Siân Gwenllian: I’m very pleased to participate in this important debate today. I want to concentrate on how public services can assist in terms of mental health care, but also how public services can have a detrimental impact in this area. If I could start with the health service. Unfortunately, we’re staging this debate whilst there is another inquiry into mental health care in the Betsi Cadwaladr...
Siân Gwenllian: Contacting public bodies through traditional methods, such as call centres, can be a very difficult and frustrating experience for us all at times, but of course it can be even more difficult for people who are deaf or hard of hearing. Therefore, what is the Government doing to ensure that there are alternative ways of making contact available for people who are deaf or hard of hearing in...
Siân Gwenllian: Local development plans, of course, are central to the process of housing provision, and these plans have been established on the basis of historical statistics as regards the level of population growth. Do you therefore agree that it is high time to develop a more effective way of gauging future demand, and also that we need more strategic collaboration between local authorities in housing...
Siân Gwenllian: Will the First Minister make a statement on health services in Arfon?
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much, and thank you for a lively discussion this afternoon. The Conservatives have conveyed their support for the motion, but I won’t accept amendment 1 because it does broaden the area of work too broadly, and, unfortunately, the current Government loses focus too often, and I wouldn’t want them to do that on this issue. You mentioned high-street pharmacies, and, yes, I...
Siân Gwenllian: It is up to them locally—it’s their option—but I know that in my area the districts have led to success and have been welcomed by local businesses. What those local businesses were telling me time after time was that parking charges militate against the improvements they’re trying to make, and so this is one way of addressing that. In Caernarfon, for example, there are 347 businesses...
Siân Gwenllian: Yes.
Siân Gwenllian: [Yn parhau.]—yn y Rhyl, mae 21.6 y cant o siopau’n wag.
Siân Gwenllian: I am quoting from official statistics. Although, perhaps, there are periods of time in Abergavenny—at the time of the food festival it does appear to be very busy there, but, when you take the whole year into account, facts and statistics demonstrate a different picture, unfortunately. I’m sorry to be negative, but that is the situation, but our motion offers a way of improving that....
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you, Presiding Officer, and I move the motion in the name of Plaid Cymru. Plaid Cymru wants to regain pride in our towns and to tackle the decline that many of them have faced and are facing. These days, a number of our town centres are half empty and are full of shops with boarded-up windows. In such an environment, it’s not surprising that many people choose to go to out-of-town...
Siân Gwenllian: Will the Minster make a statement on the Welsh Government's vision for the north Wales economy?
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much for the statement. I must congratulate you for all the work that has taken place with stakeholders, the trade unions, the council leaders and with councillors the length and breadth of Wales in order to gather their views on the future of local government in Wales. But, primarily, may I also thank you and congratulate you on introducing a version—a weak version perhaps,...
Siân Gwenllian: In a committee meeting on 13 July, the Cabinet Secretary for Education made it clear, in response to a question from the Plaid Cymru education spokesperson, that you’re going to look at the possibility of expanding the remit of the Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol to include further education. Please could you provide us with an update about the progress since that meeting, because it would go...
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you. Last week, you said, as you’ve repeated today, that Welsh as a second language would not be taught as part of the new curriculum by 2021, and, to replace it, there would be one continuum of Welsh language learning for every pupil. But I’m still not clear about the changes to the qualifications. Can you confirm what was said in the press following the interview on ‘Newyddion...
Siân Gwenllian: 7. Will the Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government’s progress in implementing the recommendations of Professor Sioned Davies’s report on learning Welsh? OAQ(5)0023(EDU)[W]
Siân Gwenllian: Overseas students make a direct contribution, a valuable contribution, to our universities and the economy. For every five European Union students that come to Wales, one job is created and £200 million comes in payments from international students to universities in Wales. Bangor University in my constituency is collaborating with 100 partners in 20 countries in Europe, and with many other...
Siân Gwenllian: Will the First Minister make a statement on restructuring local health services in north Wales?
Siân Gwenllian: Thank you very much. I’m going to refer to point 3 in the motion, which is on the importance of the education system in its entirety to reach the Welsh Government’s target of a million Welsh speakers. I’m going to discuss Welsh-medium education, rather than the Welsh second language qualification as such. I do note that the Welsh Government, in the ongoing consultation on increasing the...
Siân Gwenllian: Okay. If you compare that with Plaid Cymru councils, they are performing extremely well. How will you ensure, therefore, that local authorities—and particularly local authorities run by your own party—do take action in order to achieve this vision of 1 million Welsh speakers in the field of education?
Siân Gwenllian: I would like to quote as an example a particular Welsh Government strategy, namely the aim of 1 million Welsh speakers by 2050. In a written response to a written question, the Minister for Lifelong Learning and Welsh Language, on a question on the contribution of local authorities to the target in terms of Welsh-medium education, the answer received was that local authorities didn’t have...
