Mohammad Asghar: I'm grateful for this opportunity to speak on this latest set of proposals from the Welsh Government to reform local government. This document represents the third set of proposals in the last three years, and who knows, after the Cabinet reshuffle coming at the end of this year, it may not be the last. Local government in Wales is in need of reform. The Williams commission set up to...
Mohammad Asghar: Cabinet Secretary, April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month. According to a report by Bowel Cancer UK, patients at five out of seven health boards in Wales are waiting too long for tests to diagnose bowel cancer, and less than half of people eligible for screening tests have had them. Given that bowel cancer survival rates in Wales are among the worst in Europe, what action will the Welsh...
Mohammad Asghar: Parents of children disadvantaged by poverty in Islwyn will have heard with dismay of the Welsh Government's decision to scrap the school uniform grant for poor families. Last week, the First Minister failed to give assurances regarding funding and eligibility of your planned replacement scheme. So, Cabinet Secretary, can you confirm that there'll be no reduction in the amount of funding...
Mohammad Asghar: Thank you very much for the reply, Minister. Community learning has a significant impact in helping people gain the skills needed to achieve sustainable employment in the future. However, Welsh Government figures show that the number of community learners in Wales has fallen by more than half in the last five years. Arad research has described the sector has described the sector as being...
Mohammad Asghar: 2. What is the Welsh Government doing to support adult community learning? OAQ52029
Mohammad Asghar: Leader of the house, yesterday, the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services issued a written statement on support for the armed forces in Wales. The statement concludes by saying that the Cabinet Secretary recognises the need to continue to invest in and to strengthen the support provided to our armed forces veterans. However, he does not believe that the appointment of an...
Mohammad Asghar: First Minister, according to the Home Builders Federation, the Welsh Government could support small and medium-sized house builders by forcing local authorities to speed up progress on delivering their development plans and five-year land supplies. The joint housing land availability study revealed that only six local authorities had a five-year supply of readily developable housing...
Mohammad Asghar: What I'm saying is there is a gap in different areas in the private sector—I'm saying private. So, is there any motive in this Government—? The private sector should be encouraged to make gender balance in the pay sector. That's my point. It shouldn't be like that—that there's a big gap amongst the men and women: they're doing the same job, but the salary is not the same. I'd be...
Mohammad Asghar: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I thank the Minister for her statement today. We all recognise the importance of education and training in providing people with the skills that are required by employers to gain decent and sustainable jobs for the future. The Minister says the Welsh Government has set a series of stretching and ambitious targets relating to unemployment,...
Mohammad Asghar: My first question was actually asked by Mr Nick Ramsay, and eloquently you answered it. My second one is, actually, one of my constituents walked into my office and the local council asked him to make—. Because his business is not doing very well, after 30 years he wants to close it down, so he went to the council and the local council said, 'If you shut the shop, you have to pay the full...
Mohammad Asghar: Thank you for that reply, First Minister. One way to reduce the hospital waiting times is to tackle the problem of missed out-patient appointments. Last year, there were nearly 300,000 missed appointments, at a cost for the NHS of more than £36 million. It is a pretty staggering figure. What action is the Welsh Government taking to reduce the number of missed out-patient hospital...
Mohammad Asghar: 5. What is the Welsh Government doing to improve waiting times for hospital outpatient appointments in Wales? OAQ51924
Mohammad Asghar: Being a Muslim, I know what I'm going to say. This is—. Minister, this Islamaphobia is actually putting people—leading towards violence, marginalisation, exploitation, powerlessness. Islam is the second largest religion in the United Kingdom, and the people here are 99.999 per cent very peaceful and law-abiding citizens here, and contributing to the community and the country at the same...
Mohammad Asghar: Cabinet Secretary, figures for the last year show that patients delayed on acute, community rehabilitation and other wards faced shorter delays in accessing the next stage of care than those delayed on mental health wards. Indeed, almost 80 per cent of patients delayed over 26 weeks are on mental health wards. What is the Welsh Government doing to tackle the problem of delayed transfers of...
Mohammad Asghar: Cabinet Secretary, I would like to ask for a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport on the potential benefit of Welsh waterways on tourism in Wales. The Canal and River Trust has announced plans to reopen a disused part of the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal, between Five Locks in Cwmbran, to Barrack Hill in Newport. This is forecasted to increase visitors and...
Mohammad Asghar: Thank you, Madam Presiding Officer. First Minister, the number of people living with diabetes in Wales has almost doubled in the last 10 years. Gwent has the highest prevalence in Wales, with research showing that 8 per cent of the population of the Aneurin Bevan health board area is living with diabetes. Can the First Minister confirm that the national obesity strategy covers both prevention...
Mohammad Asghar: Leader of the house, I would like to ask for a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport on support for businesses affected by the proposed M4 relief road. I have been contacted by a manufacturing company in Newport that would suffer considerable and irrecoverable loss of business, as well as incurring relocation costs, due to the forced closure of their existing site...
Mohammad Asghar: Thank you for that answer, leader of the house. Research by Stonewall Cymru has shown that the number of LGBT people in Wales who have experienced hate crime has increased by 82 per cent within the last five years. They also found that four in five hate crimes and incidents go unreported, with younger people particularly reluctant to go to the police. Leader of the house, what is the Welsh...
Mohammad Asghar: Cabinet Secretary, from 2012, the Welsh Government has spent £94 million on the Ebbw Vale enterprise zone to create just 175 jobs that are full-time. How will the Valleys taskforce support and improve the performance of the Ebbw Vale enterprise zone, please?
Mohammad Asghar: Cabinet Secretary, Newport City Council has approved a budget that will result in cuts to services that will fall heavily on some of the most vulnerable people in the area. These include vulnerable people with mental health issues, people with learning disabilities and children with additional learning needs. What is the Cabinet secretary doing to address the genuine anger and dismay of the...
