David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. Last week, First Minister, the president of the Committee of the Regions, Markku Markkula, said that the Committee of the Regions would provide the EU’s chief negotiator, Mr Barnier, with a picture of the evolving situation at regional level. Mr Markkula also said in a debate in the Committee of the Regions last week, and I quote, we must work to protect...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, pharmacists are very well placed to help GPs and improve access, therefore, to GP services, particularly around the management and review of medicines. I do think we could do better in this regard because there’s a lot of evidence that the poor use of medicines, or sometimes inappropriate use as well, is dragging back some of the health outcomes that we could otherwise gain.
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, once in a blue moon an opposition Member is pleased to congratulate the Government on the decision they’ve made, and I do think Transport for Wales being based in Pontypridd is the right decision, because it sends a very clear signal, I think, that the city region concept is an important one, but a city region as a city and a hinterland—and the hinterland is not...
David Melding: What is the Welsh Government doing to promote apprenticeship opportunities for young women in vocational areas which are often closed to them by poor recruitment practices?
David Melding: First Minister, I think we all remember with deep affection Dame Rosemary Butler, our former Presiding Officer, and her programme to promote women in public life concentrated on mentorship schemes. I think this is a principle that could be generally applied, because it’s raising that expectation and the ambition of women who already have the talents to perform outstandingly in the workplace.
David Melding: 9. What is the Welsh Government doing to actively promote female mentorship programmes in the workplace? OAQ(5)0530(FM)
David Melding: Minister, I wonder if you’d look at the official website, which is sponsored by the Welsh Government and the WLGA, click on ‘latest news’, and the latest news on it is a construction conference on how to build a good school, dated 12 May 2015. Now, I know we’re in between schemes or phases, but this does give the impression the whole programme is dormant, and you need a more alert—I...
David Melding: Can I say at the outset that the Welsh Conservative Party will be supporting the general principles contained in this Bill? It does, in effect, replace an existing tax and puts into effect our devolved responsibilities in this area. Indeed, I think it’s a great advance in Welsh governance that we now have these powers and responsibilities. It will build the accountability of our system of...
David Melding: Can I say I agree with the core of the consultants’ report, particularly in respect of raising residents’ awareness about the nature and extent of contractual arrangements, identifying and addressing poor practice and initiatives to regulate and, if possible, reduce energy costs? So, on that bit that doesn’t seem terribly controversial and would benefit the whole sector, I wonder when...
David Melding: First Minister, I think the problem with a constitutional convention is that you can’t really have one until after a second referendum in Scotland, which, at some point in the future, does look a possibility. I just wonder if your more immediate aims should be with the Prime Minister to see how the Joint Ministerial Committee system could be strengthened. I commend Mr Drakeford’s remarks...
David Melding: The amount of underbuilding we’ve done is about 4,000 or 5,000 homes each and every year throughout the period of devolution. If you don’t believe me about where we are and the crisis we’re in, can I refer you to the excellent explanatory memorandum that the Government has produced on the abolition of the right to buy Bill? [Laughter.]
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, will you join me in welcoming the £50 million increase to the Welsh Government’s capital budget that will now come as a result of the budget, which builds on the £400 million increase announced in the autumn statement? This does give us some real flexibility in terms of capital development.
David Melding: This is a statement—
David Melding: Indeed, I think one can reasonably claim that the right to buy has been the most popular housing policy in British history and particularly popular, incidentally, in Labour’s traditional heartland. I’ll leave that dilemma to you and your colleagues. You’ve also selected the wrong target. We need to build more homes—many more homes. That’s what should be taking up our time at the...
David Melding: I have to start by saying quite directly that this is a very sad day for Wales. After all, nearly 140,000 families have benefitted from the right to buy since 1980 and home ownership is an aspiration that tens of thousands continue to have across Wales. Now, an important route for them will be closed. If there was ever a public policy that was in endorsed year in, year out by public...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, these mechanisms stand within the very proud co-operative tradition of promoting local enterprise and social benefit, and particularly, for technical reasons, they are easier to use and more flexible than traditional charitable approaches, which may form alternative funding routes. And they’re an excellent way to promote community schemes in particular, and they keep...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, our housing stock is amongst the oldest in Europe, and we really need to focus on schemes of retrofitting because a lot of that housing stock is occupied by people who have low incomes or are otherwise vulnerable. Indeed, if we improved these skills and developed retrofitting products, we would then find a market in other parts of the UK for those skills and products, and...
David Melding: 7. How is the Welsh Government supporting community shares projects that promote green energy initiatives? OAQ(5)0500(FM)
David Melding: The trampoline awaits.
David Melding: Can I start by saying that, if I’d signed the form in the right place, I would have been one of the co-proposers of this motion? I am relieved I am at least a supporter. I’m yet to go on the basic skills course, ‘life in the modern office’, but I will do that at some point—I promise my PA. I think, as we’ve heard from the excellent speeches so far—and I do like these backbench...
