Dawn Bowden: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement on tourism investment in Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney? OAQ52176
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank the committee for their very detailed report on the work that they did from their inquiry? I want to take the opportunity to talk more widely about apprenticeships, before making some comments that I think are probably relevant to recommendations 6 and 7 around apprentice pay. It's clear to me that well-structured training can deliver the skilled workforces that we require, and...
Dawn Bowden: —what our strategy actually needs, so that they know that it's not relocating existing jobs, but it is actually putting them in more accessible places. The questions I wanted to ask were, firstly, whether the DWP has actually discussed with Welsh Government the plans for the relocation, which appear to be predicated on a private finance initiative project, or PFI-funded project, which, as...
Dawn Bowden: I think the DWP's intentions for this relocation have been well known for some time, but it was due to a leak that we knew about the proposed site—it's only now just been confirmed. It's clear that, under this proposal, in my constituency alone, we're going to be losing more than 250—260 jobs, in fact—from Merthyr, to Treforest. And I'd reiterate exactly what Hefin and John have already...
Dawn Bowden: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that answer, because delivering well-being in all our policies is clearly a major challenge that's going to be facing our public services. It's going to require a set of outcome measures for our public services that, in turn, will help to provide them with a clear focus on community well-being. Public services, as you will appreciate, have a huge collective...
Dawn Bowden: 5. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the delivery of the wellbeing goals through public services? OAQ52138
Dawn Bowden: I think we all welcome the potential economic benefits that Trago Mills is clearly going to be bringing to Merthyr Tydfil and the surrounding areas, but its location immediately off the Cyfarthfa roundabout on the A470 is a source of ongoing concern. The management of the opening of Trago Mills last weekend actually went very well and I think was generally very good, but the traffic...
Dawn Bowden: Dirprwy Llywydd, I think Dai Rees has said it all. The damage caused by austerity to the social fabric of our communities harms us all. I've become tired of hearing Tory voices in this Chamber calling on the Welsh Government to invest more in our services, yet we never hear those same voices raise any condemnation over the £1 billion or more that their Government has cut from our budget....
Dawn Bowden: I'm grateful to my colleague Dai Rees who's going to be bringing forward a short debate later on today about the impact of austerity, which is clearly at the heart of so much that we can and can't do. So, continuing that theme, Cabinet Secretary, even though you've been able to protect nursing bursaries in Wales, which the UK Government in England has cut—and the Royal College of Nursing...
Dawn Bowden: Indeed, and I know that the Welsh Government has a long-standing commitment to school funding, in spite of the UK Government's continued austerity programme, and this year's local government settlement, as you've already outlined, has reflected this. However, we also know that local authorities have successfully argued for education funding not to be ring-fenced, and I appreciate that much...
Dawn Bowden: 7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on school funding in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council? OAQ52032
Dawn Bowden: —that be right? How can that be just? How can we not support the women in this campaign? However we got here—
Dawn Bowden: —it is the responsibility of all of us, in whatever we can do, to put this injustice right.
Dawn Bowden: Diolch, Dirprwy Llywydd. Like Siân Gwenllian, can I start, before making my contribution, by paying tribute to many colleagues, both inside and outside of politics, over a considerable period of time— that doesn't actually include UKIP, quite frankly—that have been so actively involved in the WASPI campaign seeking justice for these women? There are so many aspects—
Dawn Bowden: No. There are so many aspects of this sorry business that I could talk about: the financial hardship suffered, the mass of maladministration complaints, the unfair way in which the changes were introduced, the blatant discrimination and the mismanagement of changes, but, being called late into this debate, I'm going to focus my comments on the outrageous way in which women were notified, or...
Dawn Bowden: Okay, thank you for that answer, because obviously you are aware that there are some 3,000 different asbestos-containing materials—so-called ACMs—in use across the country, and I chair the cross-party group on asbestos, primarily looking at asbestos in schools and other public buildings. So, I thought it was incumbent on me to make sure that we're doing what we should be doing on our own...
Dawn Bowden: 4. Will the Commissioner make a statement on the arrangements for asbestos management on the Assembly estate? OAQ52003
Dawn Bowden: Despite the obvious budgetary challenges that have just been talked about—we're now into our eighth or ninth year of austerity—I know that improving public services is something you feel as strongly about as I do. So, I was pleased to see the recent launches of Unison's residential care charter, which followed on from the launch of their ethical care charter last year. And both set out...
Dawn Bowden: Like others, can I thank you very much for bringing forward the statement? It deals, clearly, with a number of vital issues that are essential to the future of local economies across the whole country. But I'd like to raise two specific issues. One is very basic, practical and not strictly in your portfolio, so if you'll just bear with me, because you do actually mention it in the plan, and...
Dawn Bowden: Leader of the house, in recent weeks, I've been made aware of severe restrictions on the connection of power sources, including renewable power sources, to the national grid in Merthyr Tydfil—and, so, I presume in other areas as well. It seems to me that that has significant implications for several policies of the Welsh Government, including energy generation, decarbonisation of the public...
