Helen Mary Jones: 2. Will the Minister make a statement regarding flooding in Mid and West Wales? OQ56056
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to be able to participate in this debate, and I will address my remarks mainly to our amendment 9, as Rhun ap Iorwerth has said. We're grateful for the Government's acceptance of that amendment. These are, of course, incredibly difficult times. Restrictions are inevitable to protect public health. We may even need, as Lynne Neagle has just said, to restrict further over...
Helen Mary Jones: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, I'll end with this: I just ask the Government to consider whether we can vary the people who are affected by these restrictions, because some people have got more options and more choices than others. We just need to show a bit of humanity and a bit of understanding about how people live their lives, as well as, of course, prioritising reducing the spread...
Helen Mary Jones: I wish to speak primarily to our amendments 11, 12 and 13, and I'll start, if I may, with amendment 12. It seems to us that there is as much reason to be concerned about the spread of the virus in people's homes if large quantities of alcohol are consumed, if not more, than there is to be concerned about the spread of the virus in hospitality settings. Nobody wants, I'm sure, a...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Minister for his answer. When we discuss the steel industry in Wales, we tend to focus on Port Talbot, and, obviously, that's vitally important. But can I ask the Minister to give the citizens of Llanelli and the workers at Trostre his personal assurance that when he is having these discussions—and I'm so glad to hear that he is—he will remember that it isn't just Port...
Helen Mary Jones: I think the Minister is right to delay publishing the reconstruction and the redevelopment plans and to concentrate, at the moment, on the crisis. But, as we move towards that phase, I wonder if the Minister agrees with me that the disappointing decision made public by Ineos yesterday demonstrates to us that we really need to refocus our support to business on local businesses to enable our...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Minister for his answer. I'm sure that none of us envies the Government the decisions that they have to make. I was pleased to hear the Minister, in his response to Russell George, refer to the supply chain businesses. And he will be aware, for example, of the challenges to Castell Howell, a supply business based in Crosshands, that depends, for 70 per cent of their...
Helen Mary Jones: —and they would, of course, provide a lifeline to some businesses.
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you very much. I'd like to expand, with the Minister, on some of the issues around hospitality and to begin by saying that we on these benches are clear, with Welsh Government, that public health and public safety is paramount. We do understand that and we share the Government's concerns about the rise of COVID. But I am struggling, Dirprwy Lywydd, to explain to...
Helen Mary Jones: 4. What discussions has the Minister had regarding the future of Trostre steelworks in Llanelli? OQ56005
Helen Mary Jones: Delyth Jewell.
Helen Mary Jones: Sorry, Llywydd.
Helen Mary Jones: The COVID crisis has shown us all, I think, how important local food supply can be, and how the current industrial food system is failing. It's failing producers, it's failing processors and it's failing those of us who eat and drink the food. There have been many stories, Llywydd, around the time of COVID, that have been heartbreaking for all of us, but one that really upset me was taking a...
Helen Mary Jones: I think we must remember the huge importance of the food and drink industry now here in Wales. And just to give a couple of examples, the industry as it stands—and we could, of course, do so much more—has a £22.1 billion turnover and employs 229,000 workers directly, and there is a bit of a tendency, sometimes, to think that all of those are not good-quality jobs and that that's not a...
Helen Mary Jones: I wasn't a member of the committee when evidence was taken for this report, so I've really enjoyed reading the work and discussing informally with colleagues, and it certainly is an impressive piece of work, challenging Welsh Government where it needs to be challenged, but supporting it too where the committee felt that they were heading in the right direction. I don't want to repeat comments...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I'm grateful to all Members who have contributed to this debate. I think the breadth of the discussion shows how important these issues are to Members across the Chamber and not only to Members of our committee. I, of course, don't have time to respond to everybody's comments, but I will try and pick up on some of the main ones. I think David Melding's comments...
Helen Mary Jones: Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm pleased to present this report from the Culture, Welsh Language and Communications Committee on the impact of the pandemic on journalism and on local media. I'd like to begin, of course, by giving my thanks to my fellow committee members, to our wonderful team of staff and to all of those witnesses who gave both oral and written evidence. I'm sure we would...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm grateful to the Minister for her answer. Dyfed-Powys police and crime commissioner Dafydd Llywelyn recently held a very successful community safety participatory budgeting event, inviting people from the community to prioritise funding for community projects to promote community safety. I'm very pleased to say that Mind Cymru—who happen to be my next-door neighbours, next to my office...
Helen Mary Jones: I'm hearing some real concerns about some staffing difficulties in hospitals in my region, including Prince Philip Hospital and particular problems in Glangwili in Carmarthen. I'm told—and this is anecdotal, Minister, so I can't be sure that this is the case—that there are nurses and doctors becoming ill with coronavirus and members of the public concerned as to whether they're...
Helen Mary Jones: 7. What assessment has the Welsh Government made of mental health provision in Llanelli? OQ55977
