Jenny Rathbone: 1. Following the publication of the task and finish group report on breastfeeding, how will the Cabinet Secretary increase breastfeeding rates across Wales? OAQ52244
Jenny Rathbone: I completely agree with Llyr Gruffydd and, indeed, with the Cabinet Secretary. I salute the work done by my grandchild's nursery in preparing her for the emotional jealousy excited by the arrival of a young sibling. You know, this is essential. If we say we can't talk about this, we are going to create damaged children. We cannot have children having their period without knowing what's...
Jenny Rathbone: I know that a large number of people want to speak, so I'll be brief. About 20 per cent of the people working in my constituency are on less than the real living wage, and a considerable proportion of them are also on zero-hours contracts, and that is a massive problem in terms of the well-being of their children, because if people don't know when they're supposed to be working they can't...
Jenny Rathbone: The Department for Work and Pensions estimates that nearly 50,000 households in Wales will be affected by the cap on housing benefits. Paying 30 per cent of local market rents instead of the previous 50 per cent shrinks the options of the poor and also takes into account the size of the property. So people who are forced to downsize as a result of the bedroom tax don't just see the space of...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. My debate is about the very important issue of rented housing and why we need rent controls. I've agreed to give a minute of my time to David Melding and nobody else has indicated that they want to speak. Good, affordable housing is the cornerstone of a decent society. Housing is too important to the population's health and well-being to be left...
Jenny Rathbone: I'm grateful to you for allowing me to make an intervention, because I think that, actually, this is a really important point. I was horrified to see the Dispatches programme last month that exposed the fact that the UK Government is using our precious levy on our electricity bills to substitute coal for wood pellets made from hardwood in the Drax power station, which is obviously one of the...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Llywydd, I'm grateful for the clarification. I'm obviously concerned to know whether I might be affected by this. My position as the Assembly Member for Cardiff Central does make it possible for me to host an event, for example, on a Friday, which I appreciate would not be possible for most Assembly Members, whose constituencies are too far away for that. I absolutely agree that...
Jenny Rathbone: 2. Will the Commissioner explain why the number of events that can be sponsored by Assembly Members has been limited to 10 per year? OAQ52193
Jenny Rathbone: How much of the £1.1 million allocated to tackling period poverty and dignity is expected to be allocated to sustainable solutions?
Jenny Rathbone: We've come a very long way in my lifetime. My uncle was blackmailed for his activities and my aunt was forced to emigrate because of the stultifying opprobrium that only the genteel middle classes know how well to do. But most families will have similar experiences in their family histories if they care to look for them. So, we absolutely need to celebrate that, in this country at least,...
Jenny Rathbone: I've spent 10 years waiting to get a new bus station for Cardiff, and I'm absolutely delighted that the Welsh Government has stepped in to build the bus station, because, for reasons that I have yet to fully understand, the money that we should have been receiving from section 106 from all the other commercial transactions that have been taking place on Central Square, which, by the way, was...
Jenny Rathbone: Not at the moment. It's really disappointing that, after the passage of the Act, we are still having to clarify the purpose of the legislation in this way, particularly in response to a motion that proposes that this Government would engage in tax avoidance. As Mike Hedges has already made abundantly clear, that's absolutely not what is being spoken about, and instead we are looking at ways...
Jenny Rathbone: I'll give way now, yes.
Jenny Rathbone: It's very fortunate, is it not, that the Tories are not in charge of Welsh Government finances? I just wanted to pick up on this fundamental mistake that the Conservatives have made in the second part of their motion, because it indicates that they have simply no grasp of the status of the Welsh Government or the purposes of the taxes that they are now so deriding. It's just lamentable really...
Jenny Rathbone: I think we're fully aware of the Crown exemption, but I can't understand, therefore, why you aren't happily accepting the Government's amendment, seeing as, clearly, as they have Crown exemption, they would never be needing to pay the land transaction tax. It's a complete non sequitur.
Jenny Rathbone: What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had with police commissioners on the reduction in their budgets for community safety?
Jenny Rathbone: I was very pleased to hear you say that the support for food production must not undermine our natural environment, and I think that's absolutely crucial. Given that the numbers of species across Europe are crashing, it's very concerning to all of us that the common agricultural policy has obviously not been successful in preventing the numbers of wildlife from being eliminated in lots of...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for setting out the threats and the opportunities that face Wales, and also for appointing Mark Barry, who is a fantastic enthusiast of public transport and therefore, I think, will be a great bonus to setting out our stall. But, clearly, we don't hold all the levers. One of the big concerns of some of my constituents is the rise and rise of rail fares, which...
Jenny Rathbone: Thank you very much. I'm particularly interested in prevention and causes, because, obviously, prevention is much better than treatment, and we need to obviously ensure that the treatment is appropriate. We have to remember that thalidomide was once prescribed as a way of dealing with morning sickness. So, clearly, this has been latched onto as something for dealing with incontinence and...
Jenny Rathbone: Would you also agree that what we need to do is look at sustainable solutions? This isn't just about tackling poverty and tackling dignity. When you look at the amount of tampons that are dumped down the sewage system every year and the absolute unsustainability of this, we have to also look at educating girls about their bodies and how they function and how to insert a Mooncup, because a...
