Kirsty Williams: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I regret that Plaid Cymru do not feel in a position to support this LCM today, because, actually, what we’re trying to do is secure important safeguards for Welsh higher education institutions in being able to accrue these powers for Welsh Ministers with regard to the future of TEF as well as our ability to be able to continue to provide student...
Mr Simon Thomas: ...for Wales to be fully represented on the UKRI. I take it that that has taken place. Of course, the LCM before us today does state clearly—or the context states, as Llyr has said—that Wales is not fully represented on that board. So, the Government has asked this—this is the Government’s policy—and having failed to achieve that, it comes to the Assembly to ask it to approve a...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...at one of the amendments that was passed to the Bill in Westminster, it mentions that Westminster Ministers should consider whether it would be desirable for one of the devolved nations to have representation. That is, ‘have regard to the desirability of’—that was the wording used. Well, surely we should insist that each of the devolved nations should have a voice on UKRI? Indeed,...
Lynne Neagle: ...and improving mental and health well-being. So, we have quite a track record there to try and protect. I also think that it is very important to guard against the narrative that this programme has not tackled poverty, coming, as it has, for the last nearly seven years, against the backdrop of swingeing benefit cuts, which can be dismissed by the Welsh Conservatives, but which have...
Dawn Bowden: ...system, which hits the poorest the hardest. It’s again something over which Welsh Government has no control. However, you know from my previous contributions in this Chamber and in personal representations that I’ve made to you that I have nothing but praise for the benefits that Communities First schemes have brought to my constituency. My concern in ending the scheme was that we...
Carl Sargeant: ...out into those communities to talk with individuals—both workforce and organisations—that can help us design opportunities with the legacy fund as it moves forward. Cytûn and others have made representation on the softening of the structural changes, and I believe we’ve done that. We’ve offered a 70 per cent funding model until the end of this financial year, and then, from...
Carwyn Jones: An interesting idea again, and something, certainly, that I will look into. I will write to the Member in terms of what representations were made about the National Cyber Security Academy. It is an initiative, in principle, that we have supported, but I will write to him with further details in terms of how the centre was established and why it was established in London.
Steffan Lewis: ...higher education. So, it’s very disappointing that the UK’s centre is going to be located in London, as if London hasn’t got enough support from the UK Government in that respect. So, what representations did the First Minister make to try and get the UK centre to locate alongside the cyber academy in Newport, so that our country could have benefited from the jobs that will come?...
Mark Drakeford: ...a UK research and innovation body, the Cabinet Secretary for Education, the Minister for Skills and Science and the chief scientific adviser met the UK Minister responsible and sought proper Welsh representation on UK research and innovation’s board. They made the same point to interim UKRI chair, Sir John Kingman. Discussions with universities on UKRI engagement started only recently.
Mark Isherwood: ..., the UK is the EU’s biggest customer and a mutually beneficial free trade agreement with the EU—a single market—means, by definition, access to that single market. Despite Welsh Government representations at the appeal into the High Court decision that Parliament must vote on the process to take the UK out of the EU, the Supreme Court made clear that the consent of the devolved...
Carl Sargeant: ...operational issues around the police and stations. These are operational issues and they’re non-devolved to us; they are a matter for the Home Office and I’m sure the Member will have made representation to the relevant body.
Michelle Brown: ...the premises sold off. The security of having a visible and easy to find police station and an accessible one has been taken away from many people. Will the Cabinet Secretary give us details of the representations he’s made to the police commissioners and the police forces of Wales in respect of closure or downsizing of police stations? I welcome any efforts made to reduce, and...
Jane Hutt: ...for that question. Indeed, this is a question that the Cabinet Secretary will follow up, but it’s also very important that if you have people who are affected in this way that you also make representations on their behalf.
Paul Davies: Cabinet Secretary, you’ve made it quite clear in a recent response to a written question I asked that you’ve not made any representations to your ministerial counterparts across the UK about the possibility of an animal abuse register and you’ve also confirmed that you have no intention of raising the issue of increasing penalties for animal offences at all at this present time. Given...
Carl Sargeant: ...plans will be critical in the way that we move forward into equality moving forward. Gareth Bennett mentioned his experience with some people recently. I think I share his point, actually—we’re not short of legislation on equality here in Wales or in the UK, but I think it’s about the way we interpret that and deliver. I think we can have all the legislation in the world, but if it...
Dawn Bowden: ...play in all of this. We’ve already seen significant strides towards achieving and retaining a gender balance here in the National Assembly, but I’m realistic enough to recognise that if it were not for the all-women shortlist policy operated by the Labour Party in Wales, I might not be here today. However, that positive approach by Labour to the selection of women through all-women...
Dawn Bowden: ...for producing this comprehensive report? There have, undoubtedly, been many achievements here in Wales during the period of the Welsh Government’s 2015-16 strategic equality plan and objectives, not least of which was the landmark legislation that the Cabinet Secretary referred to earlier on, the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. There are many...
Hannah Blythyn: ...’s happening outside this Chamber. The Welsh Government’s commitment to equality and its cross-cutting approach to furthering this agenda is to be applauded, but the challenge for us all, and not solely the Welsh Government, is to ensure that these overarching objectives and principles translate into reality and everyday practice for the people they are set up to serve. Equality, to...
Kirsty Williams: ...that we need to solve with regard to post-compulsory education. You’re absolutely right, the current system does lead to duplication and competition in a way that is often unhelpful. It does not provide, as Hazelkorn said herself in the report, good value for public money, and at a time of austerity we need to make sure that the Welsh pound is working really, really hard and delivering...
Llyr Gruffydd: ...relationship with the proposed TEA? You say in your statement that it’s critical that we hear from learners, leaders and practitioners in this process, and I couldn’t agree more, but would you not agree that that needs to be an ongoing thing, and that when it comes, for example, to the TEA governing board, staff and students should have a representation on that board, so that obviously...
