Mark Isherwood: Well, throughout our inquiry, I emphasised that our consideration of options for better delivery of benefits in Wales must focus on whether this would intrinsically benefit people in Wales, rather than on opinions of the transient policies of changing Governments. Governments in London and Cardiff come and go, and the policy agenda both between and within parties in both will change over...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you. What action have you taken since the Audit Wales article in July on local council democracy coming out of lockdown, which found that since Welsh Government regulations on 22 April enabled councillors to resume their roles in decision making and holding each other to account, the rate at which democratic structures had returned had varied across Wales? By the end of June, several...
Mark Isherwood: Okay. Well, moving on: letters sent by your chief planner to local authority heads of planning from 27 March provided helpful guidance on how local planning authorities maintain services during the pandemic. These stated, for example, that those breaches of planning control that would merit the use of a stop notice or temporary stop notice require immediate attention from the local planning...
Mark Isherwood: Well, I hope you're therefore confirming that if their figures conflict with yours, and that's evidence based, that that might take priority, unlike their past experience. But letters from you and your department to Flintshire council over years state, quote 'It is extremely disappointing that your authority has submitted a further request to extend the time taken to prepare your Local...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. Sorry. The Welsh Government's recently revised household projection figures show, for example, a smaller rise in Flintshire than previously projected and a fall in Wrexham, although the number of single-parent households and single-person households are still projected to increase in both. When I wrote asking you what effect this will have on the expected future housing build...
Mark Isherwood: 12. Will the Minister make a statement on the governance arrangements for local government during the coronavirus pandemic? OQ55499
Mark Isherwood: Thank you for your statement. You referred to people helped into temporary or emergency accommodation. How do you therefore respond to the report released by Audit Wales on 23 July on avoiding a return to rough-sleeping after the pandemic, which found that up to £209 million is wasted annually by the Welsh public sector reacting to, but not solving, rough-sleeping, and cited examples of a...
Mark Isherwood: How do you respond to concerns raised with me by school staff that social distancing is being ignored or is impossible for pupils whose school requires them to move between classrooms; that the breadth and standard of online teaching has been variable, asking whether Wales has invested in further development of online teaching and resources in preparation for a possible second wave; that a...
Mark Isherwood: Unmute, right. I call for a Welsh Government statement on the approval and distribution of clear face masks in Wales. Action on Hearing Loss Cymru has highlighted the disproportionate effect on people who are deaf or have hearing loss of face mask use during the coronavirus pandemic, where inaccessible communication can also present a safety risk. Visual cues, such as facial expression and...
Mark Isherwood: The 'Left stranded' report published last week by the National Autistic Society and its partners shows that as well as significantly exacerbating long-established challenges autistic people face getting suitable social care and educational support, the coronavirus pandemic has had a severely detrimental impact on the mental health of autistic people and their families. How, therefore, will...
Mark Isherwood: 3. What support has the Welsh Government provided to autistic people during the coronavirus pandemic? OQ55500
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. Testing in care homes in Wales came too late for too many, and its effectiveness as a tool in the toolbox requires care homes to be operating on a sustainably resourced basis. Speaking in the virtual Welsh Parliament on 3 June, I referred to a nursing home who'd written stating that five residents had suffered COVID-19-related deaths, and that Betsi Cadwaladr University...
Mark Isherwood: Wedding businesspeople tell me time is very quickly running out for wedding venues and the wedding industry as a whole. In a survey of Welsh wedding venues, 86 per cent said that clarity and a roadmap or timetable was of utmost importance to the survival of their business. Virtually every other sector has been given permission to open up, and large indoor wedding celebrations are allowed...
Mark Isherwood: 3. How is the Welsh Government supporting businesses in North Wales to reopen as a result of the coronavirus pandemic? OQ55446
Mark Isherwood: My speech in the committee debate on the effects of COVID-19 on Wales's economy, infrastructure and skills, on 1 July, noted that although the Confederation of Passenger Transport presented a proposal to Welsh Government on 15 May, which would enable operators to ramp up bus services, with full costings for all Welsh bus operators, industry correspondence received in late June stated that...
Mark Isherwood: As our motion proposes, this Welsh Parliament should regret 'the failure of the Welsh Government to provide adequate support for Welsh bus operators during the coronavirus pandemic' and call on the Welsh Government to 'urgently review and increase the support available to bus operators in Wales to enable them to increase the frequency and capacity of bus services for the people of Wales'. The...
Mark Isherwood: After you announced that health boards are looking at how they can restart planned NHS operations and cancer services, a constituent e-mailed, 'Try telling that to my friend, who has a tumour on his kidney and had his operation postponed, and my wife, who has swelling under her arm and below her ear, down to the top of her breast—no x-ray or scan, and her first physio was cancelled.' On 17...
Mark Isherwood: The Wales Tourism Alliance, the Federation of Small Businesses Wales and CBI Wales told the committee that the tourism and hospitality industries would be disproportionately affected. I submitted an urgent written question to the First Minister on 30 April, asking him to respond to calls for a specific plan to support tourism businesses in Wales and for consideration to be given to models of...
Mark Isherwood: I'll just unmute. Thank you. Yes, this is dreadful, dreadful news for north-east Wales and the wider region and economy. I attended a briefing last evening with Airbus, alongside north-east Wales Conservative MPs, who explained that they're facing the most serious global crisis in the history of our industry and that the more formalised announcements on where the job losses will fall will...
Mark Isherwood: Well, although small bed and breakfasts are a mainstay of local tourism economies across north Wales, they're ineligible for the Welsh Government's £10,000 business grant. When I raised this with the economy Minister, he referred to the eligibility checker for the second phase of the economic resilience fund. When it opened, they were ineligible. When I questioned him about this, he said he...
