Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Llywydd. Amendment 35, we haven't covered it, so diolch i chi'ch dau. Can I just begin by saying that I was very grateful to you, Minister, for engaging with us on the question of the review? I think this was really, really important. I think core to the confidence in any review is this Parliament's ability, though, to help design it—to get answers to the questions...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for taking the intervention there, Minister. I'm grateful for that assurance. If you can give us some kind of steer—. Oh, can I ask you for another reassurance, then, that this would be one of the first sets of regulations you bring forward, provided HMRC are happy with what you intend to do?
Suzy Davies: Yes, thank you, Janet. Subsection 1 of section 6 of the Bill gives Ministers the power to make provision for reviews or for appeals to the first-tier tribunal against determinations as to eligibility for funding under the Bill. And I would say that this Bill needs to include a right of appeal, not merely permit Ministers to consider some time, when they have a moment, to include one. As a...
Suzy Davies: Will you give way?
Suzy Davies: Sorry, before we move on—thank you, Minister—the whole point is that if these regulations need to be introduced, the power isn't strong enough; you should have a duty. That's all that my amendments 15 and 16 were about.
Suzy Davies: Members, amendment 15 simply introduces a duty on Ministers to introduce those regulations to define the age of children whose parents can then rely on this legislation. Despite the very welcome duty embodied in amendment 4, which actually commits Ministers to funding the childcare offer, the likely fall of our amendment 22 means that we are no nearer certainty on which parents will be...
Suzy Davies: The Bill, of course, is aimed at getting parents of children of non-specified age into work or keeping them in work by introducing a non-specified period of funded childcare, and, naturally, it needs to be clear what constitutes a 'parent', which it does successfully in section 1(7)(a) by reference to parental responsibility as defined in the Children Act 1989, and then less successfully at...
Suzy Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Suzy Davies: Sorry, just for clarification. So, are you saying then that the definition of 'childcare' in the 2006 Act is incorrect?
Suzy Davies: This Bill is called the Childcare (Funding) Wales Bill, and the Minister will be aware from amendments tabled in my name at Stage 2 that we've been, well, unhappy about the fact that we have yet another Swiss cheese Bill laid before us. While I'm grateful to you for tabling the amendment in this group, it doesn't absolutely specifically put your policy from your manifesto, and indeed the...
Suzy Davies: It is the legacy of the First Minister that's in the spotlight today. It's only this week we've produced our own policy on how to improve housing and provision for that in Wales, so you can't say that we're without ideas. It's just today is not the day for them. You'll be getting plenty from us in the next couple of years—don't you worry about that. Predictably, of course, had the First...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. I think perhaps I should just begin by acknowledging that Estyn does say that they're happy that there's been progress in the primary sector. But I think it would be a betrayal of those young people if they then move on to schools in which the majority of pupils—and I mean the majority—across the age and ability range continue to...
Suzy Davies: Of course, it's not easy necessarily for councils that are trying to make the most of the money that they have as well in order to regenerate their city centre—in the case of Swansea—and improve the local economy there. A cabinet report from the council there last month stated that there is a risk that the local authority does not have sufficient resources to complete phase 1 of its...
Suzy Davies: As you know, Cabinet Secretary, the local authorities in my area are all Labour run, and even they are starting to say that schools and social care budgets can't be protected, with one of them saying even that Welsh Government cannot continue to use austerity as an excuse for not allowing local government to deliver vital services to all constituents. With that comment in mind, I wonder if...
Suzy Davies: 1. With a recent Estyn report stating that secondary schools in Wales could do better, with only half currently judged as good or excellent, what work will the Welsh Government undertake to ensure that standards are raised across all secondary schools in Wales? 242
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Counsel General, for this statement, and also the comments towards the end there that this Bill will stand alone, regardless of political differences of view about jurisdiction and so forth, so that we don't get sidetracked by that during the course of the passage of this Bill. Also, I hope you won't mind, but I'm not in a position to answer the very question you've asked us as...
Suzy Davies: Will the First Minister make a statement on ambulance waiting times in South Wales West?
Suzy Davies: A Swansea parkway, appropriately located to the north of the city, means that people can travel more swiftly east-west within the region and to the east of the region, as well as helping to maintain that all-important land-bridge between Ireland and the rest of the UK and then on to the European Union. All that alone saves time for travellers who don’t need to go into Swansea itself. It...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Llywydd, and everyone else.
Suzy Davies: It's always pleasing to start a debate with agreement, Cabinet Secretary, and on this occasion, it's a common interest in the success of the Swansea bay city deal. It may say 'Swansea' in the title, but the opportunities for Neath Port Talbot, Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire's local authority areas are just as exciting. We're talking about almost 10,000 new jobs and £2 billion economic...
