James Evans: I'd like to thank Jack Sargeant for raising this vitally important question. As he did, I'd like to take this moment just to thank Joyce Watson for all her long-continued work in this area; she's an absolute champion for the White Ribbon campaign. Peer-on-peer sexual harassment in our schools is totally unacceptable, and it's happening up and down Wales. This was found in the recent...
James Evans: Firstly, I'd like to thank the Government for bringing forward this debate. For me and for many, this week is the most important week that we have the whole year. It's a time when we can all come together to reflect in silence on the huge human sacrifice that has been given by so many so we can be in this Chamber in peace, freedom and democracy. My area of Brecon and Radnor is steeped in...
James Evans: I’d like to thank Tom Giffard for giving me a minute of his time two minutes before this debate was about to start. [Laughter.] Research funding is vital to solving some of the major problems we do have in the world, and, as colleagues in this Chamber sat through the recent Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Bill, it was evident through evidence taking that there was a focus from the...
James Evans: I didn't say we needed a district general hospital in Powys; I'd like to see one, but I recognise the challenges of doing that. What I would like to see is actually more of those services being delivered, like a stroke care centre, in our little cottage hospitals or in our minor injury units, so actually we can have those services closer to home so people don't have to travel over 40 minutes...
James Evans: My constituents have a challenging relationship with stroke services, unlike those in many other parts of Wales, due to us not having a district general hospital in Powys. The rural nature of Brecon and Radnorshire and the lack of stroke service provision makes treatment more difficult for my constituents, and many of them have to travel across the border into Herefordshire and Worcestershire...
James Evans: Will you take an intervention?
James Evans: I'd also like to pay tribute to my colleague Jayne Bryant for her excellent chairing of the committee, which I sit on. I just wanted to raise the point that you talk about males who also suffer from sexual harassment. I'm sure you'd agree with me, and others who sit on that committee, that nobody should be afraid to come forward if they are suffering sexual harassment, especially young men...
James Evans: Thank you for that, Minister. Many young tenant farmers in my constituency believe that the proposals as currently drafted within the sustainable farming scheme are still very much leaned towards land ownership. Tenants, usually young farming families on the first rung of the farming ladder, have to deal with different types of landlords, from the local farmer who's retired, up to the big...
James Evans: 3. How will the new sustainable farming scheme benefit young tenant farmers in Brecon and Radnorshire? OQ58614
James Evans: Let's be under no illusions, business is the backbone of our economy—from the small business owner on the high street to the larger companies that employ hundreds and thousands of people across the nation. The most prosperous countries in the world are where businesses can thrive, and a key part of that success is less red tape and less tax imposed on those businesses. In Wales, we have the...
James Evans: Will the Member give way?
James Evans: Thank you. Would you agree with me that actually the true heroes in our society don't wear capes, they are people like the petitioner, who put these petitions forward to really raise issues like this on a national stage? And do you agree with me there should be more opportunity for issues like this to be debated in the Senedd so everyone across Wales, like the petitioner, can raise these...
James Evans: Diolch, Minister. In our national parks, it is vital that local people feel that they are part of the decision-making process, and that the national parks actually stand up for them and that they have representation from that area. The Welsh Government appoints a number of people to national parks, but, unfortunately, some of those people aren't even from Wales. So, what I would like to see...
James Evans: 1. What plans does the Minister have to make national parks more accountable to local people? OQ58580
James Evans: What is the First Minister doing to help businesses through the cost-of-living crisis?
James Evans: Can I start by commending the committee for a fabulous report? But it is a shame that we ever got to having to have this report. I've just listened to Jane Dodds from the Liberal Democrats preach how bad this is for farmers, but if her party had stepped up in the last term of the Senedd and supported farmers, like Plaid Cymru and us on the Conservative benches did, we would never, ever be in...
James Evans: It's interesting that it also shows that the Labour leader in the UK doesn't believe that the Welsh Government have got any ambition when it comes to health services. That's probably why he's setting his own targets, because he doesn't want to base himself on the failings here. The figures are quite clear that there is a mental health crisis with our children, which is made worse by the...
James Evans: Thank you for that answer, Deputy Minister. Your own UK Labour leader, Keir Starmer, said that a UK Labour Government would guarantee mental health treatment within a month, but your child and adolescent mental health services statistics show that the Government here in Wales is failing. Only 50 per cent of children who are using mental health services get their assessment within a month. In...
James Evans: Diolch, Llywydd. Deputy Minister, do you think people who present with a mental health problem should be guaranteed mental health assessment within a month?
James Evans: Thank you, Minister. Emergency treatment for acute conditions such as stroke or cardiac arrest is more difficult for those people who live in my constituency in rural areas. With stroke and cardiac events it's the minutes and seconds that make the difference between living and dying, and if you do survive, the time of intervention has a direct result on your recovery. In my constituency...
