Hefin David: What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the impact that the Supercomputing Wales programme will have on the Welsh economy?
Hefin David: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the rate of business start-ups in Wales as compared to the rest of the United Kingdom?
Hefin David: The leader of the house will be aware that I've written to her again about the Castle Reach and Kingsmead estate in Caerphilly, where houses have been built without any broadband connectivity whatsoever. And I've got to say, the leader of the house's officials and the leader of the house herself have been very proactive in trying to reach a resolution to this problem. However, the same...
Hefin David: That's very good to hear. Policy at all levels in the UK has been about family-friendly working, and it's good to hear that the Welsh Government is trying to move beyond that. I took part in a debate the week before last, based on this report from the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, 'Work it out: Parenting and Employment in Wales', and one of the key things that's in...
Hefin David: 1. What action is the Welsh Government taking to support and encourage flexible working in Wales? OAQ52839
Hefin David: I just wanted to concentrate on recommendations 3, 7 and 9 in my response. With regard to recommendation 3, which asks what the Welsh Government could do to harness expertise and contacts across Wales and within the Welsh diaspora, one of the things I'd say is there is progress being made in Wales in this area in universities, and they are involving expertise from across Wales and outside....
Hefin David: I'd like to say a big 'thank you' to Lee Waters and Jenny Rathbone for making the journey to Preston; I couldn't make it myself, for family reasons. But the great thing is, they produced a report, as you'd expect, as a result of their journey, and I've read it with interest. What it reveals is that there are things there that can be transferred from the Preston model to our communities,...
Hefin David: If that's the case, then there's a valid question as to why he dropped the court case. Given that was crowdfunded, I think we should be able to see the legal advice that he received in the court case. [Interruption.] I know that he was recorded in the media as saying that the court case was dropped because he secured this debate. I don't think that's true. So, I'd like to move this on and...
Hefin David: I wanted to speak in this debate because I've been contacted by constituents who have concerns. I think we enter and start a dangerous precedent if we begin questioning the views of scientific experts. I think we've seen that problem in our politics in recent times and I think it's becoming ever more prevalent. I think we must accept that the tests that took place in 2009, 2013 and 2017 were...
Hefin David: Will the Leader of the House make a statement on high-speed broadband provision in Caerphilly?
Hefin David: Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the work of the ministerial leasehold advisory group?
Hefin David: I welcome the report, Dirprwy Lywydd, and agree with almost all of it, but I would at this point strike a note of discord with Jane Hutt, not on the last thing she said—I absolutely agree with what she said about shared parental leave and the low take-up—but on recommendation 3. Before I go into that, I'd like to just note the introduction—paragraph 1, page 15: 'Having children has a...
Hefin David: Rare it is to see a politician of such experience throw himself into a brief with such youthful enthusiasm, which I think is what the Minister has done over the last 10 months and which has culminated in this document, although I’ve got to say that I've got a complaint to make in that Wales’s largest castle has the smallest picture in the brochure in the form of Caerphilly castle, but...
Hefin David: And increasingly so, people are buying freehold accommodation and being forced to pay these charges to private companies on top of their council tax to maintain their estates. In Cwm Calon in Ystrad Mynach in my constituency, Meadfleet, the estate management company there, have announced that the charges are going to rise per six months from £61 to £78, and there is...
Hefin David: 6. What action is the Welsh Government taking to address the problem of estate management charges? OAQ52645
Hefin David: The Cabinet Secretary visited the Children, Young People and Education Committee on 28 June, and I asked her questions about supply teachers. One of the things she said in the committee was: 'Much of the focus recently has been about low pay for supply teachers. I was recently exposed to the argument about schools that are using supply teachers to cover some of our science, technology,...
Hefin David: 7. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on rates of pay for supply teachers? OAQ52591
Hefin David: The Minister has mentioned the launch of Project SEARCH, which helps young people with additional learning needs and disabilities into work by providing them with supported internships with the aim of getting them secure paid employment at the end of the placement. The initiative is to be welcomed, but I wanted to ask the Minister specifically about page 15 of the plan, which includes a...
Hefin David: Just about an hour ago I visited editmygrammar.co.uk, which is a website that says it offers secure and trusted help for academics, and posing as a first-year undergraduate I had an online chat with a chap called 'Frank McAllister', who described himself as a senior academic adviser. The chat went like this: I asked him, 'Do you write essays?', and he said, 'Yes, we can surely have your essay...
Hefin David: 8. Will the First Minister make a statement about Welsh Government plans to deal with the problem of essay mills? OAQ52612
