Siân Gwenllian: I’ve very aware of the concerns of parents, teachers and education leaders in north Wales as a result of GCSE English exam results. It appears that children in north Wales who sat the exams in the summer of 2018 have been let down. Up to 700 children could have been impacted by this—children who would have had grade C or above if they’d been treated equally with children who sat the...
Siân Gwenllian: The hope, of course, is that the additional learning needs Act will truly transform education for these children and young people, but, as we’ve heard, sufficient resources are crucial, but also the appropriate skills. There is a question as to whether those skills are available across the board at the moment. How confident are you, therefore, that the high expectations that pupils, parents...
Siân Gwenllian: It’s clear that the uncertainty around these pension payments is creating great problems at a grass-roots level, and it’s not clear at all what the mechanism will be for providing the additional funding. What discussions are you having, therefore, with the Treasury, with your Members of Parliament in Westminster and, indeed, with the teaching unions about this problem?
Siân Gwenllian: I'd like to thank Llyr Gruffydd, my predecessor on this committee, for his thorough work. I also look forward to contributing with great energy to the work of this committee and as the spokesperson for Plaid Cymru on education. Improving the attainment of pupils from deprived backgrounds is vitally important to Plaid Cymru and, according to the Cabinet Secretary, it's also a priority for the...
Siân Gwenllian: Gwynedd Council is facing an £11 million cut in light of the fiscal policy of your Government, which will impact on services for the most vulnerable people in my constituency. The Government has announced that an additional £15 million is available for schools and £13 million for social care, but this is restricted by certain conditions. You, like me, have argued consistently for stronger...
Siân Gwenllian: Almost a third of Welsh farmers are Welsh speakers, which is 50 per cent higher than the average of all Welsh speakers in Wales. The agricultural sector and farming families make a crucial contribution to the Welsh language and safeguard the Welsh language in our rural communities. Therefore, the proposals in 'Brexit and our land', which suggest ceasing direct payments to farmers after...
Siân Gwenllian: 6. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the impact of the proposals outlined in 'Brexit and our land' on the Welsh language? OAQ52861
Siân Gwenllian: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the implications of the local government settlement for 2019/20? OAQ52872
Siân Gwenllian: Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government policy on business rates?
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much for the statement. I have consistently called on you in this place to take action, and it’s positive to see a statement of your intent to do that in the area of language technology. Indeed, this is an area that both I and Plaid Cymru are very interested in, as you will know. At the National Eisteddfod in August, I and my colleague Jill Evans held an event on European...
Siân Gwenllian: Under the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011, the Welsh Ministers do have to give due regard to specific provisions of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in carrying out its functions, but the legislation doesn’t provide a means of operating when rights under the convention are not adhered to. If Wales leave the European Union, many legal safeguards for the...
Siân Gwenllian: Will the First Minister make a statement on the recent local government settlement?
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you. Every October, we celebrate Black History Month in Wales in order to give individuals and communities throughout Wales the opportunity to recognise the contribution of black people to the economic, political and cultural history of Wales. It's also an opportunity for the wider community to learn, celebrate and share our rich national history with the world. We are extremely proud...
Siân Gwenllian: According to recent research by Chwarae Teg, young women still favour sectors that are traditionally dominated by women, despite the need for more women in areas such as the STEM subjects, for example. One claim made in the report is that careers advice services don’t provide the necessary support for young girls. I do know that a number of individuals are doing excellent work, but is the...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you for the statement on this important issue on action on disability and the right to independent living. It’s an important topic, but with all due respect, the statement itself doesn't enlighten us a great deal. What we have is a statement telling us that there’s an announcement to be made. Next week, the Government will publish its new framework and action plan—that’s what...
Siân Gwenllian: I'm sure you'd agree that the fact that 5 million people in Britain now own two or more homes, whilst almost 700,000 people are reliant on food packs from the Trussell Trust charity is one of the clearest signals that our society is increasingly inequitable and unfair. There are 5,000 second homes in Gwynedd, whilst almost 2,000 are on the waiting list for social housing in the county. I am...
Siân Gwenllian: Gwynedd Council is among the councils that will suffer most as a result of cuts following the local government settlement: a cut of up to £11 million, and that’s on top of years of dreadful cuts. On the other hand, the north Wales health board is operating on an annual financial deficit of around £26 million last year, despite the fact that the health board is in special measures and...
Siân Gwenllian: 5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's policy on the taxation of second homes? OAQ52794
Siân Gwenllian: I welcome the opportunity to have this debate in the Senedd today on your proposal, and the Commission's proposal, to bring forward a series of reforms to strengthen our major democratic intuition here in Wales. Twenty years have passed since the legislation establishing the National Assembly was passed, and at that time the organisation was more similar to a county council than a national...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you for that. There’s one other aspect that I’d like you to discuss with the Cabinet Secretary for the economy, therefore, namely the guidance that is related to organisations that own minibuses that use blue badges. The regulations and the guidance have been drafted poorly and an organisation that would hope to take disabled people out on day trips and so on will have difficulty...
