Adam Price: 3. What guidance has the Welsh Government provided to local health boards on the transformation of clinical services? OAQ51661
Adam Price: I'm grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for his statement. In it, you said that the UK Government plans to lay an order to transfer rail franchising functions to Welsh Ministers shortly. Could you say a little bit about—how shortly is shortly? And the fallback that you refer to if those functions are not transferred—under which circumstances can you envisage that having to be utilised? Is...
Adam Price: What assessment has the First Minister made of the ability of the UK, and therefore Wales, to be part of the single market after Brexit?
Adam Price: Will the Minister take an intervention?
Adam Price: Very briefly, could I urge him, in line with David Melding's intervention, to look specifically at this idea of creating what many Governments—they call them i-teams, which are cross-Government, which are a dedicated team of people looking at public service innovation. This is an area where Wales could lead. We have a public sector that's large relative to our economy as a whole, but if we...
Adam Price: Did the Cabinet Secretary answer the question in relation to the membership of the board, because he was unsure, when he was asked this morning, whether the Government had nominated, presumably not a director according to the company accounts, but a nominated observer, at least? Is it Government policy to have nominated observers in situations like this where the Government has taken an...
Adam Price: Would the Member give away?
Adam Price: This is a strange case of role reversal, given the positions in the earlier debate. But, surely, what would happen, if the Government were to lose this vote, is that they would have to take it away, listen to the comments that were made and bring it back, and address the particular issue of the split multiplier that I referred to.
Adam Price: Plaid Cymru has some sympathy with the technical content of this Order, to a great extent, which is the intention to change the inflationary measure that's used to calculate the non-domestic rating multiplier—changing to CPI rather than RPI. We have been calling for that for some time. But, looking at the bigger picture, when we look at the explanatory memorandum—which is monolingually in...
Adam Price: It's a requirement, of course, in a Parliament where the Government doesn't have a majority—that was true for the majority of the period that we were discussing—to come to an agreement. That asks for an element of humility and it also asks for a constructive attitude in terms of the opposition parties. That's part of a robust democratic process in a mature Parliament. I have been very...
Adam Price: Can we have a debate in Government time on Government policy on opposition motion debates? I probably need not remind the leader of the house that, last week, the Government lost a vote for the first time in this Assembly. Now, in response to that, a Welsh Government spokesperson said, and I quote, 'Opposition day votes are... meaningless. They aren't binding and don't have any bearing on...
Adam Price: I'm grateful to the Cabinet Secretary for that response. I hope we can get a little more detail on some of the specific projects.
Adam Price: Can he say whether any of the Welsh Government contracts awarded to Carillion were awarded after July, the time of the first profits warning issued by the company? After the second and third profits warning, in September and November last year, did the Government discuss contingency arrangements with Abellio, in relation to Carillion's role as the nominated contractor as part of their rail...
Adam Price: What plans has the Welsh Government made to respond to the consequences of Carillion entering liquidation? (EAQ0002)
Adam Price: Will the Cabinet Secretary give way?
Adam Price: He's championed the opportunity that driverless cars represent to Wales, and I fully support him in that. Does he recognise that, actually, to seize that opportunity, we have to invest in our road network, in road markings, the road surfaces, et cetera, and the availability of 5G? So, we need to create a smart road network that will allow us to maximise that opportunity.
Adam Price: Would you accept that—? Looking to the not-so-distant future, actually, given the decision—sadly—not to electrify the main line in south Wales beyond Cardiff, in 15 years' time we could be in a position where, actually, most cars will be electric, whereas it will be the trains that will be most polluting. So, don't we need to have a slightly more nuanced approach to this question?
Adam Price: Yes.
Adam Price: Well, no, that’s not demonstrated by the figures, because rural roads have 40 per cent of the traffic, but they have 62 per cent of the fatalities, and the lack of investment in our roads, I would argue, does have a direct impact on the level of fatalities. We do have to grasp the opportunities that exist now in order to transform our road network, because we are looking to the future, at...
Adam Price: It’s a pleasure to contribute to this important debate and to move the amendment in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth. It’s certainly true that there’s been a grave lack of investment in the Welsh roads network. The figures demonstrate that clearly. Since 2011, for example, the expenditure on roads in Wales has reduced by £32 million and, if truth be told, if we look at local roads, the...
