Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you for that response. The agricultural sector is one of the key pillars of the Welsh language here in Wales, and you will be aware of the Government's responsibilities in light of the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, where cultural and linguistic considerations are to be equally balanced with economic, environmental and social considerations. With that in mind, and...
Llyr Gruffydd: 1. What is the Cabinet Secretary's vision for the future of agriculture in Wales? OAQ52877
Llyr Gruffydd: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the settlement for local authorities in North Wales?
Llyr Gruffydd: Diolch, Llywydd. I’m pleased to contribute to this Stage 1 debate to outline the Finance Committee’s recommendations in relation to the financial implications of the Renting Homes (Fees etc.) (Wales) Bill. The Finance Committee supports the general principles of the Bill and agrees that the provisions are necessary to sustain an accessible and affordable private rental sector in Wales....
Llyr Gruffydd: Passing this amendment from the Labour Government would make it a rather self-congratulatory motion, just listing what the Welsh Government is currently doing, and that, of course, would be in stark contrast to the central message of the IPCC report. The question isn't, 'What are we currently doing?' The question is, 'What are we going to do to go over and above what's currently happening?'...
Llyr Gruffydd: The first amendment from the Government—we won’t be supporting amendment 1 because it’s an attempt to rewrite some history. It’s a simple statement, noting the conclusions of one of this Assembly’s committees, namely that the Government is likely to miss its targets on carbon emissions by 2020. We don’t need to fear that. That is, if that is likely to be the case, well, we have to...
Llyr Gruffydd: Well, diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. I'm not sure whether I enjoyed or I hated that experience, actually; it veered from one emotion to the other, from the consensus that David Melding was talking about, to something very different from Lee Waters. But, there we are, such is life. I don't think this place is boring if these are the kinds of debates that we have, but there we are. There are...
Llyr Gruffydd: I've talked in this Chamber before, of course, of how Plaid Cymru wants to see the establishment of a national energy company for Wales that would assist in our aim of ensuring that as much energy as is consumed in Wales is produced from renewable sources by 2035. That's ambitious but it’s also achievable. Other nations are moving far more quickly than us on this agenda. Germany, for...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Discussing the weather is something that we as Welsh people delight in doing and, of course, 2018 has been of huge pleasure to many people when it comes to the weather. We recall the snow and cold weather at the beginning of the year, the endless rain of the spring, one of the hottest summers on record, and storm Callum in the autumn bringing a...
Llyr Gruffydd: As a brand-new member of this committee who wasn't fortunate enough to be party to a lot of the evidence received, I did thoroughly enjoy reading the report, and I did read, as well, the Government's responses to the recommendations. It's clear we are still facing significant challenges in meeting our climate change commitments here in Wales, and a reduction in emissions of 80 per cent by...
Llyr Gruffydd: Well, I have the article here. You've just told us that you will consider responses, but here you say, 'Asked whether she would consider maintaining some form of direct payment if the vast majority of respondents to the consultation requested it, she said: “No"'. Now, only last week you were trying to rewrite history about what Sue Hayman had said in comments about payments in England, and...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you for that response. You will be aware, of course, that the Cabinet Secretary with responsibility for agriculture is currently consulting on a document call 'Brexit and our Land', and there are specific proposals in that document that will have far-reaching implications for the rural economy in Wales. That consultation is happening whilst there hasn't been any kind of modelling or any...
Llyr Gruffydd: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the availability of jobs in rural areas? OAQ52811
Llyr Gruffydd: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary confirm whether her comments in the Farmers Guardian on 18 October, in which she stated that she will not consider maintaining some form of direct payment for farmers, even if the majority of respondents to 'Brexit and our Land' requested it, is the Welsh Government’s position? 224
Llyr Gruffydd: Can I thank the Minister for her statement? Certainly, we need action. Some of us would agitate for more urgent action than others, I'm sure, but there's no doubt that we need to tackle the plastics epidemic that we're facing as a society—a global society—these days. And as positive as the local authorities' record has been in terms of recycling over recent years, it is disappointing to...
Llyr Gruffydd: One of the difficulties that the health board finds difficulty in tackling is in the transfer of care, and I don’t know if you can explain to me how we saw a situation that we saw in Chirk hospital recently, where it took 368 days to transfer one patient, according the community health council. Now, not only is that bad for the patient, but it’s also bad for the hospital and anyone else...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you very much. Now, you said recently, and I’m sure that you may have anticipated that someone might raise this—but you said that there may be a need for more emphasis on lifelong learning, and that that isn’t a priority for the Welsh Government. Can you be clear with us: isn’t that your fault, because you are the Minister responsible for this area within this Government?
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you for that clarity and thank you for accepting the principle, because that is an important message the sector wants to hear. According to ColegauCymru, it seems that £10 million will be required to pay for salary increases for FE staff in order to provide the same pay rise for them. Now, being aware of the funding situation in the sector as it currently exists, then it’s likely...
Llyr Gruffydd: Thank you very much, Llywydd. Minister, teachers in schools are to receive a pay rise of 3.5 per cent, or up to 3.5 per cent, but we will have a situation then where teachers teaching sixth-form pupils in schools will receive a pay rise, whilst those teaching sixth-form students in further education colleges won’t receive a corresponding pay rise. Now, I’m not going to ask you to...
Llyr Gruffydd: 'A man in whom I have no confidence and for whom I have no respect'.
