that I continually deal with. The rates of asthma have been increasing in our children for...
David Lloyd: May I congratulate the Llywydd on introducing the statement today, and also welcome the statement and what’s included in it? Specifically, then, I would like to strongly support the intention to reduce the minimum voting age to 16 for the 2020-1 Assembly election. I realise that we are at the very early stages of this Bill and that it will come before the Constitutional and Legislative...
David Lloyd: Will the Counsel General make a statement on the implications of Brexit on local government in Wales?
David Lloyd: Will the Minister make a statement on the latest discussions regarding the creation of an effective public transport system in South Wales West?
David Lloyd: Trefnydd, you'll be clearly aware of the announcement last week of plans by the UK Government to develop a west Wales parkway rail station on land at Felindre, Swansea, within your Gower constituency. Now, the proposal, as you know, which would make use of the Swansea district line, will bring about improvements to passengers in west Wales by delivering shorter journey times to Cardiff and...
David Lloyd: In your view, First Minister, is time pressure and the pressures of work in dealing with the additional legislation emerging from Brexit—is that all a sufficient excuse to take powers away from our Senedd here in Wales and take them back to Westminster?
David Lloyd: This is a situation of utmost gravity and the fundamental issue is: why are issues relating to the care of people with learning disability persistently ignored? That's the fundamental issue here, because the AMBU board knew of both the allegations against Kris Wade and the problems in the learning disability directorate itself, but failed to act. The Crown Prosecution Service failed to take...
David Lloyd: Thank you for that answer. Obviously, increasing the level of local spend in the context of public procurement is something that the Welsh Government has talked a lot about over the past two decades, but the stats show that talk is cheap. We continue to receive concerns from local companies who are frustrated at the lack of support in bidding and winning local contracts. Now, Scotland are...
