Carwyn Jones: Well, I can tell the Member that an individual that I'm aware of has taken out a loan with a bank, has defaulted on that loan and informed the bank that they have moved to where we live, so I'm receiving letters myself now, addressed not to me but to this individual at my address. So, no-one can escape this. But it's an important point, and I know that you had an event in the Senedd on 19...
Carwyn Jones: This is primarily a matter for the UK Government, but we're committed to making our communities safer and to continue to work with the UK Government to tackle crime.
Carwyn Jones: I can assure the Member that this is part of what the task and finish group will be considering. He makes the point, quite rightly, that where new estates of houses are built, people are, these days, often told there is a service charge to pay for grass cutting, a service charge to pay for upkeep, to pay for the roads and pay for the pavements, but they're still paying council tax at the...
Carwyn Jones: The review of unadopted roads, initiated by the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport, is now under way. That work will complement that of the leasehold advisory group, convened by the Minister for Housing and Regeneration. I know the Member has raised this before in this Chamber. It's a hugely important issue, something that is relatively new in its concept, but one that we must deal...
Carwyn Jones: Well, the history of Parc Bryn Cegin is this, and the Member is right in saying that the history goes back 18 years. Planning permission had been granted as regards employment, namely factories and offices at the time. We invested heavily between 2006 and 2008 in order to prepare the site for development, namely putting the roads in and putting the services in. But, of course, in 2008 we saw...
Carwyn Jones: The development land at Parc Bryn Cegin is available for development now, and is being actively marketed via our commercial property agents Cooke & Arkwright, our property data base, as well as Gwynedd Council.
Carwyn Jones: I was fortunate enough to join the Member in Gibbonsdown where we saw the refurbishment work that was taking place there. A lot of people, of course, were delighted with what they saw there. I've always said that if you try and build social housing while at the same time still having the right to buy, it's like filling up the bath with the plug out, except for the whole of the 1980s the...
Carwyn Jones: Our review will look at a great many issues in order to ensure that the policy is correct, but there is a difference between social housing and affordable housing, because if houses are affordable, some people will rent them and others will buy them. So, we must ensure that there is a choice for people where they can make that choice. That means that there should be a mixture of housing...
Carwyn Jones: Well, there are—. I have the greatest respect for the Member, but coming from a party that sold off so much social housing and didn't replace it, and caused many of the problems we face now in first place, I do have to take that with a large pinch of salt. Two thing I'd say to him: firstly, it is not clear whether there will be a Barnett consequential yet. We know that the UK Government...
Carwyn Jones: Social housing has always been and always will be, of course, a fundamental priority for this Government. We've never moved away from supporting those in greatest need, which is why we are making record investment in social housing in the term of this Government.
Carwyn Jones: Well, that is something for the local authority to progress. We will collaborate with them in order to implement the plans, but it's a matter for them. I don't think they're at fault at all, but it's up to them to ensure that they produce an effective and public scheme.
Carwyn Jones: They'll be crucial. As with any development of this size, it cannot all be car-based—he's quite right. We have the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013. It's hugely important that, as we move the metro forward, there are proper bus connections, train connections where appropriate and, of course, opportunities for active travel. No development such as the wellness village, given the fact that it...
Carwyn Jones: Well, let me give you some examples. If we look at the States, I've spent a lot of time talking to the companies that invest, particularly in Wales, from America, and the same with Japan. I've spent a lot of time with companies in Europe who invest in Wales, amongst them Airbus, for example, Ford, Toyota I've met, and all these organisations very much value the presence of a First Minister,...
Carwyn Jones: The four local authorities have reached a milestone with the approval of their joint committee agreement, and that's the important step in releasing Government funding.
Carwyn Jones: Let me see now. Let me see—there have been two referendums: one in 1997 and one in 2011. He doesn't accept the result, yet he demands—demands—that there should be no referendum at all on the deal with Brexit. His hypocrisy is almost breathtaking. On the one hand, he says we need more scrutiny, and then he says we need to remove all scrutiny, without realising the contradiction in what...
Carwyn Jones: I find it difficult to accept what the leader of UKIP says when he says—. He talks of the importance of the work of the public affairs committee, which I think is correct, and he talks of the need for scrutiny, yet at the same time wants to abolish the Assembly, thereby providing us with no scrutiny at all—over NRW or over anything else. He calls for a second referendum on devolution,...
Carwyn Jones: Well, the first two issues are operational matters, in terms of permitting. The third issue is a matter that has been well explored and is not acceptable. Clearly, a lack of competence was exhibited by NRW—to have oral contracts, whilst they may be technically legally valid, is not wise. It is much better to have things written down. That's been explored, and rightly so, by the Public...
Carwyn Jones: As a result of that report, as a result of the action taken by a Welsh Labour Government, there will now be many, many mothers in the north of Wales who will be able to have their babies safely and looked after safely in north Wales, rather than having to travel to Liverpool. He may talk, we deliver.
Carwyn Jones: First of all, these are two issues at two hospitals that have emerged in August that must be dealt with. He cannot surely stand there and say that austerity has nothing to do with this. When Northern Ireland had £1 billion given to it, a substantial amount of which was for health and education, which drove—[Interruption.] I know it's painful—[Interruption.] I know it's painful, but when...
Carwyn Jones: Well, we acknowledge that performance on those two sites is unacceptable. That's the first thing to say. It's a reflection of pressures and demands on hard-working staff. I've said that I expect the board to put into place meaningful actions to deal with this. Now, what have we done? Well, the board, with £1.5 million-worth of support from Welsh Government, has put in place arrangements to...
