Mick Antoniw: First Minister, can I place on record my congratulations to the GP services in the Pontypridd and Taff-Ely area for the way in which they've been administering the flu vaccine service? I had two text messages, I had a phone call, and I attended the Tonyrefail leisure centre for my flu vaccine, which was delivered in almost conveyor-belt style. It took about two minutes for the whole process...
Mick Antoniw: One of the big employers that we have in Wales is, of course, the Royal Mail, and we have all sung, and quite rightly so, the praises of our postmen during the COVID pandemic. And, of course, many speakers have also talked about the importance of the safety and well-being of those people who work within businesses. Can I say, then, how surprised I am that the Royal Mail, an organisation that,...
Mick Antoniw: Minister, a number of weeks ago we were getting concerned about supermarkets in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area because standards were dropping. Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, who've taken on, I think, 20 enforcement officers, or so, have been meeting with and have gone round the supermarkets. And I can say, in the Rhondda Cynon Taf area and the Pontypridd area, that the standards of...
Mick Antoniw: Our recommendation 1 asks the Minister to publish a full analysis of the impact of the Bill's provision on human rights. Before moving on, I'd like to briefly mention recent regulations made by the Welsh Ministers in response to coronavirus to the temporarily altered existing legislative framework for the possession process and landlords' notice periods. The Coronavirus Act 2020 temporarily...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Llywydd. Our report on the Bill contains only four recommendations for the Minister, and I'll briefly outline each one. Firstly, within the legislative competence of the Senedd, the Government of Wales Act 2006 requires all provisions of a Bill to be compatible with the European convention on human rights. We asked the Minister what assessment she has made regarding the Bill's...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Llywydd. Both sets of regulations amend the principal Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020. Now, the No. 16 amending regulations came into force on 1 October and, as the title suggests, designate Conwy, Denbighshire, Flintshire and Wrexham as local health protection areas, placing certain restrictions on them. The regulations include the...
Mick Antoniw: Minister, firstly, let me thank you for the statement and for the work that's going on, and I think we must all—and I think it's implicit in what everyone has had—recognise the important role that all our NHS staff in these hospitals in Cwm Taf are actually undertaking in the most difficult circumstances, month after month, and I think we still welcome very much what their contribution is...
Mick Antoniw: Deputy Minister, can I firstly thank you for your statement? Can I thank you also for the fact that you will, in fact, be attending a single-use plastics session in Pontypridd online later this week, where you will also have the opportunity to meet not only with young people in the constituency, but also from the Friends of the Earth youth forum in Pontypridd, who we meet with regularly to...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, acting Llywydd. We considered the statutory instrument consent memorandum at our meeting on 21 September, and we subsequently laid our report on the memorandum last Monday, 28 September. As the Deputy Minister has stated, the Waste (Circular Economy) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 that the memorandum relates to transpose a series of EU directives in the field of waste. We appreciate...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you. We considered the legislative consent memorandum in respect of the Fire Safety Bill at our meeting on 8 June and we laid our report before the Senedd on 17 June. Our report acknowledged that the Bill is one part of the response to improve building safety following the fire at Grenfell Tower in June 2017. We noted the Welsh Government's assessment of the provisions in the Bill that...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you for that. We first began our consideration of a UK Fisheries Bill as long ago as December 2018, and Members will know that the first version of the UK Government's Fisheries Bill fell due to the dissolution of the UK Parliament late last year, and that was after the Welsh Government had laid two legislative consent memoranda on that Bill, which we reported on in February 2019. The...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, acting Llywydd. Members will know, of course, that the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020 are the principal regulations on coronavirus in Wales. The No. 12 amending regulations—I do not intend to repeat the narrative that the Minister has given, the accurate account of what those regulations specifically refer to. I'll go straight to our...
Mick Antoniw: Trefnydd, eight months ago, the Prime Minister, in Parliament, openly stated that the UK Government would passport the moneys necessary to repair the flood damaged infrastructure in Wales, and, as you know, that is estimated, in my constituency in Rhondda Cynon Taf, at around £70 million. The Secretary of State for Wales has also confirmed that. There have been many such promises. It now...
Mick Antoniw: Every now and then, an idea comes along, an imaginative and innovative idea, and I think we have a duty, particularly in this Senedd, to embrace those ideas and the opportunities that they can present to us. The idea of a basic income has been around a long time. Economists, philosophers and politicians have long debated how to abolish poverty. The 1945 Labour Government began this journey in...
Mick Antoniw: Minister, thank you for that answer. Residents in my constituency will be extremely concerned by the news of the major COVID-19 outbreak at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, which has sadly led to the death of eight patients, with a further six in intensive care, Minister. I'd like to express my sadness and shock at this news, but, of course, our thoughts are right now with their families. I met...
Mick Antoniw: 7. Will the Minister provide an update on COVID-19 lockdown restrictions in Rhondda Cynon Taf? OQ55605
Mick Antoniw: What discussions has the Minister had with the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales on school transport arrangements during the coronavirus emergency?
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Llywydd. We considered these regulations at our meeting on 14 September. Our subsequent report, laid on the same day, raised both technical and merits points and incorporated the Welsh Government response. Our two technical reporting points both raised concerns over the clarity of the legislation for those who would be accessing it. Our first point noted that regulation 2 adds...
Mick Antoniw: Thank you, Llywydd. We considered these regulations at our meeting on 3 August, and we laid our report on the same day. Our report noted one merits point, under Standing Order 21.3, in respect of these regulations. We noted paragraph 3.2 of the explanatory memorandum, which highlights the use of the provisional affirmative procedure for these regulations and explains what would happen if the...
Mick Antoniw: It is important to be clear on this point. The scrutiny of an LCM does not give Senedd Members the same rights or opportunities for scrutiny when compared with a Welsh Bill laid before this Senedd. The fact that the Welsh Government laid further supplementary LCMs on Friday and yesterday afternoon that are relevant to today's debate provides a clear example of the limitations placed on...
