Gareth Bennett: Thanks for your answer, Minister; that is encouraging. We did touch on this with the First Minister’s questions yesterday—there’s a broader issue of the connection between professional sports clubs, such as our professional football clubs, and their activities to promote grass-roots sport, to improve health targets and things like that. So, I wondered what reflections you’d had on the...
Gareth Bennett: 7. What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of the impact that the Champions League final will have on the national strategy for community sport? OAQ(5)0167(HWS)
Gareth Bennett: Swansea City and Newport County FC are both important focuses in their communities. And community morale will rise in those places as a result of those teams’ success. The problem we have sometimes with professional football clubs is that they tend now to be foreign owned. Two of the three football league clubs—[Interruption.] Well, no, it’s not going to be an EU thing. Sometimes, they...
Gareth Bennett: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thanks to Caroline for that account of the work of Bulldogs gym. The work of these kinds of community activity groups is a very important part of the fabric of our society. I’m sure there are such groups in everyone’s constituencies and regions. In my region, there’s Cardiff Riding School, for instance, located in Pontcanna fields, surrounded by...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, and as I stated, Lee, I am very interested to hear what he says about the chief constables and to elucidate on what he hinted, that the chief constables are in favour of this. My mind is not closed on this issue, but you must appreciate I have to raise the concerns so that we properly debate them. Right. I mentioned Byron Davies. I’ll quote what he said in the last time—possibly the...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, sure.
Gareth Bennett: Yes, certainly.
Gareth Bennett: Okay. I was aware of the argument the first time that you put it. Thank you for putting it again. I’d be interested to hear what the Minister would have to say on that point. I’m sure he will take that on board. Some fairly concrete—[Interruption.} Some fairly concrete disadvantages of police devolution have been aired in the past. Now, I was interested by the Minister Carl Sargeant’s...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to the individual Members for bringing today’s debate. I think devolution of policing is an important issue, and I should point out that it is an issue on which we in UKIP are thus far undecided. I do think that we need to be wary, though, before we embark on this step. I think that, if the Assembly calls for greater powers, for devolution over more things, then there have to be good...
Gareth Bennett: Thank you for your answers on the subject so far. It’s good that there is at least a code of practice that you’ve drawn up, but the point that Plaid made last week through Adam Price on the zero-hours issue was that you’ve laid claim to legal competence over the public sector employment area in your putting through the trade union Act, so it seems inconsistent with your approach to...
Gareth Bennett: There’s currently a shortage of skills in the construction industry, so I wondered if the programme of vocational education puts any emphasis on teaching carpentry, bricklaying, and any of the other related skills that are needed in that industry.
Gareth Bennett: The Trade Union Bill that the Welsh Government has brought here to debate today is a piece of legislation that has been scrutinised at some length in the Equalities and Local Government Committee, of which I’m a member, as well as the constitutional committee, of which I’m not, so I can only talk about it from the side of the committee I am on. We heard a lot of evidence, and a clear...
Gareth Bennett: Mike Hedges mentioned the closure of high-street banks and you mentioned post offices. Another important part of district shopping areas is sometimes the local pub. I wondered if there was any update regarding the Welsh Government’s talks with the Campaign for Real Ale, I believe, about how to protect community pubs.
Gareth Bennett: Sure.
Gareth Bennett: I wasn’t implying that you were, Hefin; that wasn’t my point. I just said that there are differences of opinion, that’s all; I was just ventilating the issue. [Interruption.] Okay, it’s been ventilated. We need to curb excessive officer salaries. There do need to be tough statutory guidelines here, and we are also mindful of the need to address zero-hours contracts. Now, Hefin spoke...
Gareth Bennett: Thanks to Plaid Cymru for bringing today's debate. We, in UKIP Wales, agree with the broad thrust of the Plaid motion. Of course, local public services are a key component in the well-being of the public they serve. Cuts in public funding are always to be regretted if they threaten well-used local services and facilities. Unfortunately, the reality of politics is such that the reasons for...
Gareth Bennett: Yes, thanks for that. I think, although the Government here did provide money, it hasn’t been an across-the-board, consistent system, so it would be welcome if we could at least have the full council meetings broadcast by each council. Hopefully, you will stick to this, and I’m sure you will. It’s good that some of the councils are also broadcasting the cabinet meetings, which is...
Gareth Bennett: Okay, thanks for your very clear answer there. We are concerned in UKIP at the recycling targets of your Government. We feel that reduced black bag collections could be harmful to residents. Do you agree that fortnightly collections should be the minimum service provided to residents?
Gareth Bennett: Thanks for that answer. The choice does sound like a welcome development. However, I wonder if entrenched parties that have been running their council for some time would be minded to introduce voluntarily such a change of system, but we will see. Localism is a principle that is sometimes championed by your Government. UKIP is also a fan of localism. We want to allow local residents to decide...
Gareth Bennett: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Minister, I have been encouraged by some of your proposed local government reforms. You appear to want more transparency, and perhaps you also accept the idea that more plurality of opinion is sometimes needed. Local residents don’t really benefit from councils being run like one-party states. Would you welcome it if councils were able to scrap the...
