Helen Mary Jones: I have to end my contribution, Llywydd, by asking what level of failure by a public service in our nation will it take for a Labour Minister—and that's my only party political point today—what level of failure will it take for a Labour Minister to do the honourable thing?
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. We celebrated, yesterday, 20 years of this place as a parliament. The function of a parliament is to hold a government to account, and I am therefore profoundly disappointed to have just heard the Minister describe this serious and, I thought, on the whole very dignified debate as a political bun fight. I have to say to the Minister that if we wanted a political bun...
Helen Mary Jones: The Wales Audit Office produced a memorandum in 2015 setting out clearly the accountability arrangements for the NHS. These roles are in the memorandum, in line with the legislation, and these are the roles that are attributed by that memorandum to the Minister, setting policy and strategic framework direction, agreeing in Cabinet as part of collective discussion overall resources for the...
Helen Mary Jones: Deputy Presiding Officer, I rise today to propose this motion in the spirit of utmost seriousness. It is no light matter to ask any parliament to express a lack of confidence in an appointed Minister. The threshold for making such a call is high, and rightly so. The Minister's party holds the highest number of Members in this place and, through arrangements with others, the First Minister has...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Counsel General for his response. Of course, there are many of us here that are hoping that this will not be a situation that we have to face, but, given that it may be, we now do have some further months, as you said in your response to Huw Irranca-Davies, to try to prepare for what the worst-case scenario might be. I wonder if, in discussion with the Minister for Health...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Minister for his answer to Russell George—it's very important, and it's useful to hear what the forward plans are. I travelled last week on the Cambrian coast line—I must say, to my shame—for the first time north of Machynlleth; I'd used the other part of the line frequently. And I was struck there by the very high number of passengers using that train for very short...
Helen Mary Jones: I thank the Minister for his response. Constituents are saying to me that they thought there was a lot of emphasis on connectivity in urban contexts, and particularly in the Valleys, and, obviously, that is very important. But can the Minister say a little bit more about what he's doing, particularly in the context of the west of Wales, to ensure that that connectivity is prioritised for...
Helen Mary Jones: 1. Will the Minister make a statement on supporting rural public transport in Carmarthenshire? OAQ53813
Helen Mary Jones: 8. What recent discussions has the Counsel General had with the Minister for Health and Social Services regarding the impact of Brexit on the Welsh NHS? OAQ53811
Helen Mary Jones: I'm very grateful to you, Minister. Thank you. I'm sure we'd all support, as the motion calls for, a cross-party declaration, but in order to put the convention into effect, I'm sure you'd agree we need to go further than that. Can I seek your reassurance today that as we look at the possibility, potentially post Brexit, where we may lose the EU equality protections—and some of us are...
Helen Mary Jones: Will the Member take an intervention?
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you very much, John. Would you agree with me that it’s really important that we help teach our children, through schools, how to be that positive bystander, how to effectively step in and intervene when you see something is going wrong? Because it can be very difficult, I think, when you’ve got peer pressure, you’ve perhaps got a group of people, and it’s very difficult for you...
Helen Mary Jones: A very specific point about your amendment around zero-hours contracts: as it is written, it says 'to eliminate exploitative zero hours contracts'. I invite you to take this opportunity to make it clear that the Government believes that all zero-hours contracts are exploitative and that that's there to describe all zero-hours contracts and not to suggest that there are zero-hours contracts...
Helen Mary Jones: I was about to come to that, because of course in terms of banning—legally banning—zero-hours contracts we do not have the competence to do that. But our motion doesn't ask for that. What our motion asks is for the Welsh Government to use its economic power to keep those zero-hours contracts out of those areas of service over which they have control— 'devolved Welsh public services and...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm very grateful for the opportunity to take part in this important event, this important debate. It's great for us all as a Senedd to be able to celebrate International Workers' Day, and we do this, of course, in the context of a very moving statement from Mick Antoniw, remembering that Sunday was Workers' Memorial Day. Now, Mick reminded us of the theme of that day, which is to remember...
Helen Mary Jones: Will you take an intervention?
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you. I'm grateful to you for taking an intervention. There is a difference, though, between zero-hours contracts, which put all the power into the hands of the employer, and flexible working contracts, where the power is more evenly balanced. I don't know if you've had family members who've been working on zero-hours contracts, but I have, and, as the TUC general secretary said, I've...
Helen Mary Jones: Well, I'm sure, Llywydd, that this Chamber will be rather concerned that after eight reports over six years, the Minister and his officials had not picked up on the seriousness of this situation. We heard individual testimonies in this Chamber suggesting that those concerns actually go back a lot further than the first report that I'm referring to in 2012. I'm just really concerned, Llywydd,...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm sure that the Minister will understand, after yesterday's statement, that issues with regard to leadership and accountability are of great concern to Members in this Chamber. Can the Minister explain to us why he has had Betsi Cadwaladr health board in special measures for about four years and we don't seem to have seen any change after this lengthy intervention? Can he account for why,...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Thank you. Last year, the General Medical Council struck off 76 doctors and the Nursing and Midwifery Council struck off 257 individuals regarded as no longer fit to practice in the health service across the UK. I'm sure the Minister will agree with me that it's right for professionals in the health service to be held accountable for serious malpractice and...
