Jenny Rathbone: I’m pleased to hear, Cabinet Secretary, that it’s not an obligation on the student to adhere to the Welsh baccalaureate. I understand that it should be an obligation of the education provider to give opportunities to students, and I think that the community volunteering aspect and the emotional resilience aspect are really important parts of anybody’s education. But I have had...
Jenny Rathbone: I was very struck by the points made by Angela Burns, and, before the Minister replies, I wondered if she could say whether the Government supports the approach of the Soil Association certification of school meals, and their approach to good food for all, which ensures that children are eating freshly produced produce rather than stuff that’s being brought in and cooked from chilled, and...
Jenny Rathbone: 5. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline what contribution the Welsh Government will make to the Cardiff Capital Region City Deal? OAQ(5)0120(FLG)
Jenny Rathbone: Looking at the transport interchange that’s been identified for the Central Square, which is a crucial part of the sustainable transport strategy for the Cardiff capital region, I wondered if you can put to bed some of the nonsense that the Lib Dems are putting about around demolishing the bus station with gay abandon without any plan to rebuild it, and telling us that there is no money to...
Jenny Rathbone: What is the Welsh Government's assessment of Cardiff's Council's performance in delivering public services in the last five years in comparison to the five years previous to that?
Jenny Rathbone: How much has the public debt gone up by under the Conservatives?
Jenny Rathbone: Yes.
Jenny Rathbone: Well, I’ve always supported stronger regulations and I will continue to do so. So, I think we have an opportunity here to marry our ambitions in relation to our apprentices with our need to build more homes. So, I think there are many challenges to overcome, because it isn’t just getting the skills together; it’s also that there are knowledge gaps as well in ensuring that we understand...
Jenny Rathbone: I want to just talk about the opportunities posed by two Government policies. One is that Carl Sargeant announced an additional £30 million towards building affordable new homes, and the other is the Welsh Government’s target of 100,000 apprenticeships being created by 2021. I think it’s very important that we use this opportunity to align these apprenticeships to the skill force that...
Jenny Rathbone: So, I think if we want to be a zero-waste nation by 2050 or by 2030, then we should be really, I hope, considering this legislation.
Jenny Rathbone: I support this excellent proposal, and I think there are many other things we might consider doing as well. First, just to correct Simon, we are, I understand, the third best in the world for recycling, after Germany and Taiwan, so we need to celebrate that. I was wondering whether we would have the competency, for example, to outlaw contracts that the supermarkets are making with some of...
Jenny Rathbone: I’m sure the leader of the house will be aware that this is a major food security issue, that any Government needs to be able to guarantee everybody access to fresh, unadulterated food. There are many issues involved here, not just the food miles that might be required to deliver food if we saw the collapse of our agricultural industry—the well-being of citizens, which would have a huge...
Jenny Rathbone: 7. What contingencies are in place to deal with the potential of there being no replacement of EU farming subsidies from the UK government after Brexit? OAQ(5)0126(ERA)
Jenny Rathbone: On 24 April 2013, over 1,100 garment workers were killed at Rana Plaza, the worst industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh. The nine-storey building had been evacuated because large cracks had appeared in the building structure, but no action was taken. Over 3,000 mainly young women were herded back to work, or they would face the sack. Half an hour later they were dead or seriously...
Jenny Rathbone: The Rana Plaza disaster in Dhaka highlighted the conditions under which most of the clothes that we buy in our country are being made—appalling pay and conditions and little regard for basic health and safety. High-street names including Primark, Gap, Walmart and many others are all involved. Four years on, they’ve done little to get factory safety improved. Indeed, if Bangladesh enforces...
Jenny Rathbone: Prudent healthcare requires us to do everything differently so that we eliminate waste and avoid duplication of effort. I’m aware that in my own health board, Cardiff, they’ve made enormous strides, for example, in the improvement of stroke patients, which has enabled them to leave hospital sooner, and that’s an obvious financial saving. But I wondered what else can these four health...
Jenny Rathbone: It’s been five years since the report ‘A Metro for Wales’ Capital City Region’ was published, which makes the case for a step change in our public transport system. Per kilometre, a rail line costs about the same as the same distance of motorway, yet it carries eight to 20 times more people. So, I’m keen to understand what work the Government has done to use the metro as a way of...
Jenny Rathbone: I share some of the concerns of Bethan Jenkins that we might be moving towards a US situation where they actually spend more money on incarcerating people than they do on their education system, and what an indictment that is of the society. But I understand completely what the Cabinet Secretary was saying about the need to house people in conditions that support their rehabilitation, rather...
Jenny Rathbone: My constituency contains representatives of every European country, with the possible exception of Luxembourg and Liechtenstein, and I can assure the Counsel General that this is not something that is being whipped up. It has led to a spike in derogatory remarks being directed at people who come from other European countries. I’m particularly concerned about those who’ve lived in this...
Jenny Rathbone: Dog fouling, litter picking and fly-tipping are all very important issues, but I’m afraid I’m having to deal with much more serious issues of anti-social behaviour in my constituency. In particular, an individual out on bail awaiting sentence, it is thought, has been conducting threatening behaviour against people who have also been the subject of previous criminal damage to both the...
