Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Well, what we've heard from you, Minister, is your agreement to use statutory guidance—and that's statutory guidance—to oblige schools to teach life-saving skills unless they've got a good reason not to. They should teach them. And I'm so grateful for this, I have to say. This means that schools can't just use excuses like shortage of funds or lack of skills in the...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd, and I move amendment 1. Members, I'm bringing these amendments back as this is the last chance that I, or, indeed, the Minister, will be able to ensure that pupils in Wales acquire that most valuable of skills, which is knowing how to save the life of another human being. Some young people, of course, have been lucky and learnt some of these skills in school already,...
Suzy Davies: I think I must begin by asking why this is the third time we're debating Plaid's position on free school meals in as many months. This motion replicates an amendment to the budget debate on 9 February, just two weeks ago. Back in December, we agreed that if you had no recourse to public funds then you shouldn't also have to worry about relying on someone's discretion in order for your child...
Suzy Davies: As the British Deaf Association has told us in their lobbying letter, Labour, Plaid and the Lib Dems have all committed to supporting a British Sign Language Act in their general election manifestos, so I hope that these proposals will get full support today. Like Janet, I learnt some basic British Sign Language when I first became an Assembly Member. I'm very sorry, I've already forgotten so...
Suzy Davies: I'm sure the former head of Penderyn school will be very pleased to hear that news. Minister, what consideration have you given to establishing a digital fund for the Welsh language to support more use of everyday Welsh in the digital sphere? As you know, I'm eager to see everyday Welsh being normalised in day-to-day communication. It's a language for everyone, not just for some communities...
Suzy Davies: Minister, I just wonder if you could give us some indication of what's been learnt from trying to carry out tests in schools. Because, as I've mentioned before, in my region, certainly, there was at one point a definite disconnect between school staff and NHS leads about who should take responsibility for the administration of lateral flow tests. So, I'm wondering, can you give us an...
Suzy Davies: [Inaudible.]—statement, Minister. Can I just begin by thanking everyone in the university sector who's really pulled out the stops to help students through this pandemic? I know we feel the same on that. I think we'll always be grateful to those who stepped up to this overwhelming challenge. But student finance reform, of course, has given universities greater certainty of funding and has...
Suzy Davies: I appreciate that we're going to be looking at an inquiry into the Welsh Government's COVID response in the next Senedd, Trefnydd, but I wonder whether it would be possible to have a statement from the education Minister, or maybe even the local government Minister, actually, before April on any early findings of an evaluation of the school or hub provision for vulnerable children and...
Suzy Davies: I think that's the same for all of us, First Minister. Let's just have a quick look at that disproportionate effect. We've got 72 per cent of working mothers working fewer hours and cutting their earnings due to lack of child care, and during lockdown mothers were doing 35 per cent of uninterrupted work hours that the average father did. I'm sure that those figures from the Chwarae Teg...
Suzy Davies: That's encouraging, because older learners and parents are starting to get very agitated now as they see us heading towards the traditional exam period—I know the process is different now—and they're seeing their children getting quite worked up about this. So, the sooner they're open the better on that. You didn't say anything about differences across Wales, but that's possibly because...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that. And I'm taking it from that as well that the trade unions are satisfied with the steps that are now in place, certainly for the foundation phase years. I'm hoping that they'll feel the same for secondary schools as well, because, as we know, Welsh Government's position at the moment is that it's pressures on the NHS that determines which parts of our society are released...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Afternoon, Minister. We were all very relieved, of course, to hear you announce that primary schools will be open for face-to-face learning for foundation phase pupils after half term. However, with just three days to go until half term, we've seen the publication overnight of the guidance that schools have been clamouring for for some days now. Only this morning,...
Suzy Davies: Can I just associate myself with the remarks of David Rees with regard to how people have really stepped up to the plate in Skewen? Two weeks ago, on the back of his topical question, I asked the local government Minister a question that she didn't answer, but I think you might be able to—maybe you're better placed to do that. Obviously, with the Skewen floods, the focus was very much on...
Suzy Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on how the 2021-22 budget will benefit town centre regeneration in South Wales West?
Suzy Davies: Now, what talking to Lucy Jenkins, the force of nature who leads the MFL student mentoring project, has done is made me better understand what my own experience actually was all those years ago. And those two examples show what that was, and that was being given the facility to play with languages, to see the connections and to be able to guess what something means, to take some risks and...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Thank you very much. I'd like to give a minute each to Mike Hedges and Laura Jones. Two weeks ago, I was eager to join the Minister and others at the Universities Wales civic mission showcase, and I'm pretty sure, Minister, in your response, you'll agree that it was a little oasis of nourishment and positivity when so many of us have been bound up in the challenges...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you to everyone who's taken part in this debate. As Mark Isherwood said at the beginning, it's never been so important as now to be discussing what we're discussing today. A number of Members have referred to the hope that we will all die well, and the role of palliative services in that is absolutely critical. I think what I picked up from the debate today...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that answer. Obviously, the sector understands the need to reopen safely, but this is the time of the year when they have to make significant spending decisions, and to that end they're seeking as much information as possible to help them know how long they have to plan to stay closed as opposed to open. I think the prospect of a safe May election has given them some hope that...
Suzy Davies: 1. What criteria will the Welsh Government be using to decide when outdoor visitor attractions will be able to reopen? OQ56204
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and can I thank all Members for their contributions? No-one is suggesting this is easy, which is why congratulating the UK Government on securing supplies so quickly really shouldn't have been very difficult. But I'm afraid, Minister, that you and the First Minister have made this a far more fraught experience that it needed to be, because of the poor communication...
