Huw Irranca-Davies: I wonder if you'd give way. I wonder if you would care to repeat what you said earlier on, because I thought I may have misheard that you said something like, 'A Labour Government was available for hire by lobbyists.' You may be referring to the Government of which I was a member at the time. Please put on record precisely what you are saying so that I can clarify.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Would you say it again?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Would you like to repeat that outside the Chamber?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Would you like to repeat that outside the Chamber?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Point of order.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Sorry, I've gone over time. It would be a helpful clarification, Mark, if, in the current uncertainty and lack of any knowledge of what's going on with the UK shared prosperity fund, any incoming Government would, on day one, make crystal clear that they were replacing the £370 million annually, that that was coming to Wales and would be factored into the policy framework, and that decisions...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I'll just finish my point, Mark, then I'll happily give way. We could turn to the fact that on European social fund employability support projects, they were 46 per cent more likely to find work over 12 months than similarly unemployed people receiving other forms of support or no support at all; that European regional development fund business support has a positive impact on employment...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I'm genuinely going to try to make a non-partisan, non-political speech here, which is unusual in the middle of an election, but actually it comes out of something that has arisen in the middle of the election. Because I've been sent a copy of a letter that's been sent, apparently, to all parliamentary party candidates and it's signed by the head of external affairs for the Federation of...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Will you give way?
Huw Irranca-Davies: Just for the record, I happen to agree with him that the light-touch regulation was too light, but, curiously, it was backed by George Osborne. So, I just wonder if he'd like to reflect on that, because there was a consensus at that time, it was a wrongheaded consensus, but actually it was backed by the Conservative Party.
Huw Irranca-Davies: I thank Suzy for raising this question, and I may be able to be some help, but I want to ask for some help from the Minister going forward as well. The changes to Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board have indeed been helpful on two significant issues that I know he's been involved in over the last couple of years as well. One has indeed been the issue of the provision of surgeries for...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Can I very much welcome the review on post-16 education transport, but also the engagement that I know that is going on at the moment between the Minister and the Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport on active travel, on some imaginative thinking on that joint working? But could I ask, beyond those short journeys to school, for which we need to encourage more children to actually get on...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on the use of the transformation fund in the Bridgend area of Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board?
Huw Irranca-Davies: I simply wanted to ask how this regulation—amendment to the regulation—will make sure that there is a proportionate approach, and that there is a reasonable approach that is taken to fines and penalties. I disagree with the point that Mark has made; I think SuDS systems now are absolutely essential—we've learnt this, they have to be in place, and it is right that there is a...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I think this will be welcomed by not only all the Labour colleagues here, but also the Labour and Wales Co-operative colleagues as well. The idea of developing community wealth-building initiatives that are bolted down in your community is something we've long supported. So, I wanted to ask about two specific areas that I'd like the Minister to expand on briefly—one is the Project Skyline,...
Huw Irranca-Davies: And can I ask for two statements or debates—one of them on that topic, actually, of debt advice and the very positive and crucial role played by debt advisers in many organisations—CABx, StepChange Debt Charity, Christians Against Poverty and many others? Last week, at an event organised by Hefin David, StepChange's 'Wales in the Red' report showed that, in Wales, single parents are...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I sometimes feel great sympathy for the Minister because John, Hefin, other Members here, and myself, get up and we incessantly labour on about the particular interests in our own communities. But we make no excuse for this because I sometimes feel like I'm doing running surgeries when I travel back and forth every day from Maesteg to Cardiff. There, I sit down and speak to people on...
Huw Irranca-Davies: We know that the goods produced by mid Wales farmers go way beyond the excellent food produce that they do produce off their land. Also, the successful management of the Pumlumon hills has a direct effect, whether it's good or bad, on downstream flooding, both in parts of Wales and parts of England. I feel very strongly that they ought to be rewarded for good, effective land management. Also,...
Huw Irranca-Davies: With apologies, if I can just quote the words of John F. Kennedy: 'all of us have, in our veins the exact same percentage of salt...that exists in the ocean...we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea...we are going back...whence we came.' Not only are those words quoted here today in this Chamber, but actually 10 years...
