Gareth Davies: As ever. Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd, and thank you for your statement this afternoon, Minister. I wish you a happy new year, and to all Members of the Senedd. Yet again, we're—
Gareth Davies: I'm pleased to see this question raised this afternoon, as, when the Government actually gets round to delivering the thing, rather than just talking about it, I'm sure it will have positive knock-on effects for people across north Wales who aspire to have careers in health and social care, and go some way to improving the recruitment and retention problems we currently face in Wales. Now,...
Gareth Davies: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd. I’d like to thank the Welsh Government, firstly, for listening to Welsh Conservative calls to increase pay for our hard-working social carers throughout Wales. It’s been a long time coming, but we’ve finally got there, so da iawn ti. And it’s high time they are rewarded for their commitment and dedication to supporting others. However, the industry is...
Gareth Davies: I call for a statement on sports participation for school-aged children in Wales, and particularly north Wales. One of the three north Wales-based junior parkruns is called Prestatyn Prom, and it's suffering from a low take-up of participants and is at risk of closing. Junior parkruns, which are run by volunteers, are free, fun and friendly weekly 2 km events for children aged 4 to 14, to...
Gareth Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Gareth Davies: Just on that one, Minister, you say, 'Why should we do it because everybody else is doing it?', well, that's the reason we should be doing it, in fact, because if Scotland, England and Northern Ireland are conducting their own, they obviously see the need and the value of actually having those reviews in order to see which local authorities are actually going wrong. And, across Wales, we...
Gareth Davies: Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd, and I move this motion today, tabled in the name of my colleague Darren Millar. I'd like to start my contribution today by putting again on the record my extended thoughts and condolences to Logan Mwangi's father Ben, his family, friends, school and social network in Bridgend. There's nothing we can say or do that can take away the pain and sadness they must be...
Gareth Davies: I’m pleased that the subject of care leavers has been mentioned this afternoon as it’s important that the skills that they do acquire over their period in care are recognised, and that they can indeed access training and opportunities and transferable skills that they could apply to a career in social care if they so desire. With such pressures and understaffing in social care services,...
Gareth Davies: Could I ask for an urgent statement from the Deputy Minister for Climate Change, with responsibility for transport, as to why many of my constituents, and the public of the north Wales coast, were left stranded at Chester railway station on Saturday night, as they couldn't access the 21:40 service from Chester to Holyhead, as the train only had two carriages? Now, in the run-up to Christmas,...
Gareth Davies: Dear me. Talk about out of touch. We've heard time and time again in this Chamber about the need to expand the Senedd to promote scrutiny of the Welsh Government, but when it comes to promoting scrutiny now, the Welsh Government simply deflects and says they have moved on. But the people of Wales, the grieving loved ones of the COVID victims, the children who missed out on their valuable...
Gareth Davies: Will the Minister agree that the UK Government's allocation of £1.2 billion is a reflection of the Conservative Government's plan to level up Wales by investing properly into our country, whilst the Welsh Government spend millions on continuous failed socialist projects, such as the failed state ownership of Cardiff Airport, the failed state ownership of a farm in Powys, and the failed state...
Gareth Davies: I thank you very much for your statement this afternoon, Deputy Minister, and thank you for bringing it to the floor of the Senedd this afternoon. Just before I start the main thrust of my response to your statement, I just want to put on record this afternoon my sincere thoughts to Ben Mwangi, Logan's family and friends and all his social network, who've all been affected by this terrible...
Gareth Davies: Thank you very much for that answer, First Minister, and what we've seen in recent weeks is the UK Conservative Government again taking leadership in difficult financial times to invest in Wales. And, indeed, in their autumn statement, it was revealed that we will receive £1.2 billion in consequential funding, and this, of course, is in addition to the levelling-up and shared prosperity...
Gareth Davies: Yes. Thank you, Llywydd. A small amount of opportunities for people to find well-paid and sustainable careers in the local area, something that could be solved in part if we had a Welsh Government that worked for all of Wales and worked in partnership with Westminster. So, will the First Minister outline today how he will best work with Rishi Sunak and the UK Government in making sure that...
Gareth Davies: 6. Will the Minister outline how the £1.2 billion injection to Wales from the UK Government’s autumn statement will benefit people in Denbighshire? OQ58777
Gareth Davies: It's a pleasure to take part in this debate this afternoon on a subject I'm fairly passionate about, with my experience in the NHS. As mentioned earlier in the debate, the UK Conservative Government has provided Wales with £1.2 billion in Barnett consequentials after announcements made in last week's autumn statement, and that's in direct contradiction to the health Minister's claims that...
Gareth Davies: It's a pleasure to take part in this debate this afternoon. I thank Jenny Rathbone for tabling this important debate today, and I fully support the motion and will be voting in favour of the proposal tonight. And it's quite right that we should be doing all we can to support people in our communities who suffer with mental health problems. In my own constituency of the Vale of Clwyd, we have...
Gareth Davies: I'm glad this question has been raised this afternoon as I'd like to applaud the work and efforts of cylchoedd meithrin, or Welsh-language preschools, in Denbighshire, north Wales, and across the country, who play a vital role in introducing preschool-age children to the Welsh language and provide educational and activity-based programmes to encourage the benefits of Welsh-medium education at...
Gareth Davies: Will the Minister provide an update on the impact of home-schooling reforms on people in Denbighshire?
Gareth Davies: Could I ask for a statement from the Minister for Finance and Local Government this afternoon regarding the second home and holiday lets levy in Denbighshire specifically? I've been contacted by many people in my constituency recently who are, quite frankly, aghast at the 50 per cent additional council tax levy on their properties and feel put off from investing in the area. They and I...
