Siân Gwenllian: Will the Minister provide an update on plans for a Caernarfon to Bontnewydd bypass?
Siân Gwenllian: Like everyone in the Chamber today, I too send my deepest condolences to Shona, Celyn, Gail, Nia and the whole family, and I wish to thank you for sharing Steffan with us. He was taken away far too soon and his loss is great to his family more than anyone, of course, but also to Plaid Cymru, the people of the south-east of Wales, this Assembly and to Wales. He contributed so much, and his...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much. Llyr Gruffydd, as a member of the Children, Young People and Education Committee, as my predecessor, scrutinised this Bill in detail, and I, as a current member of the committee, have had an opportunity to scrutinise it also. We, as Plaid Cymru, tabled a number of amendments in order to seek to make the Bill more meaningful, but we were very disappointed that those were...
Siân Gwenllian: Adam Price.
Siân Gwenllian: As we’ve just heard, pupils attending half of Welsh secondary schools are failing to reach their full potential by the time that they leave school. It’s Estyn that states that, despite what you’ve just said. Five years ago, you admitted that the Welsh Government had taken its eye off the ball in terms of education in the past and you agreed at that point—and I quote—that you had...
Siân Gwenllian: May I also wish you well for the future? Isn’t it true to say that the poorest families in Wales have been let down by your Government and by your leadership? There are many examples, and the latest are the childcare proposals—a deficient Bill that discriminates against families and parents who are already struggling, because those families not in work will not qualify for free...
Siân Gwenllian: It's a pleasure to formally move this amendment.
Siân Gwenllian: Formally.
Siân Gwenllian: Formally.
Siân Gwenllian: Yes, formally.
Siân Gwenllian: No, thank you.
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much. Amendment 7, in the name of Plaid Cymru, relates to ensuring that the Minister has due regard to the Welsh language in childcare. Beginning with Welsh-medium education, or Welsh-medium childcare, from an early age is crucial if we are to reach the target of a million Welsh speakers, and, indeed, the Children, Young People and Education Committee, in July of this year,...
Siân Gwenllian: Just to formally pursue the point about all of these other programmes—these create huge confusion for people, people aren’t aware of them, and, for me, it would make common sense to bring everything together so that everyone who has children of the ages of three or four does have that right, then, to free childcare.
Siân Gwenllian: I just want to know how many of these schemes are statutory and how many are reliant on short-term funding sources?
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you, Llywydd. I would like to make it clear at the very outset that Plaid Cymru will be voting against the Childcare Funding (Wales) Bill on the basis that we believe in the principle of free childcare. This is consistent with our approach at Stage 1, but we have introduced amendments in order to seek to strengthen the Bill in the hope that they can be agreed, even so late in the day....
Siân Gwenllian: It is a pleasure to speak today to the Plaid Cymru amendments and in favour of those amendments, of course, and I do so on behalf of the Arfon constituency, one of the constituencies that was most robust in its support for remaining within the European Union, with over 60 per cent having voted to remain. And, according to a recent opinion poll, 71 per cent of the people of Arfon would now...
Siân Gwenllian: Diolch. Just on that point about the Government not having an anti-poverty strategy, despite calls from the committee twice, three times, how disappointed are you that we are still without that anti-poverty strategy and that, in fact, we don't even know precisely who the Cabinet Minister responsible for anti-poverty across Government is? I thought it was Ken Skates, but now it's all of you....
Siân Gwenllian: Isn't the important point today not the formula—and we're getting dragged into discussing the funding formula—but isn't the important point here that there's been an increase in the budget for this year that gave the Government here a golden opportunity to start to shift the emphasis towards preventative services in local government? You've missed that opportunity.
Siân Gwenllian: Will the First Minister provide an update on the Bontnewydd bypass scheme, following the announcement in May that the scheme will go ahead?
Siân Gwenllian: The petition, of course, relates to a specific issue and to which version of the code should be followed in a particular case on Ynys Môn—the old version or the new edition; 2013 rather than 2018. Now, I have no specific comments to make on that particular case or which version should be used. That's an issue of great detail that needs consideration. But I would like to take this...
