Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for bringing forward today's debate on the Regulation of Registered Social Landlords (Wales) Bill. We agree with the need to reclassify RSLs, and we therefore support today's motion. We do need to do this because we need to protect the provision of affordable housing. Wales is simply not building enough homes. We know that the Welsh Government has set a target of...
Gareth Bennett: Well, I wondered, which is why I raised it. Looking at the Labour manifesto, the UK manifesto from last year, there was not really any mention of devolution of policing, so it would be good to hear today, Minister, what your attitude to devolution of policing is, and how you think that tallies with the attitude of the Westminster Labour Party. What would we like to see in UKIP as the...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for bringing today's debate on the annual police settlement. We in UKIP would also be keen to join the Minister in his tribute to serving police officers. I would point out at the outset that we support today's motion, and we welcome the increased financial support, albeit modest increases from the aggregate external finance, which is the Welsh Government's part of the...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks for the previous initiatives. The UK Government is currently looking at bringing in tighter regulations for dog breeding in England. In the light of that, is it possible that we may need to look at tighter regulations again in Wales, given recent cases, such as Lucy's law?
Gareth Bennett: 7. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to improve the welfare of puppies and dogs in Wales? OAQ51776
Gareth Bennett: Thank you. There is also something more than a little dishonest about this argument over more Members being needed. The 1997 referendum was a vote for an Assembly, which was then set at 60 Members. There was no talk of it having to expand later. The 2011 referendum called for primary law-making powers, but didn't explain that more Members would be needed once this had been achieved....
Gareth Bennett: If you would just wait for my proposal, Simon, you might actually have that point clarified. You could have six-Member committees with two Labour, three places between the Conservatives and Plaid, and one UKIP. This would still be proportionate if the Labour Members wielded two votes each in any voting situation. After all, the four Labour Members always vote the same way in any case, with...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Now, there is a problem of committee work. This is probably the most serious part of the job, because we could be scrutinising legislation, and the committee work, I find, is quite demanding. However, even there, there are caveats, which the report doesn't go into. For instance, we aren't looking at legislation all of the time on committees, only some of the time. If...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, well I do tackle this point, David and Mike, so thank you. It is interesting to note that the statutory obligations of an AM, that is, our legal duties, amount to almost nothing, in effect. So, if we are going to say that more AMs are needed, perhaps we first need to lay down a much more stringent set of statutory duties. You will recall how the Assembly was brought into some disrepute...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. We're here today to debate the proposed expansion of the Welsh Assembly. We heard earlier from the Presiding Officer about the report of the expert panel, which has recommended expansion, and about the public consultation that will now take place. We in UKIP believe that the expansion proposals represent a huge change that will be very costly. We have to establish that...
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Llywydd for bringing today's motion on behalf of the Assembly Commission. I also would like to give my thanks to the expert panel for producing its report, and the political reference group itself, which has been meeting over the past year. The PRG meetings were very interesting, so I'm told, although I must point out I only attended one myself, as a substitute. But the UKIP...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for today's statement. We've been having an inquiry into homelessness on the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee. As Bethan Jenkins mentioned earlier, we did have a site visit to the Salvation Army hostel just down the road from here, in Bute Street, which was a very instructive visit as we did get to speak not only to the staff, but also to several of...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks for that response. Yes, you mentioned on a previous occasion that you were a member of CAMRA, and it's good that you are involved in the real ale sphere. We are trying to—. We've got a cross-party group now. Nick is involved in it as well. Simon Thomas is running it. We're going to, hopefully, help you to push this forward, because we have been waiting rather a long time for a...
Gareth Bennett: 6. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of planning consent and change of use in relation to pubs in Wales? OAQ51734
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to Mick Antoniw and the other sponsors of today's debate. The issue of leaseholds and freeholds is not a new one in Wales. I'm not going to attempt to go all the way back to the eleventh century, as Mick did, but we did have a well-publicised situation during the 1950s when a large number of miners' homes in the south Wales Valleys had leases that the occupiers weren't able to...
Gareth Bennett: Yes. Thanks for that answer. I agree that we do need to understand. We also perhaps need to pursue a standard approach to monitoring the level of violence so that at least we can also ascertain how much actually is going on, which is something that the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers are currently calling for. So, would you be minded now to think about a...
Gareth Bennett: 2. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to reduce the risk of crime and violence in schools? OAQ51666
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for today's statement. There are a few sensible points in that statement that we would broadly support, and some more contentious ones. To start off with the good stuff: the role of the council chief executive as the returning officer in local government elections. We would agree with you that it should now be a statutory role for the council chief executive, and the...
Gareth Bennett: No, not that. The maritime museum, as was, is now called the National Waterfront Museum. Before long, we will have the Big Pit National Coal Museum changing its name into the 'National Industry Museum' or some similarly anodyne title. I sometimes wonder who dreams these name changes up. Every time you change a name, you will lose potential customers because you are changing a well-known...
Gareth Bennett: Well, I'll go on to that, Lee. I will tell you later. It has recently been refurbished with the addition of a new main building, a craft workshop and other facilities. The new building contains an enlarged cafe, activity and event spaces, some of which can be hired out to groups, and a bigger gift shop. So, this will hopefully help the museum at St Fagans to raise more revenue, and is...
