Alun Davies: [Inaudible.]—isn't in her script. Sorry.
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to the leader of the Welsh Conservatives. He says that we should be respecting the result of the referendum, but, of course, it was the Conservative Party that, three months after the Welsh referendum on devolution, voted against a Second Reading of the Bill to give life to that referendum. So, when it comes to respecting the will of the people, the Conservatives don't have a...
Alun Davies: Like others, I’m very grateful to the Member for Ogmore for bringing forward this debate this afternoon. Presiding Officer, we remember the conversations and the debates we had about the 5p charge on a carrier bag. And, at the time, that was seen to be groundbreaking legislation. It led to a 71 per cent reduction in their usage, which had two impacts, of course: it changed public behaviour...
Alun Davies: Presiding Officer, I think all of us were shocked by the news this week of the imprisonment of Catalonia's political leaders. And since then, we've been shocked by the images of state violence that we see coming from Catalonia. Many of us have felt that our democracy is secure, our rights as European citizens secure and guaranteed. But we all know that, in recent years, we have seen with a...
Alun Davies: I also want to take advantage of the fact that the education Minister is in her seat this afternoon. You will be aware, Minister, that Blaenau Gwent council has made an application for a new Welsh-medium primary school in Tredegar. Now, I’m not worried whether it’s in Tredegar or in any other community within the county, but I am aware that Blaenau Gwent does have to deliver on its own...
Alun Davies: 2. What representations has the Welsh Government made following the imprisonment of Catalonia’s elected political leaders? 352
Alun Davies: I welcome the way that we've had a very serious and informed debate on these matters this afternoon. These are serious matters about how we govern ourselves. I do not share David's concerns about sovereignty. Sovereignty is exercised, of course, by the cantons in Switzerland, and they do so in an effective way to ensure the self-governance of that confederation. We will, over the years, look...
Alun Davies: Can I very much welcome the statement, First Minister, and welcome the document you published? It was, of course, only right and proper that you speak to this matter when giving the Keir Hardie lecture. Keir Hardie's first election manifesto was rooted in home rule—home rule, a minimum wage and temperance, in fact. I'm not sure that there'll be wholesale support for all of those different...
Alun Davies: Both the Counsel General and I, of course, gave evidence to the commission during its consideration, and, like you, I look forward to hearing its report next week. There is a fundamental issue at stake here with its work, of course, and that is about the nature of the settlement within the United Kingdom. We have addressed issues during First Minister's questions and during this session of...
Alun Davies: I recognise, Counsel General, that many of these matters under consideration are matters for the departmental Minister rather than for you, but my concern is the ability of the Welsh Government to ensure that its policy is followed across the face of the country. Because one of the issues that's just been raised by the Plaid Cymru Member for South Wales West—which I have faced in my...
Alun Davies: There is a real crisis, I think, in terms of the secure estate in Wales. There's always a focus on large male prisons, but there's no focus at all on the nature of the estate, and the way in which particularly women and young offenders are treated within the system. Now, this is an area where we have an entirely broken settlement, where the devolution settlement prevents both the United...
Alun Davies: I'm grateful to you for that, Deputy Minister. I think, Presiding Officer, the Conservative Member for North Wales possibly inadvertently made a stronger case for the devolution of these services than the rest of us could ever make, in his earlier question. The fact that we do have a settlement that is broken in this regard leads to human suffering, day after day after day, and the systemic...
Alun Davies: 4. Will the Deputy Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's justice policies? OAQ54472
Alun Davies: But you have spoken in the debate now and you have done exactly that, and I commend the Member for Monmouthshire in doing so. But, of course, the tramways that I've described do all link down to the Monmouthshire and Brecon canal as well, and the Disgwylfa and the Llangattock tramway do link in with the wharfs down in Govilon with which he's very familiar. But I hope that, as the Government...
Alun Davies: I must say, when this debate appeared on the order paper, I was intrigued by the title of the debate and I've enjoyed the opportunity we've had this afternoon to share some of our memories, in some cases, but also our ambitions and aspirations for reinventing the communities in which we live. Because when I think about the industrial architecture or the industrial infrastructure that I grew...
Alun Davies: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. We hear today that there's been a 22 per cent increase in the deaths of homeless people. The numbers, of course, relate to Office for National Statistics research across the whole of Wales and England. I'd be grateful if the Welsh Government could make a statement on the situation in Wales, so that we can understand how this increase in drug poisoning,...
Alun Davies: I think it's important that we start our conversations about the budgets right at the beginning of the process, rather than the legislature responding to the Government's proposals. The conversations that we've started to have, listening to people, in this case in Aberystwyth, were part of that attempt to ensure that we changed the way in which—we don't simply scrutinise budgets in the...
Alun Davies: I'm making the point, acting Presiding Officer, that, when people talk to us about public opinion, I've tested public opinion in my constituency, and I won a mandate on the basis of it.
Alun Davies: I became very convinced very quickly that we brutalise people in this system, that we brutalise our communities, and we do not either promote or deliver rehabilitation in any way at all. There is nobody here, in this place, despite some of the nonsense we've heard from some sides of this Chamber, who could take any pride at all in what happens—[Interruption.] I know my constituents, Oscar,...
Alun Davies: Wednesday afternoons don't get any better, do they? Do you know, I welcome the report from the committee. I also welcome the Government's response to that report, and I was very pleased to read the words of the Minister in her response. I was very pleased when I made an oral statement on this matter in January of last year. All of us who have the privilege of serving the Government of our...
