Laura Anne Jones: 5. What steps is the Welsh Government taking to cut ambulance waiting times? OQ58708
Laura Anne Jones: Afternoon, Minister, and thank you for your statement. I welcome focus and investment in this area and anything that will reverse the downward trends that we've seen in adult participation in learning. I welcome the specific areas you've chosen to focus on: the importance of strategy and strategic duty, shared responsibility, the need for sustainability and the idea of second chances. While I...
Laura Anne Jones: Minister, as well as promoting Wales on a world stage—which of course is essential, and which we fully support—it is imperative that we also capitalise on the new engagement and enthusiasm and take-up at home, to ensure the positive, long-lasting legacy that you talk about in the opening of your statement and of course we all want to see. Ideally, we'd already have the sporting facilities...
Laura Anne Jones: Thank you, First Minister. Will you today, and the Minister, obviously, sitting next to you, consider committing to a fifth objective being added to the Bill to give our farmers and rural communities the reassurances that they deserve? Whether it's the Farmers Union of Wales I spoke to last week, or farmers in my own region, it is clear that the agriculture Bill, and its potential to...
Laura Anne Jones: 7. How is the Welsh Government ensuring that the financial sustainability of farms and rural areas is at the heart of the Agriculture (Wales) Bill? OQ58721
Laura Anne Jones: Whilst a county councillor, I was proud to serve on a council that signed up to the armed forces covenant that's already been talked about today. As the then armed forces champion at Monmouthshire County Council, I worked with the fantastic armed forces liaison officer Lisa Rawlings, who has done and is doing an incredible job, ensuring all councils across my region are now gold standard and...
Laura Anne Jones: It's a pleasure to take part in this debate today. As we approach Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, it is always important to reflect on the immense debt of gratitude that we owe our armed forces. A 'thank you' will never be enough to repay those who laid down their lives to ensure that we enjoy the freedoms that we do today. Figures show that there are 3,230 military and civilian...
Laura Anne Jones: On that, Minister, carrying on from what you just said, how is this Government working to ensure that we utilise the new curriculum in the right way, to ensure that we create that awareness that you just outlined, with some everyday real examples, like food miles, for example, and how we teach our learners to reduce those food miles and be taught about the difference between buying food from...
Laura Anne Jones: I'd like to thank my colleague Tom Giffard for allowing me a minute during this short debate today. There needs to be a sharp focus on investing in Wales's universities to stimulate the Welsh economy, and improving research and development. The new campaign and report on funding Wales's future by British Heart Foundation Cymru highlights how properly funding our brilliant universities will...
Laura Anne Jones: Yes, absolutely. A very important point made by my colleague there. What is worrying also is that the numbers that we've seen, and the evidence that we've gathered, are probably underestimating the problem of what we're seeing. Further still, whilst Estyn did not consider sexual harassment in primary schools or colleges, their inquiry convinced them that it's likely that sexual harassment is...
Laura Anne Jones: Yes, sure.
Laura Anne Jones: I'd first like to thank our committee Chair, Jayne Bryant, for all her hard work during this report, and, of course, the clerks and staff who have so ably assisted the committee in our work, enabling us to do this important review and so quickly. It was palpably obvious that we needed to do this review quickly to understand the issues and also create awareness of what is happening within this...
Laura Anne Jones: I'm more than happy to stand here and support this Bill today, and I'd like to thank my colleague Sam Rowlands for bringing it to the floor. I was delighted to hear the positivity coming from across the Chamber from Plaid Cymru as well. I was delighted when I saw that this Bill was drawn, as I know, just like myself, that the Member for North Wales is passionate about ensuring that every...
Laura Anne Jones: Thank you, business Minister. I would like to request a statement, as well, from the Minister for education stating the Government's position on the charity Mermaids and their influence on educational material in Wales. There is currently an investigation under way by the Charity Commission surrounding the compliance of the charity, and, just this month, the Department for Education has...
Laura Anne Jones: Thank you, First Minister. It's interesting, what you said, and I just want to note that the Welsh Conservatives fully support degree apprenticeships, and, in fact, we go further than the current policy. But, First Minister, a few weeks ago, I stood here and raised some concerning statistics highlighting that white working-class males are the least likely to attend university across the UK,...
Laura Anne Jones: 3. What assessment has the First Minister made of the impact of the Welsh Government's degree apprenticeships programme on admission numbers for degree apprenticeships? OQ58629
Laura Anne Jones: As yesterday was World Menopause Day, I'd like to take this opportunity—and I thank you, Llywydd, for accepting the 90-second statement—to talk about menopause; something that, as women, we are going or will go through at some point in our lives. Looking at the men in this Chamber, you're very lucky that it's not something that you're going to go through, but it's incredibly important...
Laura Anne Jones: Just one sentence—one sentence.
Laura Anne Jones: I asked my question. That was just reiterating the question.
Laura Anne Jones: Minister, it's great to hear Jayne Bryant of course mentioning the medieval ship, and also great to hear your appreciation for the historical findings in Newport. The Newport medieval ship was discovered in the banks of the River Usk in June 2002, and is the most substantial late-medieval vessel excavated and recovered in Britain. The internationally important fifteenth-century ship would...
