Darren Millar: You're trying to heap all of the blame for these poor budget settlements on the UK Government, but the reality is, as I pointed out earlier, that the apprenticeship levy has already been devolved to you. You've got the money for the apprenticeship levy—that's £400,000-odd—then, in addition to that, the school liaison officers—you've got £388,000 that you're planning to whip away from...
Darren Millar: Can I focus my comments just on three particular areas, the first of which is the apprenticeship levy issue? You will know, Cabinet Secretary, that the view of the UK Government is that they have devolved the resources to the Welsh Government to allow for this cash to be made available to Welsh police forces so that they can avail themselves of the benefits that the apprenticeship levy may be...
Darren Millar: Can I call for two statements, please, from the leader of the house? One on the process that is followed by Ministers in relation to planning inspectorate appeals: I've been contacted by many constituents in the Nantglyn area of Denbighshire, who are concerned about a decision to approve the Pant y Maen wind turbine farm in that locality by Welsh Ministers, against the advice of the planning...
Darren Millar: Thank you for that answer, First Minister. At the beginning of the year, Open Doors published its annual world watch list, which is a list of the world's worst persecuting nations for Christians to be living in. And many of the nations that are mentioned on that list are nations that the Welsh Government has relationships with—Pakistan, India, Qatar and Vietnam as examples. Now, clearly,...
Darren Millar: 6. A wnaiff y Prif Weinidog ddatganiad am berthynas Llywodraeth Cymru â llywodraethau rhyngwladol a gweinyddiaethau is-ranbarthol? OAQ51766
Darren Millar: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank the Chair for an excellent opening speech and for doing such a good job of chairing this important piece of work as we embarked on the committee inquiry? Can I also put on record my thanks to the clerks of the committee and the advisers to the committee as well, for their support throughout its course? As the Chair has quite rightly said,...
Darren Millar: Why is it double? Why is it more than double?
Darren Millar: As you will know, Conwy has always had an older population than other parts of Wales, and, indeed, historically, its mortality figures at Glan Clwyd's emergency department have been below the Welsh average. So, age is certainly no excuse for the extraordinary increase that we've seen in death rates in that emergency department in recent years. They have more than doubled since 2012, and I'm...
Darren Millar: This isn't just me saying this—this is employers who are voting with their decisions not to take on young people from Wales who have sat some of these qualifications. This is universities—top universities around the UK—who are saying, 'We don't accept the GCSE in numeracy for people from Wales as being equivalent to GCSE maths', which, of course, is what Qualifications Wales are telling...
Darren Millar: Those words will be no comfort whatsoever to those learners who got lower grades than they would have done sitting the previous GCSEs. We also warned, of course, that the new GCSEs would confuse employers and were likely to be less accepted by them than were qualifications from other parts of the UK, and, of course, we've been right on that count as well. We know that with applications...
Darren Millar: Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, in 2015 when the new Wales-only GCSE qualifications were being mooted and going to be introduced, my colleague Angela Burns, the then shadow Minister for the education portfolio, said that it was a short-sighted decision and that there would be adverse consequences for learners. It's now 2018, and I'm afraid that some of our concerns are...
Darren Millar: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on mortality figures in Welsh emergency departments? 120
Darren Millar: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the performance of health boards against NHS targets in Wales?
Darren Millar: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your statement and for the briefing that you shared with me and other spokespeople prior to today. Can I say that I welcome your statement? I think that it's a balanced approach. I think it's one that, in my view, addresses many of the concerns that have been raised in this Chamber on a number of occasions about ensuring that there is adequate support...
Darren Millar: Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I share the concerns about the ability of the planning process to actually deal with some of these issues for new housing estates, but in addition to that, of course, we need to look at our permitted development rights, so that people who might need a mobile solution to their broadband needs can also get one. I think we need to be forcing operators to...
Darren Millar: First Minister, you'll be aware that there's been some concern expressed over the past few days about death rates in Glan Clwyd's emergency department. The mortality rates in that emergency department are double what they were just a few years ago, and this is a cause of great concern for my constituents, many of whom are served by that hospital in emergency situations. Do you accept that...
Darren Millar: —it was quite clear that they ought to be having around 1.75 million passengers each year at this point, when the reality is that they are down at 1.4-odd million. Okay? So that's quite a significant difference. I welcome some of the change that's taken place at Cardiff Airport. I support that airport and want it to thrive for the sake of the Welsh economy. But we must face facts that...
Darren Millar: Well, I think it's very clear from your contribution that you don't like the fact that there's collaboration and discussion going on with other parts of the United Kingdom, particularly England, in terms of trying to create prosperity within Wales. Now, I welcome the fact—[Interruption.] I welcome the fact that the Cabinet Secretary has made his position quite clear. He wants connections...
Darren Millar: Sorry, I gave way to accept an apology, but clearly didn't get it. I have to say I'm also very disappointed that the Welsh Government doesn't seem to understand that it's businesses that create the wealth, which pay the taxes and pay the members of the public, which then pay for public services. So, you've obviously got to have a business base, both small, medium and large businesses,...
Darren Millar: I'm grateful for the opportunity to speak in this debate, and I have to say I'm a little bit disappointed with some of the contributions so far. I was very surprised to hear Rhun ap Iorwerth, in his criticism of the Welsh Government, not reflect on the fact that, for four years in the past decade, we had an economy Minister who was a Plaid Cymru Deputy First Minister, and, during his period...
