Mark Isherwood: I endorse the comments about the fire at Kronospan and note that Wrexham council convened a multi-agency meeting to discuss this last Tuesday, and that the Clwyd South MP was meeting the chief executive of the council last Friday and is keeping the Secretary of State up to date on this. But I call for two statements. Firstly, on cervical cancer prevention, you may be aware that this is...
Mark Isherwood: I did attend the question and answer session with Sally and David Challen. Of course, coercive control also applies to children in terms of adults. Worryingly, analysis by the Children's Society has shown that around 85 per cent of sexual offences against children reported to the police in England and Wales do not result in any action taken against the perpetrator, and the figures they...
Mark Isherwood: Well, it depends on time; I've only got a few seconds left.
Mark Isherwood: Okay.
Mark Isherwood: Well, no, my concluding paragraph will actually address that. When I raised this last time in the Chamber, I actually discussed with the First Minister, more of a US system, because, if instead, we're going to evolve into a more effective system that recognises the increasingly federalised and the federalising nature of the UK, we will need to look to more of a network system rather than...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. As last month's HM Crown Prosecution Service Inspectorate's '2019 Rape Inspection' report for England and Wales said, there has been a substantial increase in the number of allegations of rape, and yet, the number of rape prosecutions has fallen significantly. As it also said, rape is a crime that is committed primarily by men against women. However, it's also perpetrated...
Mark Isherwood: As you'll be aware, the Mondi Group creates paper and plastic packaging products, and its plants at the Deeside industrial park, where 167 jobs are at risk, and in Nelson, Lancashire, where 41 jobs are affected, create flexible plastics packaging—bags, pouches and laminates—for the consumer industry. But the company said that a change in demand for these niche products has led to the...
Mark Isherwood: As the higher education admissions guide issued by Qualifications Wales states, the reformed GCSEs in Wales retain the grading scale A* to G. No precise comparison can be made between the current alphabetical grading scale and the revised numerical scale in England. Of course, Wales also has two maths GCSEs, mathematics and numeracy, and England only one, risking the creation of complications...
Mark Isherwood: Can I call for a single statement on resources in Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board? I receive many e-mails from constituents, whether that's patients, family members or staff, who, based on their own experience, wish to share suggestions for how services might be improved in the health board. I'll only quote one of those, received this month: 'Just before Christmas, my husband became...
Mark Isherwood: After the vote you referred to on this clause, the Channel 4 News FactCheck website said that voting the clause down is not the same as scrapping UK involvement in the scheme, and the UK Government made clear that the vote does not end or prevent the UK participating in Erasmus. How therefore do you respond to the statement by the UK Government that, as we enter negotiations with the EU on...
Mark Isherwood: Can I commend to you Coproduction Wales, the Co-Production Network for Wales, the huge funding they got from the lottery to deliver that project and look at the international meaning of 'Co-production', capital 'C'? It was launched originally in Western Australia some 30 years ago to huge international success since.
Mark Isherwood: However, the Welsh Government has proved averse to implementing the Localism Act 2011 community rights agenda, which would help community engagement. Although the well-being objectives in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 include people contributing to their community being informed, included and listened to, too often this hasn't happened, either because people in power...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch. Our motion proposes that this Senedd regrets the failure of the Welsh Government's Communities First programme to tackle poverty in the most deprived communities of Wales. Like many, I gave my support to this tackling poverty programme when it was launched because we were told it was about genuine community empowerment and ownership. However, concerns developed as evidence grew that...
Mark Isherwood: Clearly, managing resources to ensure value for money and effectiveness includes play, which is key to children's health and well-being. The recent review of play sufficiency assessments carried out for the Welsh Government by Play Wales reported that the all-Wales play opportunities grant funding from Welsh Government has resulted in increased activity to secure play opportunities across...
Mark Isherwood: What consideration will the Minister give to funding early intervention services when allocating the 2020-21 budget?
Mark Isherwood: I've always found that actually, the Welsh Government and WLGA have been perfectly willing to share those briefings on those calculations. The problem at core isn't the way the calculations are done, because I accept they're done correctly; it's the formula, which is now nearly two decades old and needs reviewing. And, lo and behold, four of the five authorities to see the largest increase in...
Mark Isherwood: The increase in the draft local government revenue settlement 2020-21 is welcomed, made possible, of course, by the UK Government's prudent economic management since 2010, when the UK budget deficit was the worst in the G20, behind only Ireland and Greece in the EU. If the UK Government had instead grown the big deficit it inherited, someone else would have owned the UK economy and required...
Mark Isherwood: Will you give way?
Mark Isherwood: I'm wondering what consideration you gave to mutuals as well. We heard reference to private, which, of course, is insurance funds and pension funds, but many mutuals collapsed and many building societies collapsed, and the branch closures include many building societies, who've also withdrawn cash machines. So, it's how we look at the whole sector, rather than simply looking at privately...
Mark Isherwood: Will you give way?
