Sioned Williams: Thank you for the statement, Minister. It is true that the reports of the war in Ukraine and the intensification in terms of tactics and the inhuman response of Russia are very concerning to those people who have sought shelter in Wales, and likely, of course, to have an impact on the number of refugees. The changes that you've mentioned in terms of the support available to the people...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Brif Weinidog. The latest research by the Bevan Foundation revealed that the number of people in households with one or two children who are having to cut back on food has nearly doubled since this time last year, with one in 10 families with one child, and one in five families with two children cutting back on food for children. So, that staggering number of 6,300 children who've...
Sioned Williams: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement on Welsh Government measures to tackle child poverty in South Wales West? OQ58632
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Weinidog. Welsh universities are, of course, vital to the economy, generating over £5 billion and almost 50,000 jobs. I'd like to draw attention to some concerns raised regarding the draft strategy. In the STEM cross-party group meeting last month, it was suggested Welsh Government does not intend to earmark any new money for the strategy, with the Reid review recommendations off the...
Sioned Williams: 4. Will the Minister provide an update on the innovation strategy for Wales? OQ58571
Sioned Williams: Thank you for your statement, Minister. One of Taith’s stated aims, as you mentioned, is to improve access to international opportunities and the mobility it offers to all learners and students, including those with disabilities, additional learning needs, under-represented groups, and those from deprived and disadvantaged backgrounds. So, I'd like to ask how all of this is being measured...
Sioned Williams: Yes. The Welsh Government does not have the power to stop bills soaring. It can't ensure that the Tory Westminster Government increases benefits in line with inflation. But it can take action to give people security that they can stay in their homes, that budgets already stretched to breaking point don't snap due to rent increases, while the cold winds of this terrible economic storm chill...
Sioned Williams: Exactly, and the health aspect of this has been pointed out today by the Royal College of Physicians, who have said, of course, that poverty causes illness and poor health. The cost-of-living crisis is likely to have a significant impact on the NHS, just as the COVID crisis did. Tenant associations such as ACORN, Living Rent, and Generation Rent agree that the measures brought in by the...
Sioned Williams: No, I think you've spoken enough, Janet. Those in the private rental sector face increasing rent inflation. On top of this, remember, 45 per cent of households in Wales are now trapped in fuel poverty, and 98 per cent of low-income households are living in fuel poverty, having to spend more than 20 per cent of their income on energy. And these figures were published before inflation hit...
Sioned Williams: Our motion today is one that seeks to ensure social justice and protection from the worst economic storm in decades. It's about taking action now, saving people from misery and destitution now. It's about insisting that it is protecting the most vulnerable in society that must be the focus of a just Government, not protecting the assets and incomes of those who won't have to face the anguish...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister. Student rent particularly has increased by 29 per cent in Wales over the past three years, and now takes up almost 60 per cent of the student support package as an average. As a party, we've been calling for urgent and radical cost-of-living measures, such as rent freezes and prohibiting evictions, because this increase will be disastrous for a number of students, having...
Sioned Williams: Sorry, okay.
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Llywydd. Minister, the impact of the cost-of-living crisis is as bad, if not worse, than the effects of COVID for some students. That was the view of the vice-chancellor of the University of South Wales, Ben Calvert, as he gave evidence to the Children, Young People, and Education Committee last week. He warned that he was particularly concerned about mature students who were at...
Sioned Williams: Thank you. I look forward to seeing the result of that evaluation. We also heard the First Minister rightly condemn the Prime Minister's wish not to increase benefits in line with inflation, the benefits of people who already have almost nothing to live on. They're facing a terrifying winter. And as you know, Minister, Scotland are better able to protect their most vulnerable citizens from...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, yesterday, when asked by the leader of Plaid Cymru, Adam Price, about instituting measures such as those introduced this week by the SNP Scottish Government to protect their people from homelessness this winter, such as temporary rent freezes in the private sector and a ban on evictions, the First Minister said that he didn't think that instituting those measures...
Sioned Williams: Thank you for your statement, Minister. It's chilling to think that the people of Ukraine have by now been subjected to the terror and obscenity of war for such a long period, and that, of course, has huge consequences for those who have been forced to flee their country. Our thoughts must also be with those in Russia who are bravely protesting against Putin's mobilisation policies. The human...
Sioned Williams: The measures already announced by Welsh Government referenced in their amendments are, of course, welcome. Some, like free school meals, will be transformational. But there is much more that needs to be done; some of these are just not going to touch the sides. We heard the First Minister yesterday announce only one new measure, support for warm banks, and insist that efforts must be not on...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. The purpose of Plaid Cymru's motion today and our first debate of this new term is to foreground the need for further, immediate and emergency action by the Welsh Government on the cost-of-living crisis to support the Welsh people in the face of hardship described by many who work in the field of poverty as ‘Victorian’. It is of course a crisis, but it is a crisis...
Sioned Williams: This inquiry and report on the Warm Homes programme and fuel poverty is perhaps one of the most important that I've been part of as a member of a committee in the Senedd to date, because every winter, hundreds of thousands of people in Wales have difficulty in affording to heat their homes, living in damp, cold conditions that are dangerous for their health. That was the situation last...
Sioned Williams: 2. What consideration does the Welsh Government give to the impact of the cost-of-living crisis when funding schools in South Wales West? OQ58402
