Suzy Davies: I’m delighted to hear that, and we also share your aim to develop the use of the Welsh language in daily life, even in areas that have traditionally been non-Welsh-speaking. A former Mudiad Meithrin worker has opened a bilingual bookshop in Caerphilly indoor market, where she hopes to develop coffee mornings, after school clubs and reading sessions to encourage the use of the language at a...
Suzy Davies: Thank you, once again, Llywydd. The Mudiad Meithrin lost £470,000 last year, and is going to close its crèche in the Old Library centre in Cardiff because of a lack of take-up of the service. Now, at the same time, I hear from the staff of the ‘cylchoedd’ themselves that they receive less than the living wage on a practical level because they can’t complete all of their preparatory...
Suzy Davies: At the moment, the Welsh Government is investing in the region of £1.6 million in the sabbatical programme to enable teachers to develop their Welsh language skills. To date, the scheme has attracted fewer than 250 teachers. What was the target? Generally, is the cost of £6,400 per teacher good value for money, and has any one of those teachers moved to work in a Welsh-medium school?
Suzy Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on dementia training in schools?
Suzy Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on dementia training in schools?
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Two questions, one of which is not unfamiliar to you. I mentioned in the last Assembly the possibility of you speaking to landlords in areas of oversupply of HMOs in order that they might be considering converting them into more permanent homes for one and two-bedroomed families, if I can call them that. I wonder if you could update me on progress on that. Secondly, Help to...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Lywydd. Thank you, too, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement. I, too, am pleased to see the reference to existing research, although obviously work needs to be done on the back of that rather than just accepting it as it is. I was at a recent King’s Fund conference in London and I had the opportunity to engage with local authorities from different parts of England—there was...
Suzy Davies: How companies and organisations engage with the Welsh Government, of course, and the transparency of those arrangements, is of course very important, but your own website states: ‘We aim to be open and responsive to the needs of citizens and communities’. With this in mind, what more do you think the Welsh Government can do, particularly with its consultations, to reach a wider and deeper...
Suzy Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Suzy Davies: You mentioned influencing decisions in other places as well, and I wonder whether you’d agree with me that there’s an option we should be considering as well for youth councils, sort of shadow councils, because, if we’re talking about young people not getting involved in politics at our level, really we need them involved at council level as well.
Suzy Davies: Thank you for your statement, John. I’m slightly thrown now by Mark Isherwood’s figures earlier on, but in your speech you mentioned that we had 112 refugees from Syria resettled in Wales, which means that that doesn’t seem to have changed since August, if that’s still the case, and it still means that 13 councils haven’t resettled any Syrian refugees at all. I’d certainly like to...
Suzy Davies: I would also like to thank the commissioner for her report, and I’d like to start by congratulating her for keeping within her budget, saving money on almost every line in her budget. Her office’s settlement last year was particularly difficult, and this year has been no different. I look forward to the details in the draft budget. We welcome that efficiency, of course, but the fact that...
Suzy Davies: Keeping people out of hospital is placing demand on primary care services that are already stretched. People in need of social care are more likely to call on primary and, probably, reablement care than the general population. Social care isn’t all about the GP, though, and I’m wondering how the Welsh Government is securing the support of non-medical intervention to support the confidence...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Can I just add my congratulations to Joyce as well? I think it is something that we should all be proud of, but you most of all. The transfer of languages between generations tends to fall to women—not exclusively, of course—but I’m wondering whether there’s something here that could work to the UK’s advantage post Brexit when it comes to acquired modern...
Suzy Davies: Will you take an intervention? I’m grateful to you for taking an intervention. When you say ‘in the years to come’, how long does that mean?
Suzy Davies: Well, one of the purposes of an autism Act would be to make sure that it covers all ages, so that this transition age of 16, 18, or even 21 or 25 in some cases, is irrelevant. This is about individuals, regardless of how old they are, their rights and what they should be able to demand from public services and the rest of society. Seven years ago, and this is back in 2009, after the Wales...
Suzy Davies: Minister, Hefin David and Julie Morgan, the reasons why we are asking for an autism Act and the reason this was in the manifestos of other parties, and the reason why other parties in this place are of the same mind is that the autism spectrum disorder strategic action plan just didn’t work. The refreshed plan doesn’t look like it’s going to work. Now, I’ll happily accept—I will...
Suzy Davies: The YMCA, of course, embraces young people from all kinds of socioeconomic backgrounds and has a very good record of working with other groups. I hope that they will look at the example of Matt’s Cafe in Swansea, which works with a number of supermarkets to take unsold food to use in a community cafe. Considering that it was announced yesterday that the Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University...
Suzy Davies: Having spoken to residents in the area and Natural Resources Wales to discuss the ongoing situation, I think it’s clear that change is needed and I thank you for your response to the short debate last week. In the meantime, though, have you considered using your powers under section 61 of the Environmental Permitting (England and Wales) Regulations 2010 to issue a direction to Natural...
Suzy Davies: The ‘State of Nature 2016 Wales’ report states that land management is an important factor in conservation, as over 70 per cent of Wales is made up of farmland. Management, of course, includes safety management. The authors of the report have recently called on Welsh Government to do a number of things, including support land management that helps to maintain and enhance nature and the...
