Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, could I endorse the comments that Hefin has made? Both of us have been dealing with a particular issue around Eglwysilan common, but in many parts of Wales these are huge tracts of land that have rights built up over many years—many centuries in fact. As pressure, especially urban pressure on urban commons has built up, there are real issues now over what were the...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that commitment, First Minister, because if that commitment is made, it could potentially save 600 lives—people who are dying prematurely through lung cancer at the moment here in Wales. Ultimately, that is a goal, surely, we should all be striving to. Two weeks ago I held and event here for Cancer Patient Voices around cancer services, and at that event, Tom Crosby, who’s...
Andrew RT Davies: You are right to point out the positives in cancer treatments and the developments and the way Wales is leading the field in some of these areas. The cancer bank at Velindre hospital is another very good example of pioneering science and technology. Your Government has targets for having a million Welsh speakers by 2050. There’s a statement this afternoon, ‘Towards 2030’, from the...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Saturday is World Cancer Day, something that many Members in this Chamber would have been touched by, and I know yourself and my family have had an unfortunate episode where we’ve lost a loved one to cancer. One in two of us going forward will have an episode of cancer in our lives, down from one in three. So, the odds of people getting cancer are increasing by...
Andrew RT Davies: Will the Minister take an intervention?
Andrew RT Davies: I’m grateful to the Minister for taking the intervention. Will he recognise the importance of this regional type of planning and, in particular, making our cities and towns very attractive? Because with the directly elected mayors now that have huge regeneration powers and responsibilities in Bristol, Birmingham and Liverpool, right across the border—north, mid and south—there are going...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, you talked about making the service more sustainable, the GP service and, indeed, the out-of-hours service. Obviously, the backbone of that is having doctors on the ground who can perform the service when it’s required. I heard, in a previous answer that you gave to Nathan Gill, about the insurance, and indemnity insurance in particular, for doctors who are coming to the...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, thank you for your statement today. I do believe that your last comments in particular about reflecting on the contents of the White Paper are correct. It is a point to debate, it is a point to discuss, and I do hope that each Member will look at it constructively and either offer an alternative, or, obviously, support some of the sentiments in the paper. I make no bones about...
Andrew RT Davies: Well, you always know when you strike a nerve with the First Minister: he brings up statistics that don’t stand up to any scrutiny at all. We’re talking about the here and now and the Estyn report that was delivered today, which is a damning indictment of your stewardship here in Wales. If you take one local education authority—Cardiff—nearly 50 per cent of headteachers have left...
Andrew RT Davies: I heard in your answer, First Minister, that you talked about pay and conditions in Scotland. Actually, Scotland’s results in the PISA rankings collapsed, and that is no example to follow, I’d suggest to you, First Minister. You’ve had initiative after initiative since your tenure as First Minister, and, indeed, since Labour have been running education, since 1999. We’ve had teacher...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. When you come third in the leaders’ rankings to ask questions, you normally assume that the topic of the day will have been asked by one of the other two, so I also give the health warning that I’ll leave my European questions until later on in the afternoon. I would like to ask you, First Minister, specifically about the Estyn inspection report that has been...
Andrew RT Davies: I’m very grateful for the way you’ve shone light on the process that is being undertaken, and I do appreciate you have to work within the law and the regulations. When you say a few weeks, might you be able to give us an indication of how long that might be? Because I know the first question I will get is: ‘What does a few weeks mean in this context?’
Andrew RT Davies: I welcome the opportunity to briefly contribute to this debate. Like David Rowlands and others in the Chamber, I do welcome the moves that the Welsh Government have undertaken with the announcement of the additional money that has been put in to support businesses who have found themselves on the wrong end of this revaluation process. But that doesn’t take away, as we heard yesterday both...
Andrew RT Davies: As someone who lives very close to the Aberthaw power station and has visited the management on many occasions there, do you not recognise that a huge amount of investment has gone in to control emissions from that power station and there is a solution there? Working with Natural Resources Wales, that solution can extend the lifespan of a critical part of the energy infrastructure in Wales....
Andrew RT Davies: Will you take an intervention? Do you not recognise that 95 per cent of all steel used on British railways is British steel and Chris Grayling has given a commitment to the House of Commons that he wants to see British steel used in HS2 but there are procurement procedures that have to be gone through?
Andrew RT Davies: Well, you keep talking about what the UK Government have delivered. I have highlighted the £400 million back to high energy users. I have talked about help and assistance from going to Europe and looking for tariffs to be placed on steel. But it’s not just as simple as placing tariffs on steel. You have to look at the whole strategy to make sure that another sector, such as airlines, for...
Andrew RT Davies: Well, I reject that rather bleak assessment. I appreciate why you’re making that assessment, David—
Andrew RT Davies: [Continues.]—because, obviously, you represent Aberavon and you’re a Labour Member in this Assembly. But it is worth reflecting that the Secretary of State for Wales is the son of a former steelworker with, I think, some 30 years’ service at the Port Talbot site, and is very proud. Very proud. [Interruption.] Well, if the Cabinet Secretary for rural affairs would like to intervene as...
Andrew RT Davies: I’ll take the intervention in a minute, Lee, but let me make a little progress, if I may. They are both working on this tirelessly with the Government to make sure that there is a future, as has been committed to by the UK Government, for the British steel industry, which is identified as integral to the manufacturing strategy and the industrial strategy that Theresa May has put at the...
Andrew RT Davies: Yes.
