Bethan Sayed: Thank you for the meeting alongside David Melding this morning. As Plaid Cymru spokesperson for housing—although you wouldn’t realise it today—I just wanted to say, in relation to your point about this not being political, I totally agree, but I think that the Government should expect Assembly Members of all parties to be able to scrutinise effectively, and that is part of our role in...
Bethan Sayed: Following on from that theme, last week, in a question that I asked the Cabinet Secretary, I asked, ‘Why did you let the land go forward for consideration to be used for a prison?’, the Cabinet Secretary said, and I quote ‘the Member’s incorrect in her assertion that I had an option in terms of the land issue regarding the prison.’ Could you please clarify this? Did you offer up...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you. I asked you questions on this a few weeks ago and that was before the terror attack on Muslims at Finsbury Park mosque by a British man living in Cardiff. It shows that we need to take a different approach to looking at addressing these issues. It’s not just about expecting ethnic-minority communities to look inside their own practices and how they operate; it’s about how we...
Bethan Sayed: But it would have been within your gift to have allocated that land for something else, prior to now having a prison. So, that’s something that we’ll argue about again, in the future. I want to have one question about fire safety. Although you said last week that there were no buildings with the particular type of cladding used in Grenfell Tower, the BBC reported yesterday that tower...
Bethan Sayed: Can I just ask then, why did you just have one conversation? If you had offered those sites, surely it would have been good for you, as a Cabinet Secretary, to be proactive in actually taking on some of the concerns that you would have prior to that public announcement. I’ve seen a list of quite a number of sites, which has clearly been given by your department. Were questions raised, such...
Bethan Sayed: Diolch. It’s been three months since the announcement of the 1,600-capacity men’s prison in Port Talbot. And I just wanted to probe further on your response from last time I raised this. I didn’t believe that you were clear and forthright enough when you made a statement to the Assembly on 22 March regarding the level of engagement that you had had with the Ministry of Justice. The...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you for that, but the previous consultation concluded in March of last year, which is 15 months ago now, and people are concerned that there is a lack of leadership in this area. So, how do you expect councillors, and the Planning Inspectorate, to work in line with the higher status afforded to the Welsh language via the Planning (Wales) Act 2015 if there is no movement on this issue?...
Bethan Sayed: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on progress regarding Technical Advice Note 20? OAQ(5)0158(ERA)
Bethan Sayed: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline what the Welsh Government is doing to improve community cohesion in Wales in light of recent terror related incidents? OAQ(5)0162(CC)
Bethan Sayed: Can I just ask why it’s 2018? Because we heard from some witnesses who were saying that they were having to volunteer because there was simply nobody else to do it. Can we have some urgency in relation to potentially looking at this earlier because, at the moment, they’re so overstretched that I think this is something that warrants looking into?
Bethan Sayed: Will you give way?
Bethan Sayed: We’re praising another committee this week, then, Suzy—there’s a theme appearing here. I’d like to thank the Chair and the other members of the committee—most of the members of the committee—for agreeing to this report. It’s actually one of the most rewarding experiences that I’ve had in a long time. Quite often, we may go to outreach events where there is a decent number of...
Bethan Sayed: Cabinet Secretary, it’s clear from independent evaluation with regard to Communities First that the Government has failed in its aim to decrease general poverty in these areas. With the scrapping of Communities First, how will you deliver on the specific goal of decreasing poverty? Because, and I quote the Cabinet Secretary from this morning’s committee evidence to us, he will be relying...
Bethan Sayed: I, too, would like to offer my condolences to those who lost their lives in this tragic circumstance. I’d also like to praise the Welsh volunteers who were in the media today and who have gone and helped those at Grenfell, and I would like to encourage that to happen. Where we can see that there is human tragedy across borders, then we should try and help others, as far as I’m concerned....
Bethan Sayed: I hosted a young carers event in the Senedd on Saturday, which was well attended, mostly by young carers from across Cardiff. I know that they told me there that you’re working on a card system so that young carers can identify in schools or in social settings that they are a carer, so that they get treatment that’s sensitive to what they need. But, almost all the young carers that I...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you. I’m not going to speak for very long, but thank you all who have contributed and I’m sure this will—as Suzy captured quite well, I think, saying this is the first chapter of many that we will look into in relation to broadcasting, the newspaper industry, radio, and such, as part of this committee. Other committees of the Assembly have looked at it sporadically, but I think...
Bethan Sayed: Thank you, Llywydd. I am very pleased to open this debate on the initial report of the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee on broadcasting in Wales, ‘The Big Picture’. Thank you to the clerks and the Assembly Members of all parties for their hard work on the committee. Despite the Assembly’s current lack of formal powers in this area, I believe there is now a consensus...
Bethan Sayed: Well, okay, we can have a back and forth here—
Bethan Sayed: [Continues.]—you are supporting the Bill, I’m supporting the Bill. Working on this consensus, perhaps—. I’m not doing it just to get a clap, I’m doing it because I care about the people who have come here today and are bothering to care about these issues. I have somebody on a waiting list for two and a half years for the interim diagnosis of global development delay, waiting in my...
Bethan Sayed: No, I am not playing to the gallery. I’m speaking based on what I’ve experienced in my constituency, and the level of support for this that you can see here today. And if Government Ministers can see that, they should support that Bill. And in answering your question with regard to other conditions, I believe, having consulted the GP next to me before I stood up, that Asperger’s will...
