Siân Gwenllian: Since your announcement yesterday on increasing tuition fees, I have received a large number of messages from students studying in Bangor, as well as from school pupils who hope to go on to university. During the election, thousands of students and young people across the country were inspired by politics once again, partly because they had seen some of the political parties being willing to...
Siân Gwenllian: 3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on higher education funding in north Wales? OAQ(5)0159(EDU)[W]
Siân Gwenllian: Plaid Cymru will be voting against amendment 8 in group 5, which has been tabled in the name of Janet Finch-Saunders, because it does restrict the Government from introducing the Bill until an impact assessment has been completed and reported back to the Assembly. This is an entirely transparent attempt by the Conservatives to prevent the Bill from passing before the Wales Act is enacted....
Siân Gwenllian: I’d like to make a few general comments before going into detail on group 4. Plaid Cymru is supportive of this Bill introduced by Labour, but we wish to note that the Blair or Brown Governments didn’t take the opportunitiy to scrap many of those policies introduced by Thatcher—measures that continue to undermine the rights of workers to this day. It’s important that we bear that in...
Siân Gwenllian: You have published a very important document today, and it is a positive initial step on the journey to reach that target of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. The Government has identified key themes that will need to be prioritised in terms of increasing the number of Welsh speakers. Of course, the minutiae, the work programme and the action points, are what will be important as we move...
Siân Gwenllian: I’d like to congratulate my local university, Bangor, because that’s the only university in Wales to win a gold award under the UK Government’s teaching excellence framework, which is a wonderful result, confirming that Bangor University is maintaining excellent standards of teaching and learning consistently for its students, and that the provision in Bangor is of the highest quality...
Siân Gwenllian: 2. Will the First Minister make a statement on staff redundancies in Welsh universities? OAQ(5)0727(FM)[W]
Siân Gwenllian: Excellent. Well, there are so many festivals—
Siân Gwenllian: Oh, it’s this weekend. Well, do go to Llangrannog, everyone. And then Dai spoke about the need to promote the Welsh language in all areas, and the need for an arm’s-length body to do that important work. So, to conclude, speaking Welsh and speaking English fluently make me who I am. The Welsh language opens the door to me to a rich culture that dates back to the sixth century. The...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much. The debate started this afternoon with Neil Hamilton agreeing with much that is in the ‘Reaching the Million’ document. So, I don’t quite understand why we have to go after one aspect alone in the amendment that doesn’t genuinely contribute to the vision and leadership that we need in this area. Suzy Davies emphasised the need to increase confidence, and I agree...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much, and I’m very pleased to open this debate today and to move the motion. In March of this year, I published a report named ‘Reaching the Million’, which was brought together by Wales’s leading independent language policy and planning agency, which is IAITH: The Welsh Centre for Language Planning. I was very eager to contribute to the debate as the Government draws...
Siân Gwenllian: There’s been a great deal of emphasis on collaboration between councils at the regional level in the Welsh Government’s White Paper, ‘Resilience and renewed’. Plaid Cymru is eager to see the four western counties of Wales working strategically on issues that are unique to west Wales and arise from that unique knitting of the rural economy, housing, planning and the Welsh language. We...
Siân Gwenllian: Will the First Minister make a statement on funding higher education in Wales?
Siân Gwenllian: Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on funding plans under the Community Facilities Programme for 2017/18?
Siân Gwenllian: On Saturday, we launched two hydro energy projects in Arfon, Ynni Padarn Peris and Ynni Ogwen. Ynni Anafon is already in operation. I’m very pleased that we have three schemes that harness one of our most reliable natural resources, namely water, and that the profits generated are spent on projects in the community and bring benefits to local people. Unfortunately, the process of...
Siân Gwenllian: 9. Will the First Minister make a statement on business rates in the community energy sector? OAQ(5)0686(FM)[W]
Siân Gwenllian: I am fortunate enough to represent part of Snowdonia National Park, a distinctive area in terms of landscape, nature and way of life. As well as being one of the most beautiful places on earth, Snowdonia is also home to 26,000 people, many of whom work in the park from day to day. In recent years, there has been explosive growth in one part of the economy in the area, namely outdoor tourism....
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much to you all for your comments. I thank Mark Isherwood for presenting a number of arguments, and I do agree—yes, we do need to work jointly across north Wales and with Liverpool and Manchester, and whoever wants to work with us to improve the situation. Lee Waters mentioned problems in the Hywel Dda board area, but don’t blame the health boards only. Workforce planning...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much, and it’s a pleasure for me to move this motion. A lack of doctors in north Wales and rural areas in Wales creates a huge challenge for healthcare services. It would be possible to tackle the problem in the short term, but we also need to move forward to plan for permanent, long-term solutions. We need to train more doctors in north Wales, the area that has the greatest...
Siân Gwenllian: There’s a problem with general practice, as well. The north Wales medical committee has concerns regarding the sustainability of over a third of surgeries in the region: one in three surgeries is currently at risk. The committee says that we need an additional 70 GPs as a matter of urgency in north Wales. Now, in addition to the impact on patients, there is a financial cost to that shortage...
