Lee Waters: Will the Member give way?
Lee Waters: Thank you very much. He started so well, and I just want to save him from himself, because, of course, it’s not an either/or, is it? There’s no need to get hung up on your usual tirade against renewables; we need both.
Lee Waters: Minister, I think it’s significant that the 1,100 jobs that were taken from Cardiff resulted in just 250 jobs, according to reports, by the time they got to Dundee. So, no doubt there were a range of factors at work, but clearly automation is happening now; rather than being a future prospect, it is live and it’s impacting our communities. I was pleased to invite you along to a...
Lee Waters: Thank you, First Minister. The market disruption that’s accompanying what’s widely called the fourth industrial revolution does give us an opportunity to reimagine the Welsh economy and make it more resilient to the challenges being unleashed by global forces. The current Innovation Wales strategy does need updating and it does need greater ambition in the face of this. Would the First...
Lee Waters: 7. What assessment has the First Minister made of the ‘Innovation Wales’ strategy? OAQ(5)0660(FM)
Lee Waters: Given the distinction that he makes between the role of us as parliamentarians and the Government in the inter-institutional arrangements, as he puts it, does he have any reflections on the recommendation in the report that, before he gives the go-ahead for the approval of a BBC Wales appointee to the board, the Assembly’s culture committee has an opportunity to question that nominee?
Lee Waters: Will the Minister give way?
Lee Waters: Diolch, Llywydd, and I shan’t follow the example of my colleagues in heaping praise upon the work of our own committee—that’s for others to form an opinion. It’s worth reminding ourselves why we set about this piece of work and the rather dismal backdrop when we began our work. There’s been, over the last 10 years, a 22 per cent cut in the number of hours of English language...
Lee Waters: You’re playing to the gallery now.
Lee Waters: But what about any other condition?
Lee Waters: Can I add my thanks to Paul Davies for bringing this legislation forward, and for the consensual way in which he’s engaged in developing the proposal to date? I think there is a consensus in this National Assembly that more needs to be done to help families with autism. And can I say that I agreed with much of what Leanne Wood said? I hope that we can all focus on what we can agree on and...
Lee Waters: Cabinet Secretary, I'm genuinely excited about the potential of this strategy, not only as a health intervention, but as an economic intervention, too. Genomics is one of the fast-emerging industries of the much talked-about fourth industrial revolution. We’ve discussed some of the unparalleled health advantage—we're told we can expect cancer treatments, for example, 20 times more...
Lee Waters: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. I certainly welcome your statement about the future investment in coding. I think that’s very encouraging and I do hope, given the opportunities there are from coding, that the announcement is of a sufficient scale to be able to take advantage of those opportunities. I also acknowledge your remarks about the DCF and Hwb being hailed across the world and we...
Lee Waters: Cabinet Secretary, you said that the outset that this is a fast-changing environment that has been vulnerable to a degree of disruption in recent years. The report decides that the Welsh Books Council is the best body—best place—to lead up through this uncertain terrain, but it also says that the Welsh Books Council needs to develop different levels of risk appetite, it needs to develop...
Lee Waters: I did preface my remarks, Llywydd, to talk about the Newtown bypass, which has just been referenced.
Lee Waters: Indeed. I’m talking about the way local authorities are implementing and interpreting this Act, and whether the First Minister, and the Welsh Government, will issue strong guidance to local authorities, to make sure the emphasis is on short journeys, practical journeys, and not bypasses.
Lee Waters: Isn’t part of the problem, First Minister, that some Members seem to think that bypasses are part of active travel networks? Sixty per cent of all car journeys are for journeys of less than five miles, and an emphasis on everyday journeys is one of the key ways of making the active travel Act achieve its potential. In Carmarthenshire, the council’s draft strategy has an emphasis on sports...
Lee Waters: Will the First Minister commit to a review of the Innovation Wales strategy?
Lee Waters: Okay, I’ll do my very best. Thank you for giving way. In response to that point about the failure to build houses organically over the years so that now there’s a glut that needs to be built, would you accept that it’s the failure of Conservative Governments in the 1980s to replace those houses that were sold off to council tenants, quite rightly, but then an alternative wasn’t built...
Lee Waters: Will the Member give way?
