Dawn Bowden: 3. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for start-up businesses? OAQ(5)0479(FM)
Dawn Bowden: Can I also say I’m very pleased to be able to speak in this debate, and thank Hannah for bringing forward the motion—and the support from other Members? In the previous debate, a number of Members spoke on the importance of education in raising awareness among young people on the issue of gender-based violence. Well, the role of education in tackling prejudice and bullying around LGBT...
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank the committee Chair, John Griffiths, for bringing forward this report, and the committee for the work that they’ve done on delivering it? As Rhianon Passmore said, I think we should probably remind ourselves at the outset that this Act was a groundbreaking piece of legislation, moving into new territory where no other legislature in the UK had gone. It was therefore always...
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank you, Counsel General, for your response? Last week, in this Chamber, I made reference to a specific case of the uncertainty facing a family of German nationals settled in Wales over the lack of clarity from the UK Government over the position of EU nationals living in this country. As we know, it’s not just the personal impact that the uncertainty has on thousands of families...
Dawn Bowden: 3. What representations has the Counsel General made to the UK Government regarding the legal status of EU citizens in Wales? OAQ(5)0024(CG)
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement? What I would say at the outset is that I do understand the Government’s position on Communities First, and your concern that, of itself, it hasn’t achieved its ambition to lift people out of poverty. In some areas, it really hasn’t delivered at all. As you recognised in your statement, I think it’s probably difficult to imagine...
Dawn Bowden: And I’m sure that there are examples of that, and I don’t doubt what the Member is saying, but I think, as a general rule, if you keep starving a service of funds, then inevitably it begins to impact, and I would say that there are more examples of the opposite than the kind of examples that the Member refers to. But it is about local authorities having to prioritise, and there’s no...
Dawn Bowden: Can I first of all thank Lynne Neagle for presenting the report and the committee for the work that they’ve done? It was clearly a very wide-ranging inquiry and the contributions here today, I think, setting out the work that’s been done have been quite exemplary, so thanks everybody for that. In many respects, I guess the whole thrust of the report is probably neatly summed up by the...
Dawn Bowden: When I spoke in this Chamber a few days after the referendum vote, I expressed huge disappointment at the result, but added that we had to accept the outcome and that’s still my position. And that is despite the fact that 62 per cent of voters in Merthyr Tydfil either voted to remain or didn’t vote at all. Unfortunately, the trade union ballot threshold didn’t apply in the referendum,...
Dawn Bowden: I totally understand and agree with that. When moving services or closing hospital services, there need to be services in place before other services are closed. I think the point I’m trying to make is that we shouldn’t use the closure of community hospitals, and oppose the closure of community hospitals, just because the community wants to oppose that, because I think everybody wants to...
Dawn Bowden: Can I thank Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this very important debate? I think most of the points that I wanted to cover have now been dealt with. So, I’m going to confine my contribution to this particular debate to the part of the motion that deals specifically with community hospitals and, in particular, the importance of developing the integration agenda. I guess, like me, everybody...
Dawn Bowden: Apologies, Cabinet Secretary, for my inappropriate intervention. I will learn how this process works in due course. I think, to a degree, you’ve probably answered my question, but you’ll be aware from discussions in correspondence that we’ve previously had that I’ve talked to you about a number of schemes within my constituency that are playing an important role in engaging young...
Dawn Bowden: Indeed.
Dawn Bowden: Thank you. I think my contribution is more to do with how we get women involved in the first place, but I take your point about the necessity to encourage as many women as possible to come forward and to be used to the kind of rough and tumble of local authority contributions et cetera. But I think it is fair to say that political parties have a role to play in all of this. We’ve already...
Dawn Bowden: Can I start by thanking the Cabinet Secretary and his staff for producing this comprehensive report? There have, undoubtedly, been many achievements here in Wales during the period of the Welsh Government’s 2015-16 strategic equality plan and objectives, not least of which was the landmark legislation that the Cabinet Secretary referred to earlier on, the Violence against Women, Domestic...
Dawn Bowden: Thank you very much, Cabinet Secretary, for introducing this today and I very much support the registration of all teaching and support staff. It is just particularly on support staff that I just wanted to make a comment, because, in the explanatory memorandum that you’ve just talked about, with the fee model being fair and equitable across the whole workforce, just to be clear it’s not...
Dawn Bowden: So, will the First Minister reaffirm his position, and add his voice to those calling for Donald Trump not to be afforded the honour of a state visit to the UK at this point in time, and will he call upon the Prime Minister to show the same backbone as other world leaders in both unequivocally condemning Trump’s actions and taking whatever action is necessary to persuade him to reverse this...
Dawn Bowden: Thank you for your response on that, First Minister, and can I also thank you for your speedy condemnation of the disgraceful action taken by the President of the United States—action that is in contravention of the Geneva convention, international law and, probably, the constitution of the United States? In sharp contrast, the British Prime Minister’s condemnation has been slow in...
Dawn Bowden: Thank you, First Minister. As well as the support you’ve referred to, I’m aware that Business Wales provides considerable practical support and guidance for developing businesses, such as business plans, research, marketing, managing et cetera. In Merthyr Tydfil we have a fabulous organisation called the Hwyl Hub, which offers facilitated office space for businesses to share resources and...
Dawn Bowden: 6. Will the First Minister make a statement on support for micro businesses in Wales? OAQ(5)0417(FM)
