Lee Waters: I give you some credit: having been part of a Government that did have a transformative impact on the Valleys, you are in a position to judge. [Laughter.] But, on the Circuit of Wales, as members of the Public Accounts Committee, we’ve both read the auditor general’s report on that, and there are significant concerns in there about the way the project has been handled to date. Wouldn’t...
Lee Waters: Will the Member give way?
Lee Waters: Would he acknowledge that the city deals rather than the city regions, which I think he mentioned, which, of course, the Welsh Government set up, are simply displacing cuts in public spending through austerity, and the failure of the UK Government to acknowledge the case for fair funding? So, when put in the whole context, this bit of funding that has been passed down through the city deals...
Lee Waters: Diolch yn fawr, Gadeirydd. There’s no doubt that huge progress has been made with the intervention of the Welsh Government over the last year, with a 12 per cent increase in the number of GPs in Wales since the Assembly was established, and in just the last year, the number of GP training places being filled is at 84 per cent, whereas it was at 60 per cent a year ago. So, the intervention...
Lee Waters: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Cabinet Secretary, I’d like to warmly support the passion you have for nurturing leadership as a way of achieving excellence in standards. Can I just ask a couple of questions about how you see this sitting within the existing landscape of initiatives, bearing in mind that we are meant to be doing fewer things and keeping things simple? So, how, in particular, do you...
Lee Waters: Would the Member give way?
Lee Waters: There is no doubt that there are practical matters that need working through, but, as Carl Sargeant has just made clear, the chief constables are now all of a view that these are surmountable and in the best interests of policing for this to be devolved so that it can be aligned with other local public services.
Lee Waters: Minister, it’s now been 12 years since the cocklers of the Bury inlet have reported significant die-offs of shellfish and we still don’t know the cause of these deaths. We do know, however, of its economic impact: an export industry has been devastated and local cocklers are now struggling to make even a basic living. Six years ago, courts found against Welsh Water and now they found...
Lee Waters: Thank you, First Minister. My daughter was nine yesterday, and, for her birthday, she asked for a Raspberry Pi, which is not a fruit-based pudding, but, in fact, as you know, a small computer manufactured in your constituency.
Lee Waters: In your area. [Laughter.] But when she leaves education, the ability to programme computers will be an essential skill, everything from programming a manufacturing line to designing the next innovation. But the chief inspector of schools found that ICT standards are strong in only a very few schools, and not enough understand the potential of digital learning to aid teaching and learning....
Lee Waters: 1. When will every child in Wales be taught to code? OAQ(5)0577(FM)
Lee Waters: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I’m delighted to have tabled this debate today, along with my colleagues Hefin David, Vikki Howells, Jeremy Miles, and my friend David Melding—genuinely delighted. Just as we pressed last month that we must do all that we can to bolster the so-called foundational economy, we must also look at the external trends that are set to change our lives and our economies....
Lee Waters: What progress has the Welsh Government made in developing a national strategy on precision agriculture?
Lee Waters: You’re a politician.
Lee Waters: First Minister, yesterday’s report by the British Heart Foundation underlined the links between roads policy and health outcomes. The fact that 42 per cent of people in Wales are physically inactive, leading to long-term ill health and costs to the health service, is directly related to the decline in active travel over many years. When future roads are considered, will the First Minister...
Lee Waters: This is what I’ve been having to put up with, Llywydd, and I don’t think it’s helpful. I genuinely want to work on a cross-party basis to bring the community with us to achieve this policy and I’m afraid that Leanne Wood, for all her comments to the contrary, has achieved the opposite.
Lee Waters: And that wasn’t the speech I wanted to make.
Lee Waters: I think the mask has slipped, Llywydd, this afternoon. I think you’ve shown your true colours there, Leanne Wood, who’s trying to weaponise this debate for unhelpful reasons. I’ve tried very hard to take the heat out of this debate and I don’t think it’s helpful to demonise parents with legitimate concerns. I had hoped to—[Interruption.]
Lee Waters: And this is typical of the debate that we’ve been having, I’m afraid, that the genuine, sincere concerns of somebody who wants this policy to succeed is being heckled and shouted down by people impugning my motives towards the language, and I resent it and this Assembly needs to do better than that. And if we’re going to take the people of Wales with us, take the people of my...
Lee Waters: I’d be happy to take an intervention from Leanne Wood, because I thought that comment was unworthy of her. If she wants to make an intervention I’ll happily give her one, because I found her contribution so far to be incendiary.
