Nick Ramsay: Thanks for giving way. I also welcome the fact that the Welsh Government did make Sativex available for the treatment of medical conditions. Isn't key to this motion, though, the problem that it is not available to all those people who need it, perhaps because there are supply issues, cost issues—whatever that might be—and people are currently being criminalised because they are having to...
Nick Ramsay: What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had with local authorities regarding the fairness of the funding formula for Wales's 22 councils?
Nick Ramsay: I have two more words to say, but go for it.
Nick Ramsay: No, I think that we're talking at cross purposes here. I think that in terms of the wider issue of business rates and an unfairness that currently exists in Wales, I agree with that. However, we do have the situation of a change across the border. There is, I believe, a Barnett consequential that is going to come here—well, perhaps the Cabinet Secretary can say what that consequential will...
Nick Ramsay: I wasn’t going to speak in this debate, because, as the Cabinet Secretary knows, the Welsh Conservatives will be supporting this instrument. However, I’ve been inspired to do so by the comments made by Adam Price. Whilst I do have a measure of sympathy for the comments that you’ve just made, Adam, in terms of your long-standing commitment to change the whole business rates system in...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you for giving way. I welcome the money that has come in to the Welsh Government from the UK Government, as you did yourself in your written statement. So, I was just pointing out that your speech was overtly negative. I'm all for a sense of balance, and I know you agree with that, Cabinet Secretary, but also I would appreciate that you recognise the difference between real-terms...
Nick Ramsay: Thanks, Jane, for giving way. I agree with what you say about the future generations legislation. I think, in principle, it's a great piece of legislation, but the Finance Committee did have major problems in proving how, actually, the budget was really being affected by the future generations legislation and vice versa. I know that, if Steffan Lewis was here, he'd probably be making that...
Nick Ramsay: I do, yes. I think that a lot of things that the Welsh budget aspires to do, and says that it wants to do, are good, but when you look into the greater detail, that simply isn't there. I realise I'm running out of time, Presiding Officer, but at the start of my contribution I did say that I thought that this budget should be one that looks at creating a transformational change. I think we...
Nick Ramsay: Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for Finance for his statement, and also for the co-operation he has given, both to me during the budget-forming process and with the Chair of the Finance Committee and the members of that committee? I have to say that I did find your speech a rather strange mixture, Cabinet Secretary, and I would say that it was a little bit like the budget, good in parts...
Nick Ramsay: Leader of the house, I'm delighted to announce to the Chamber that the Freshwater Habitats Trust have appointed me as the Assembly's new species champion for the freshwater pearl mussel as part of their #ShowTheLove campaign, a role that I am going to relish, I'm sure. I'll be raising many questions on protecting that species with the Cabinet Secretary when I bed into the role—on the sea...
Nick Ramsay: First Minister, if I can I ask you about dementia care, there's deep concern in and around Chepstow at the planned closure of the purpose-built dementia ward at Chepstow Community Hospital and the relocation of services to St Woolos Hospital in Newport. Aneurin Bevan local health board have cited staff shortages as one of the reasons for this. This is at consultation phase at the moment. If...
Nick Ramsay: 2. Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government's priorities for the NHS in Monmouthshire? OAQ51581
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Cabinet Secretary, you were doing so well in that speech, right until the very end, and making so much sense until that little message from the Corbyn mothership was slipped, probably by a member of staff, into your speech. I can't imagine you really believed that comment about austerity at the end. I think you'd probably be harsher on the—. I won't get you into...
Nick Ramsay: How is the Welsh Government supporting private sector initiatives designed to promote Monmouth as the gateway to south Wales?
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, First Minister. Happy new year. Yesterday was an historic day for Wales, with the nationalisation of the Severn bridges—something I'm sure you'll welcome—and a reduction in the tolls—a great gateway Wales project. However, this comes only a few weeks after the Welsh Government's call in, and refusal, of a planning application in Monmouth, in my constituency, for a hotel and...
Nick Ramsay: 2. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's policies for supporting enterprise in south-east Wales? OAQ51496
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Deputy Presiding Officer. It's a pleasure to subscribe to and to contribute to this debate this afternoon. The key tenet of this debate, as Lee Waters has alluded to, recognises the importance of a modern public transport network to relieve pressure on our road network. I don't think this is controversial. Well, it certainly shouldn't be. It seems common sense, but how often over...
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, I've also been perusing yesterday's written statement and a permanent business rates relief scheme of the type you've identified was desperately needed, so we welcome the permanence of the new scheme. I've raised over the last months—and years, probably, now—some of the problems that small businesses, particularly high-street businesses in my constituency in Monmouth...
Nick Ramsay: Cabinet Secretary, I'm pleased that you said that you respect the decision of parents who do wish to home school their children. It is a viable legal option and works very well in many cases. But you're also quite right to point out concerns that children who are home schooled need to be monitored in the same way as children who can also disappear from the system when they're actually in what...
Nick Ramsay: I think we're all singing from pretty much the same hymn sheet in relation to this question, Cabinet Secretary. The last couple of weeks have seen NatWest announce another swathe of closures across Wales—one in Chepstow in my constituency. The last swathe of banking closures was bad enough out in rural areas, but those cutbacks now seem to be extending to larger towns as well, which I think...
