Mr Simon Thomas: I’d like to thank the Member for also being the first to ask a question of a committee Chair, and I will certainly pass on his congratulations to the enlightened people who came up with this idea. I’d also add my thanks to the previous Chair and the previous finance Minister for their work in this regard as well. A lot of what I said in the statement was building on—as he knows, as a...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I hope that this will lead to a great many statements of this kind and I’m very pleased to be making this statement today. I welcome the wisdom of the Business Committee to enable committee Chairs to inform the Chamber of their committee’s work and priorities. As it is the start of a new Assembly term, and the Finance Committee has been busy setting out its...
Mr Simon Thomas: What we are seeking now is detail, First Minister, and there are a number of things that are missing or very weak in the programme at the moment. May I ask you specifically, therefore, starting with that point that Jenny Rathbone made, you talked about ‘making progress towards’ reducing carbon emissions by 2050, but have you therefore dropped the target of reducing carbon emissions by 40...
Mr Simon Thomas: If I could just raise two issues with you and ask, first of all, if we can have a statement from the Minister for infrastructure, economy and transport regarding the closure eastbound of the A48 outside Carmarthen. I understand that this closure has started and is going to happen for six weeks, between Carmarthen and Nantycaws. I'm already getting some feedback of delays, severe delays, in...
Mr Simon Thomas: I’m grateful to hear that it’s your intention to see this bus service return. May I say that, even in the days of Margaret Thatcher, there was a direct bus service from Aberystwyth to Cardiff? That ran uninterrupted until this summer, and it’s the first time we’ve lost that direct coach service, which was so attractive to pensioners and students—they were the main customers,...
Mr Simon Thomas: When a health board gets nominated for an award and it’s at a level 2 intervention from the Welsh Government, you have to ask yourself, ‘What’s going wrong?’ The truth is that, in Pembrokeshire, people’s access to primary health care is dangerously affected by the fact that it takes up to two weeks to get an appointment with a doctor, the fact that we don’t have minor injuries...
Mr Simon Thomas: 5. Will the First Minister make a statement on bus services from Aberystwyth to Cardiff? OAQ(5)0149(FM)[W]
Mr Simon Thomas: It won’t be the last time, I’m sure.
Mr Simon Thomas: You’re absolutely right. I agree, and of course, we have the deep ports, and the Haven in Pembrokeshire as well, where construction can be taken immediately out to sea without the UK investment that was needed in the north-east. That was seen as regional development, but it also opened up the north sea for offshore wind, and that’s been very successful. I think that’s a very good...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I think, in bringing forward this debate, and, earlier this week, in publishing our programme for opposition, Plaid Cymru was responding to a real need that we have now in Wales. I think it’s fair to say that those in power, and those responsible for calling the referendum on the future membership of the European Union, did not prepare for this scenario...
Mr Simon Thomas: I thank the Minister for his response. I’m pleased to hear that there has been some progress since we last questioned him on this issue before the summer, and specifically that he has met the Children’s Commissioner for Wales. I’m sure that he will have received the full support of the commissioner to that objective. Can he now explain how the Government intends to bring some sort of...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you. Many people are awaiting this decision on both sides of the argument, as it were. May I just place on record that I have met with petitioners, although some people think that I haven’t, but that you, as Minister, haven’t met with those petitioners? I think that is the case. Are you now willing, now that the consultation is over, to meet those petitioners who want a ban on...
Mr Simon Thomas: I thank the Cabinet Secretary for that, but I didn’t hear a guarantee of the payments continuing until 2020. If she is just able to confirm that, it would be useful for everyone concerned, I think, because we can then discuss what comes afterwards, but at least we know what’s happening now. The other issue I wanted to raise with her was that there was some confusion from the First...
Mr Simon Thomas: Halen Môn to season the potatoes—that would do, wouldn’t it?
Mr Simon Thomas: Excellent. And a little cider to wash it down perhaps. Turning to the current situation that we face, the Westminster Government have stated clearly that single farm payments and environmental payments under the current common agricultural policy will continue from their point of view until 2020. Can you therefore confirm in the Chamber today that it is Welsh Government policy to do exactly...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, you may be aware that the National Farmers Union Cymru are currently conducting a campaign to encourage everyone to buy at least five items of produce from Wales. Can you name the last five items of Welsh produce that you bought, and what are you doing as Minister to ensure that customers know that their produce is from Wales?
Mr Simon Thomas: 4. Will the Minister make a statement on scallop fishing in Cardigan Bay? OAQ(5)0029(ERA) [W]
Mr Simon Thomas: 4. What discussions has the Minister had regarding legislation that would ensure that children would be protected in the same way as adults from physical attacks? OAQ(5)0035(CC)[W]
Mr Simon Thomas: Can I welcome the Government’s business manager back from the recess that we’ve all had? I think most of us found it very busy indeed following the referendum result, and the need to talk with and deal with our constituents and businesses and people who are interested in knowing how we’re going to plot a way forward here in the Assembly. I was curiously struck by how rudderless a...
Mr Simon Thomas: Thank you, Minister. Of course, I did receive the written statement, but I was very eager to ask questions on the floor of the Chamber on the decision and the rationale behind the decision. This now leaves four of the seven main health boards dealing with primary care and secondary care in some sort of intervention from Government. Can you explain how this situation has arisen, after your...
