Gareth Bennett: Yes, thanks for clarifying that. Of course, that lack of information would make it very difficult, so I take it that the situation regarding the UK Government and Scotland is therefore different from the situation regarding the UK Government and local government funding in Wales. Continuing with the theme of the financing of local government, you’ve stressed in the past to the WLGA the need...
Gareth Bennett: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. We had a panel from the Welsh Local Government Association in committee this morning, Minister, discussing matters relating to the draft budget. We all know that these are difficult times for local government funding, but one thing that would help councils to take decisions is some certainty of future funding levels. I know you have provided an indicative...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for today’s statement. I think these are interesting ideas and very worthy of exploration and I think there has been a good vision that we’ve seen today, so I hope that a lot of this innovation does come off. As the Minister said, there is a pressing need for more housing, and hopefully the innovative housing programme will help to address that. But of course we...
Gareth Bennett: Yes. I’m aware of the concept, but what bothers me with that concept is the transitional period, when you have both driverless cars on the road and you have passenger-driven cars on the road. How will they interact with each other? I’m interested in what the implications are for congestion and other road factors in that interaction, but it’s good that you raise that issue. The other...
Gareth Bennett: Of course.
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the various Members for bringing forward today’s debate. We do broadly support the motion, although there are some observations that do need to be made regarding the development of driverless and electric vehicles. Now, I take on board that we are going to progress with this technology, so the problems we have now may not be the problems of a few years’ time, but I do want to...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, and Supporting People, of course, we await what the funding for that will be in the upcoming budget, so I’m glad you mentioned Supporting People. But on a related issue on the drug theme, do you have any update on Welsh Government investigations into so-called safe injection zones, where drug users can inject in a medically supervised environment, and do you have any thoughts of your...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, and I agree with your sentiments. These are human beings—nobody is denying that— and we need to help these people as far as we can to come off their habits. But, in terms of how to deal with it as an issue of public order perhaps, what do you think about the issue of stop and search and how effective it is in helping to provide a safe urban environment?
Gareth Bennett: Diolch, Llywydd. I wanted to raise today the problem of drug abuse and particularly drug abuse carried out in public places. We’ve had several recent media reports relating to drug users fairly openly injecting heroin in the Butetown area of Cardiff. This also raises the related problem of discarded needles, which can be a real danger to children, which has also been highlighted by the...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, Japanese knotweed is a real headache for householders. We also have invasive species from the animal kingdom, which can be a real menace, such as the killer shrimp. This was discovered in waters off Cardiff Bay and in Eglwys Nunydd reservoir in Port Talbot in 2010. Now, the biosecurity sector has been monitoring the situation since then. I wondered if you had any updates on the current...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Cabinet Secretary for his statement today. Of course, we all want to facilitate the building of more affordable homes, as Bethan Jenkins stated earlier. Some of the detail in this proposed Bill does seem slightly potentially confusing. Of course, I haven’t read all of the explanatory memorandum either. In fact, to be honest, I haven’t actually started it. So, I take on board...
Gareth Bennett: Okay. There may be differences in the trading relationship between the USA and Canada and ours with Ireland, but the reality is we don’t know what our future relationship with Ireland is going to be because of this issue of the common travel area that we enjoyed with Ireland before either of us even joined the EU. That may be in place once we leave the EU, so we don’t know.
Gareth Bennett: Thanks, Cadeirydd, I will bring them to a conclusion. The last point is the free ports—I think that’s a very interesting concept. I’m very pleased the committee wants to investigate this and I’m interested to hear what the economy Minister has to say about the free ports because that is an opportunity that Brexit could bring. Thank you.
Gareth Bennett: Thank you.
Gareth Bennett: No, I’m just starting, Rhun, and I’m not going to get through it with all this nonsense. So, we shouldn’t exaggerate difficulties for political effect, but we certainly shouldn’t minimise them either. What we have to do is rationally consider all of the economic implications. In the case of the position of trade passing through Welsh ports, if there are any ways in which we can...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the additional legislation committee for bringing today’s debate. It is on an important issue. There are economic complications that will inevitably arise from Brexit, and I don’t seek to minimise them. I don’t want to see these problems exaggerated for political effect because my view is that the people of the UK have had their say, and they want Brexit; that is what they...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks for the answer, and that’s quite an encouraging response. The question was posed in relation to a recent piece that appeared in the ‘British Medical Journal’, which was quite well publicised, so I’m sure you’re aware of it. Of course, we do have to be mindful of the risks posed, but we’re also trying to encourage young people to get involved in physical activity. So, I’m...
Gareth Bennett: 7. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the risk of injury to children and young people through playing contact sports such as rugby? (OAQ51113)
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the Minister for her statement. There have obviously been some issues over the running of Sport Wales, which Russell George alluded to earlier, and we, as Members, don’t have the inside information to understand all of what it was about. But it seems to me that part of the problem with the organisation in the past year or so has quite probably been about its remit. Now, we did...
Gareth Bennett: What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the outsourcing of local services by Welsh councils to the private sector?
