Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I don’t have a great deal of time, unfortunately, but could I just start by thanking Plaid for supporting some of our points? I look forward to you bringing forward your own debate in terms of the amendments that you have tabled. Now, it’s disappointing that you’ve deleted the final point rather than adding a new point. We, perhaps, could...
Suzy Davies: I just explained that there’s no reason at all to think that our purpose is to undermine the Welsh language rights and the purpose of the commissioner. What I want to do is to expand that to ensure that there’s no threat to Welsh language rights in an unconscious way.
Suzy Davies: I will deal with the amendments in summing up, if I may, but I will start by moving the motion and reflecting on how we could help our small businesses to access the benefits of bilingualism, by looking at points 2 and 5. We are now three years into the Government’s strategy and the Government says that it’s on track to meet its early years education target by 2021. But it is very quiet...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Llywydd. Could I thank Members in advance for their contributions to today’s taster debate on one small area of the Welsh Government’s strategy for a million Welsh speakers by 2050? As you can see from the motion, I didn’t want to do a broad sweep over the strategy or do a deep dive. This is an opportunity to discuss how to improve the scrutiny of the strategy and...
Suzy Davies: Would you take an answer to that?
Suzy Davies: I hope I explained that in my opening remarks, which is that the Government's going to be in place for another two years or so, and of course we expect to see the Government act on those recommendations, but that doesn't mean to say that they're going to succeed.
Suzy Davies: Would you take a—? Thank you very much for that. I'm just wondering if you can tell me whether the work of that group—and it was good to hear that it's looking at simplifying this in some way—is taking into account the new curriculum and the qualifications for that in due course, and what additional the skills challenge certificate will be bringing to students, say 10 years from now?
Suzy Davies: Okay, then—if you'll be generous.
Suzy Davies: This might take a while. You've got teachers there who have actually really bought into the principle. They've done their continuous professional development in order to make sure that they're in a position to develop and deliver a bac in a way that relates to the pupils as well, and they've looked at the community in which they work to see how they can use the freedom of how to populate the...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for, Lynne, for chairing what I thought was one of the most enjoyable inquiries we've had with the Children, Young People and Education Committee—in the time I've been there, anyway—not least because it gave us the chance to collect evidence directly from young people with experience, past and present, of course the bac has been around for a while in different versions, and its...
Suzy Davies: I was very interested in what you had to say then about community assets, Minister. Your dementia action plan for 2018-22 states that the Welsh Government will get local authorities and health boards to work with local communities and the third sector organisations in them to encourage them to make services accessible to people with dementia, as well as their families and their carers. Can...
Suzy Davies: I completely agree with Alun's question. Is a right really right when it's so easily frustrated by the ability of a local authority to say 'no' to transport? And I'm not just talking about post-16 transport, although, obviously, that's a very current issue in Neath Port Talbot in my own region. You alluded to this—I wanted to ask you: do you think the time has come for the Learner Travel...
Suzy Davies: Well, expectations are one thing, Minister, but, in January of this year, the headteacher at that very same Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Llangynwyd said that any further reduction in budget would mean being unable to get specialist teachers, especially through the medium of Welsh. Now we’re all aware of schools’ general concerns about cuts to core funding, but what is our response to this...
Suzy Davies: First Minister, like it or not, the PISA results are a well-recognised measure of Wales's performance on education—recognised across the world. Within Wales, we are still uncertain as to how illuminating the new framework for measuring school performance will be and how it will be read in the context of the international comparators. What research has the Government done on whether our PISA...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd, and thank you to Plaid for tabling this debate. I move our amendments. Although we don't agree with everything in the motion, there's quite a lot we do agree with, which is why you can see what our amendments look like. Neither can we simply accept the complacency inherent in the Welsh Government amendment, because actually, yes, they are right in recognising that...
Suzy Davies: It's not just the Deputy Minister for the economy who thinks that this Welsh Government doesn't really know what it's doing on the economy. Last year, you said that while the Labour Party is good at distributing money, it was not—quote— 'so familiar with knowing how to generate wealth which can then be taxed and shared for the benefit of the wider economy.' Now, strategy or no, you're...
Suzy Davies: Based on the figures that you quoted to us just now, I'm not 100 per sure how a brand new board can show a track record of three years, but, on the face of it, the new board is going in the right direction. But do you know how much of that reduction in deficit is due to the removal of any debt attributable to the activities in the Bridgend end of operations—those operations, of course,...
Suzy Davies: Yes, please.
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and can I thank the Counsel General? I actually thought his letter to the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee was very helpful. It's always encouraging to get ministerial commitments to any activity that is promoted here by the Assembly Members themselves, but, again, I have to ask, as I would always do in these circumstances, if you're so prepared to...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I move amendment 1. I hope—to some degree, anyway—I'll be able to answer Mark Reckless's comments during this group. The amendment here was tabled on the back of discussion of a similar amendment at Stage 2. The original Bill allowed for the programme to improve accessibility of Welsh law to be revised periodically. The Government's amendment at Stage 2, for which...
