Mabon ap Gwynfor: Minister, a number of small businesses in the hospitality sector have been in touch with me over the past few months complaining that the financial support in relation to COVID and hospitality businesses has not been fair, because that support is based on the number of people employed by the business, without taking into account the economic value of that business to the foundational economy...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Minister, would you agree that this is another kind of chumocracy, which is a characteristic of this Conservative Government, where they try and retain wealth among their privileged friends whilst denying the poorest areas of the UK funding that they so badly need? How else can you explain why Gwynedd is at the bottom of level 3 and an area such as the Chancellor's is in the highest level for...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you, Trefnydd. You'll be aware of the huge growth in the number of cases of COVID in our schools. Over the last week, there have been 9,500 cases among young people under the age of 20—most of them in our schools. A year ago, there was clear guidance for schools in terms of face coverings, ventilation, social distancing, and so on. And indeed, independent SAGE scientists highly...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Will the First Minister make a statement on local government funding?
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Of course, nobody says that this would be perfect. What we are proposing here, and what I think that those benches over there don't understand, is that we are suggesting a pilot to see how it would impact on education, on agriculture and on all of the sectors. So that's why I don't understand why you oppose this; prove us wrong. A working week of four days would release more time in people's...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: I should get myself ready, shouldn't I? Thank you very much, Llywydd.
Mabon ap Gwynfor: I will, thank you. I don't know whether Joel listened to the constitutional debate yesterday, where we heard about legislation from the Roman empire, about Hywel Dda, about Iorwerth and other examples in history. But I want to start by turning to history to show that it's possible to get to grips with major social challenges, by improving the quality of life of people by decreasing working...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: —on goodwill and the full commitment of our health and care workforce. It's a duty, therefore, on us all to alleviate those pressures and to repay them for their commitment in their hour of need. And when I say that, I mean more than standing in front of cameras and clapping. In doing this, it'll have a positive impact, seen in all parts of our health and care services, including the...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: And this is what we're seeing today. Back in 1989, there were almost 20,000 hospital beds in Wales working at a capacity of around 77 per cent. By today, the numbers have halved to around 10,000 beds and are working to a capacity of 87 per cent, and that's been the case consistently over the past 10 years. And this pandemic, of course, has exacerbated the problems. Many of our community...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: 'Once you go above 85 per cent bed occupancy, you can predict that you can’t cope with fluctuations. You need about a 20 per cent surplus of beds to cope with the kind of fluctuations that we’re talking about. When you’ve got bed occupancies running at 86 or 87 per cent, you start getting...delays...[in] the discharge of patients as well.'
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I formally move the amendment in the name of Siân Gwenllian. I’m sure that all of our inboxes include a number of examples of people suffering in their communities because they have to wait for an ambulance. For example, a constituent of mine in Abererch had to wait for 15 hours for an ambulance and she was in distress and her family were...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you much for that response. Last year, your Government raised the higher rate of the land transaction tax by 1 per cent in order to try and tackle the second homes crisis. At that point, up to 44 per cent of the homes sold in my constituency of Dwyfor Meirionydd were second homes. We in Plaid Cymru warned at that point that that 1 per cent was far from being sufficient and that it would...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on the impact of the land transaction tax? OQ56810
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you for that response, First Minister. Well, I had a meeting recently with officials from the Government of South Tyrol in northern Italy, one of the richest regions in Europe, and a region where there are virtually no second homes and tourism prospers. But despite the prosperity of the area, 60 per cent of the homes there are social housing and respond to community need. Isn't this the...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Government's plans for social housing? OQ56811
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you, Minister. The most recent statistics by revenue Cymru show that 44 per cent of the homes sold in Dwyfor Meirionnydd last year were sold at the higher rate. Now there are many definitions of what that means, but I've spoken to estate agents and lawyers in the area and it's clear that the vast majority of those homes were sold as second homes. The statistics for the previous year...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on the Welsh language communities housing scheme? OQ56784
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you very much, Minister, for this statement. I also want to put on record how disappointed I was to see that this statement had been made public to the media yesterday evening, and that you were in St David's filming yesterday, and that we'd heard nothing about it until today. But I trust that that will not happen again. If I could first of all look at the statement in general terms, as...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you, Trefnydd. As you've already mentioned, pharmacists were the only primary care services to keep their doors open during this pandemic, and this meant a face-to-face consultation during the pandemic. Now, face-to-face consultation by community pharmacists has been normalised in the work of the health service. Shouldn't the new pharmacy contract currently being negotiated by the Welsh...
Mabon ap Gwynfor: Thank you very much to James for giving of his time to allow me to contribute, and thank you for bringing this debate forward. Of course, water pollution is an issue that needs to be tackled, and that needs to be done with the collaboration of stakeholders. What we've seen here, however, is NRW identifying a problem but failing to collaborate with stakeholders in order to find a rational...
