Alun Davies: I think your statement, Minister, will be welcomed across the country, and certainly the commitment to working together and leading the response from local authorities is something that will be greatly appreciated by people across Wales. I'd be grateful if you could outline whether you are looking at providing additional support for local authorities in terms of the resources available to...
Alun Davies: First Minister, I heard your answer to previous questions on testing, but I would like, if it's possible, to press you a little further on this. Many members of the public are very confused when they see yourself giving one proposition and then the World Health Organization providing a very different analysis. I've seen this afternoon that, across the border in England, a record 7,000 tests...
Alun Davies: Unfortunately, the Prime Minister's statement yesterday has caused some considerable concern for many businesses, particularly those in the hospitality sector who are at a loss to know how they can continue to function in many cases. What we need, I believe, is a Marshall plan for small businesses. In the same way as—as other people have pointed out this afternoon—we bailed out the banks...
Alun Davies: Members will have seen a letter today from the First Minister to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and we know that the Chancellor is making a statement this evening on financial support for businesses and the economy during this period. But would it be possible for us to have a statement or a debate on these matters? I think many of us have been concerned for many years that the financial...
Alun Davies: I recognise, First Minister, that the work of the Welsh Government is currently focused on the coronavirus, and the impact that's having on people across the whole of the country. And I think many people are grateful to you for your leadership in addressing these matters. But in terms of the wider economic issues, I had an excellent meeting last week with the Minister for Economy, Transport...
Alun Davies: 2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government’s strategic vision for economic development in the Heads of the Valleys? OAQ55276
Alun Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on the work of the Welsh Government’s Chief Digital Officer?
Alun Davies: I do agree very much with what the Member for Bridgend has said. And, of course, what the Conservatives are confusing is the detection of crime and resolving the issues arising from crime and finding the answers to crime. And I listen to Conservative Ministers who are very happy to devolve responsibilities to parts of England, to Manchester and to London, of course, but Wales isn't good...
Alun Davies: I'd like to start by echoing the Minister's thanks to police officers across the country for the work they do in keeping us safe in our communities. They've been under enormous pressures over the last few weeks and months, and I think all of us would want to join together and recognise how they've responded to those pressures. And they've done so having suffered year-on-year cuts over the...
Alun Davies: I think the thoughts of all of us in this Chamber and elsewhere are with all those people who are currently suffering from this virus and those who believe that they might be but are maybe awaiting diagnosis, as well the families of those who have already died. I think this is one of the most terrifying threats to us as people and to our society that I've certainly seen in my lifetime. I can...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to the First Minister for that. I think many Members, like me, were very pleased to hear the finance Minister making a statement last month on how digital Wales will be moving forward. I was particularly interested, of course, in her view that a digital skills academy will be based in Ebbw Vale, in my constituency, and that we will be investing in chief digital officers across...
Alun Davies: 2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the future development of public services? OAQ55193
Alun Davies: And I'm very grateful to successive Ministers for making those statements, and for making it clear their commitment to the Tech Valleys initiative, and for ensuring that we do have the investment not just in Ebbw Vale, but in the Heads of the Valleys that we require and that we need. And I'm also very clear, as I said in my opening remarks, about the purpose of that. The purpose, for me, is...
Alun Davies: Thank you very much—
Alun Davies: I've been extremely quiet this afternoon, Deputy Presiding Officer. I hope I won't be pushing your patience during the next few minutes. I have provided a minute to Mark Reckless who has asked to speak in this debate. Deputy Presiding Officer, you will remember, a few short weeks ago, I felt we had a very good conversation in a short debate discussing the Welsh Government's ambitions for...
Alun Davies: It is certainly partly that—I don't disagree with you that the policies that have been pursued by the UK Government for the last decade or so have been absolutely destructive and have caused a level of chaos that we haven't seen in recent history. But let me say this: we, all too often, focus in on incarceration, the process of incarceration—of sending somebody into a secure estate, to...
Alun Davies: Like others, I'd like to take the opportunity this afternoon to thank Lord Thomas and his colleagues, his commissioners and the staff that supported them in producing this report. I'd also like to say that I wholeheartedly agreed with the approach that the First Minister outlined in introducing this debate and I hope that we can move progress on this matter with some speed and some urgency....
Alun Davies: Will the Member give way?
Alun Davies: You say it's being developed at the UK level, it's not being developed at the UK level, because these matters are devolved in both Northern Ireland and in Scotland. They've been delivered. [Interruption.] Yes, and Manchester and London to some extent. [Interruption.] And Jersey, okay. We could be here a long time. It was meant to be an intervention rather than a speech. Do you understand that...
Alun Davies: In my contribution this afternoon, I don't want to focus on individual spending decisions but to look at some of those wider themes, because we started this process this year with a debate held last September where members of the Finance Committee sought to establish what the priorities of this place were, of Parliament were, before we heard from the Government. Because in the past, of...
