Helen Mary Jones: I am, Llywydd, encouraged to a certain extent by what the Minister says there, but he does use the phrase 'talk about', and I think we need to refer to what is actually happening now. From April, our local health boards will be responsible for an unprecedented amount of public funds in Wales, and I think there's nobody in this Chamber that would disagree with the need to invest. Now, other...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. In February 2016, the then First Minister used an Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development report to defend the then Welsh Government's record with regard to health service delivery. Of course, when you look at what that report actually said, it said, among other things, this: 'at present, Health Boards do not have sufficient institutional technical...
Helen Mary Jones: Will the Minister take an intervention?
Helen Mary Jones: So, do you dispute the view of the House of Lords committee that said that this clearly goes beyond—the drafting of the legislation, even with the amendments that you've mentioned—clearly goes beyond the stated intention of the legislation when it was first tabled? And do you not have any concerns about that?
Helen Mary Jones: I rise to advise this Chamber to oppose this legislative consent motion, and I do not do that lightly. We do appreciate the urgency of the situation, and I think it's absolutely appropriate to acknowledge that the Minister has made some real progress in improving what was initially, but we believe still continues to be, a bad and dangerous piece of legislation. I want to turn briefly, to...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm very grateful to the Minister for taking an intervention. Would you agree with me that it's essential that these new builds are of high quality and that we did have, in the second half of the previous century, some very low-quality social housing built, very unpleasant to live in? I think that's also contributed to the stigma around renting, which I think we would all agree we need to...
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you, Llywydd. I was very sorry to miss the first meeting. I was intending to be here but a family emergency took me away. I, like I'm sure many other Members, have been looking at some of the speeches online and I'm incredibly impressed by the quality and the depth and also the honesty of the young people's contributions. I'm very pleased to see that the work streams that they've chosen...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm very grateful to you for your answer, Minister. Can you give us some indications of the timescale under which that group is expected to report? Because I'm certainly being told that we are, in some parts of Wales, facing a crisis in social care, one of the major issues being recruitment of staff. Of course, there's a Brexit element to that, but, in the context of this question today, one...
Helen Mary Jones: 6. What recent discussions has the Minister had with the Minister and Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services about the funding of social care? OAQ53488
Helen Mary Jones: 2. Will the Commission make a statement on the next steps for the Youth Parliament? OAQ53489
Helen Mary Jones: I thank the Deputy Minister for her statement. She will, of course, remember the hard fight we had to have included in our founding statute the specific responsibility for this institution to have due regard to equality of opportunity in 1998. It's nice to hear her refer to it in her statement, and I would also like to remind us all that that was led by our former colleague Val Feld, who...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Counsel General for that response. Of course, we do have a peculiar anomaly, do we not, in that we have a Parliament that makes laws but we have no distinctive judiciary to enforce those. I believe, in fact, that we're the only Parliament or regional Parliament in the western world where that is the case, and, obviously, the Counsel General won't be surprised to hear me...
Helen Mary Jones: 1. Will the Counsel General provide an update on measures being taken to ensure that the judiciary is fully aware of the growing differences between English and Welsh law? OAQ53490
Helen Mary Jones: In that spirit, will the Minister take an intervention?
Helen Mary Jones: I don’t know if this would count as challenge, but I wonder if you’d agree with me that one of the key factors in this agenda is safety, both in terms, as you’ve said, of other road users needing to be considerate for example of cyclists, but there’s also a particular issue for women and girls around pathways and cycleways needing to be well lit, needing to be safe. I can’t...
Helen Mary Jones: I wasn't, of course, a member of the committee when the evidence was received, and I want to begin my contribution to this debate by expressing my gratitude to all involved in this very important piece of work—to my fellow committee members, to staff and most of all, of course, to those who gave evidence. This is a wide-ranging and comprehensive report, and as Lynne Neagle has said, I think...
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you for your answer, Minister, and thank you for your letter that you sent to me recently on an issue raised by my constituent who at the moment faces needing to pay not only for her own Welsh licence, which she's perfectly happy to do, but also an additional £800 if she's going to be able to take her business into England, which she does on a regular basis. Now, she—and many other...
Helen Mary Jones: Minister, you mentioned the level of nitrogen dioxide, and you'll be aware of the study being undertaken by Professor Paul Lewis at Swansea University in this regard—figures showing 81 out of 916 places exceeding safe limits, including eight in Carmarthenshire, and one example being the Felinfoel road in Llanelli. What evaluation are you and your officials making of moves like the 50 mph...
Helen Mary Jones: 5. What discussions has the Welsh Government had about licensing of performing animals? OAQ53450
Helen Mary Jones: I'd like to welcome the Minister's statement and to reiterate my party's support for the transformation fund. It is a bit like taking one tugboat to try and turn around the Titanic, but the Minister has acknowledged that, and it is all about identifying good practice. I was also encouraged to hear the Minister say at the end of his statement that we still have much to do, because I think we...
