Neil McEvoy: I think like everyone in the Chamber, I feel very, very bad for the employees who are about to lose their jobs. I know some of them, in fact, that work up there. It’s not new for us to lose jobs in this way through big corporations not really valuing their workforce. The solution really lies in creating new jobs, so would you consider setting an entrepreneurial fund so that people who will...
Neil McEvoy: Okay, thanks. I think the honest answer, really, should have been that you don’t actually know, because no data are collected. So, just to prove the point now, in front of everybody in this Senedd, can you give us a figure—a figure—on how many fathers are engaged?
Neil McEvoy: So, the answer is: you don’t know.
Neil McEvoy: 8. How successful has the £122 million invested in Flying Start and Families First been in supporting fathers, especially separated fathers, to fulfil their parenting role? OAQ(5)0167(CC)
Neil McEvoy: I want to raise the issue of Cardiff Aviation, based in the Vale of Glamorgan. It’s another company that has received millions of pounds from the Welsh Government, promising to bring thousands of jobs to south Wales. It now seems that only a third of those jobs were created, and I had to bring to light that Cardiff Aviation have failed to pay any rent for a number of years. It now emerges...
Neil McEvoy: First Minister, will your Government legislate to guarantee housing and healthcare for veterans who have seen active service?
Neil McEvoy: Sunday was Father’s Day. Thousands of children across Wales would have been prevented from seeing their fathers. Could you give a Government statement on what the Government is doing to enable both parents to see their children, because something really should be being done?
Neil McEvoy: Minister, in March 2017 the accounts of Natural Resources Wales were not given a clean bill of health. It related to a timber contract given out over 10 years when the usual length of contract was five years. The company that was given the contract did not apply for the tender. The chief executive of Natural Resources Wales told the Public Accounts Committee that there had been a full...
Neil McEvoy: I’m not so sure about the sense part there in voting Conservative. This is a timely debate with the elections tomorrow. I will declare an interest: I am standing for election. I’d like to highlight the 6.5 per cent cuts in local government funding since 2011 and 2012 because it has not been necessary. It has been a very lazy, easy cut for—
Neil McEvoy: No. —for this Labour Government. All we hear about from the Labour side are the awful Conservative cuts from London. Granted—I agree. But, what about scandals like the Lisvane land deal where you’ve wasted £38 million in one single deal or the sale of two shops at a loss of £1 million to the taxpayer? We need to keep our streets clean in Wales, but, again, if you look at Cardiff, what...
Neil McEvoy: Diolch, Llywydd. Three and a half thousand people have now signed the petition to this Assembly calling for us to protect live music venues in Wales. That petition was started by the conductor and composer, Richard Vaughan. The problem is that there are two proposals to develop in Wales’s most famous live music street, Womanby Street, and the developments pose a threat to the music venues...
Neil McEvoy: Cabinet Secretary, Womanby Street is a place famous for live music right across Wales, and I’m sure there are many of us in this Chamber who’ve had some very late nights in those venues. Many renowned musicians have started their careers in Womanby Street. Now, Wales is a musical nation and music is the heartbeat of Wales. It’s also the heartbeat of this city, and we need to encourage...
Neil McEvoy: Will the First Minister make a statement on the public tendering process in Wales?
Neil McEvoy: I’d like a statement on the biomass project, or the incinerator, as local residents refer to it. I’d like to enquire why the voices of local people have been ignored. There’s a lot of concern about the possibility of fire and there’s massive concern about the quality of air that people will be breathing. I really cannot think of a more unsuitable place for a development like...
Neil McEvoy: Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the work of the external advisory panel on EU withdrawal?
Neil McEvoy: I think very few people believe in selling stock off and not replacing it. My question really is: what is wrong with selling off social housing responsibly, and reinvesting to build more social housing to create a virtuous circle and enable people to become more independent? And I suppose, really, this may be addressed to everybody, because everybody here owns their own home. Now, I won’t...
Neil McEvoy: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Your colleague is quoting the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 to defend his position, because, technically, he is legally correct, but, morally, I would say he is wrong, because there’s a world of difference between the aspirational routes in the Act and where children actually walk and how they actually get to school. So, will your Government write to the...
Neil McEvoy: I declare an interest because this matter does relate to Cardiff council. It’s an important matter and relates to transport. The cabinet member for transport on Cardiff council is refusing to act on dangerous routes to school. Two roads come to mind: Heol Isaf in Radyr, where cars speed at up to 70 mph, and Caerau Lane in Caerau, where the road heads towards Mary Immaculate High School and...
Neil McEvoy: Thanks. Okay. Please feel free to interject and contribute if you wish. The idea is to float this as something that we want to do in the not-too-distant future in this city. So, I’ve called a debate to see whether or not, here in the National Assembly for Wales, we can start to advance the idea of a Welsh stock exchange. I’m really pleased to see that Plaid Cymru’s policy of...
Neil McEvoy: I suppose, really, the elephant in the room is that stock exchanges are typically private companies. There are some examples of publicly owned stock exchanges—the Shenzhen and Shanghai stock exchanges are really quasi-state institutions, as far as they were created by Government bodies in China and have leading personnel directly appointed by the China Securities Regulatory Commission....
