Suzy Davies: Can I advise Members that the year 6 pupils of St Helen's Primary School in Swansea are watching us? So I hope we're all on our best behaviour. Deputy Minister, parents being in secure and sustainable employment is a hugely important factor in alleviating child poverty. I wonder if you can tell us how you're working with Cabinet colleagues to help match adult learners with work-based learning...
Suzy Davies: Minister, in order to support our shellfish industry, we need a shellfish industry to support, and December not only presents a deadline for a deal with the EU but compliance with the 2017 European Commission judgment in case C-502/15, which was brought against the UK Government, de facto the Welsh Government, for failure to fill obligations relating to water treatment in the Burry Inlet. As...
Suzy Davies: Minister, I was very pleased to hear you open with comments on the skills base of the steel industry in Wales. I think people overlook the fact that it's a constantly modernising industry and that's why it's such an important player in those institutions such as the Swansea bay city deal that you mentioned and Swansea University. But I'm quite keen to make sure that we don't overlook the...
Suzy Davies: Absolutely.
Suzy Davies: Oh, right, sorry, I wasn't watching. Forgive me, Dirprwy Lywydd.
Suzy Davies: Just basically, the whole principle of the engagement strategy is about the people of Wales, and, of course, the committees are part of that. If we're going to get people to engage with us, it needs to be about them, rather than what we call ourselves. Brexit was mainstreamed—yes, that was a good point. Mike—just if you'll allow me this last one, Dirprwy Lywydd—on the working from home,...
Suzy Davies: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. And I thank Llyr and Mike as well.
Suzy Davies: I'll just start with Llyr, if that's okay. Thank you very much for acknowledging, as we do, actually, as the Finance Committee, that, by working together, we're getting an increasingly transparent presentation of the budget that's possible. We're always happy to take recommendations on how to do that better. That might be something that Mike was referring to right at the end there, but I...
Suzy Davies: Diolch yn fawr, Ddirprwy Lywydd. I move the Commission's budget motion for 2021-22, which is, of course, the first year of the sixth Senedd, which will apply from April next year. I ask as part of the motion that this to be incorporated into the annual budget motion. As you will have seen from the budget document, the Commission is seeking a total budget of £62 million, nine hundred and...
Suzy Davies: Can I begin as well by thanking Louise Casella and Qualifications Wales for the advice that they've given the Minister on this? I have to begin, though, by saying that while I was completely understanding of your position in wanting to issue a written statement a little earlier today so that schools would know that this is the way that you are proceeding, I'm deeply disappointed that The...
Suzy Davies: I wonder if I could ask for two statements from the Minister for Education, please, Trefnydd—I appreciate she's here today to hear the request. The first is about the registration of teachers in independent schools. I know this has been raised with you fairly recently, but because it's a safeguarding issue and you're fighting a very strong fight on safeguarding when it comes to the...
Suzy Davies: Can I just say 'well done' to all the people who signed both of these petitions? My group will not only be noting these today but supporting what the petitioners are asking for. Petitions themselves are a part of our history, and in particular they were encouraged by that great Plaid favourite, Edward I. Monarchs and Governments had for decades been routinely dismissing prayers for aid or...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much, Rhun, and to all the officials who have been working on this scheme for many years now. I know that there will be slight disappointment in hearing that some of us haven’t been using as much Welsh in the Chamber as we have done in the past, and I’m certainly one of those—I will admit to that. Perhaps it would be a fair comment to say that this year hasn’t been a...
Suzy Davies: First of all, Deputy Minister, can I thank you for your willingness to appear regularly at the cross-party group on tourism, where you'll have heard that tourism and hospitality, perhaps more than any other sector, have been raised as a point of concern by Members? I'm just a bit worried that the position of attractions might be lost in this wider focus on pubs, restaurants and accommodation....
Suzy Davies: Minister, I think I'd be grateful if you could bring some influence to bear on the restoration of a minor injuries unit at Singleton Hospital in Swansea. It's been closed for some time now. But in the meantime, I wonder if you could tell us what out-patient activity is happening in the community since March. It's been part of Welsh Government policy for a while to try and bring some...
Suzy Davies: I think we'd all be grateful to hear the update that you just promised to Mark Isherwood, Trefnydd. I wonder if I could request a statement from the Minister for the economy, preferably an oral statement but a written one would be okay, I think, to update us on how well the £40 million package promised to the over-16s needing assistance to find work, training or education, or to pursue...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Can I apologise for so many amendments? But thank you for selecting them. But, of course, we wanted to show respect to the original motion, which had a lot of information in it. Perhaps less a portmanteau motion and more of a packing trunk, which is going to take rather a number of burly stevedores to lift it off the ground, so I hope we've all been eating our spinach...
Suzy Davies: Alun, I'm delighted that you brought this to the Chamber today. Nothing is more powerful than personal testimony, personal experience that has inspired you to try and change something that really does need changing. Unfortunately, as you said, 97 per cent of those people who suffer a cardiac arrest aren't here to share testimony in the way that you've been able to do. I think your call for a...
Suzy Davies: Thank you. I don't underestimate the task for secondary school heads, in particular, of reconfiguring school layouts, timetables and attendance times in order to comply with the rules on social distancing and hygiene. But I don't think there can be any justification for hundreds of pupils being sent home to self-isolate just because one individual has tested positive. Five hundred and fifty...
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that, Minister. Obviously, the quality of work that's either being given to young people to take home or that they're getting remotely, is very variable. You've admitted this in the past and it's certainly not a reflection on the hard work that teachers are putting in, which is why I asked you what Welsh Government is doing to support the mental health of our teachers,...
