Suzy Davies: First Minister, while we all agree that more houses are needed in Wales, my constituents in communities like Penllergaer, Pontarddulais and Gorseinon are not persuaded that the council’s draft local development plan reflects the need for provision of the right houses in the right places, to reflect the needs of people during different times in their lives. So, can you confirm firstly that,...
Suzy Davies: Yes, by all means.
Suzy Davies: Well, actually, earlier on, you said that the mountains behind Port Talbot actually shove it all my way. But I can tell you that’s what it is anyway. David Rees has already mentioned the problems with Port Talbot, and I don’t want to over-highlight those. Perhaps I should admit, though, to contributing to that poor air quality when I drive my artificially deflated car into Swansea every...
Suzy Davies: Perhaps I should declare an interest in supporting amendment 1, having received very recently the dreaded letter from Volkswagen in respect of my own car. If I leave open my bedroom window in my Swansea home overnight, I’ll be waking up with a good old smoker’s cough, except, of course, it’s not a smoker’s cough, is it, it’s a Port Talbot cough. It’s brought to me across the bay...
Suzy Davies: I agree completely, because it’s not about the lack of opportunities, it’s the inability to be able to seize those opportunities that I think is at the heart of what we’re talking about today. We heard from Mark Isherwood, of course, that we are awash with research and reports and there’s another report being launched by the children’s commissioner today. If the Well-being of Future...
Suzy Davies: Can I just declare an interest as a trustee of Friends and Families of Prisoners in Swansea? Some young people, of course, have very good news stories as David Melding said in his opening remarks. The number of young people leaving care to go into higher education, for example, has gone up considerably since 2004, when, of 11,000 young people leaving care in England and Wales, only 60 went to...
Suzy Davies: Will the Minister make a statement on his priorities—oh, sorry; wrong one. Apologies.
Suzy Davies: Thank you for that very encouraging answer, there, First—Cabinet Secretary; I will get the hang of this. [Laughter.] There are, of course, many examples of partnership working between local authorities and others, especially health boards, on the delivery of social services, but I think that word ‘delivery’ really says it all, particularly about the way we as a population work to...
Suzy Davies: 5. Will the Minister make a statement on the delivery of public services through local government? OAQ(5)0003(FLG)
Suzy Davies: Thank you, First Minister, for your statement. First of all, can I just begin by associating myself with the comments made about the potential of an autism Act? I’m pleased to say that, even just in this last month or so, you’ve moved your position from this time in May saying that you were hoping to avoid the need for a separate Bill, as that might take more time, to the more attractive...
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for taking the intervention, and I agree with your words that we shouldn’t be proud of the fact that we’ve needed convergence funding for this period of time. We’re on the same side on this, but I’m sure you will join with me with disliking, shall we say, some of the tone of the London left-leaning papers that have characterised our constituents who voted...
Suzy Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Suzy Davies: Thank you very much for taking the intervention there, Julie. Were you as disappointed as I was that more young people didn’t register to vote and, therefore, when they’re making the claim that, perhaps, older people have voted in a way that disadvantages them, they missed their own opportunity to make their voice heard?
Suzy Davies: South Wales West Members, including of course the Member for Ogmore, will be aware of the need for an eastern bypass for the communities of Llanharan, and I hope that that will be part of the plans for the Cardiff capital region and its infrastructure projects, shall we say. But it’s the heads of the eastern Valleys in my region where it’s more difficult for the population to get the...
Suzy Davies: Will the First Minister provide an update on the electrification of the south Wales main line?
Suzy Davies: Wales’s radical political tradition of empowered local communities has come to be represented in modern times by our local authorities, by elected representatives, who, in some cases, experience so little buy-in from residents they serve that they can sometimes hang onto civic influence for decades. And they can hang onto ideologies for decades too: public services can only effectively be...
Suzy Davies: Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. I move our amendments to this very broad, but very useful, debate. The Plaid leader’s war cry in the election was that her party has nothing in common with the Tories and wouldn’t work with us. Yet, only last week, they called for an arm’s-length body for economic development—a long-standing Welsh Conservative policy—and here we are again, drawing attention...
Suzy Davies: Police figures, unfortunately, reveal that Wind Street in Swansea with its well-known night-time economy has the highest rate of crime of any street in Wales. Regeneration plans are forthcoming and being developed and considered for the adjacent Castle Square area. When you have your forthcoming discussions with the police and crime commissioners, can you please include an item on the...
Suzy Davies: The Port Talbot peripheral distributor road, opened to relieve local traffic demand on the M4, has been operational for about three years now. What data has the Welsh Government received from the local authority, or extracted from its own work during the junction 41 experiment, about changes to movements of traffic and air quality in particular? Can you tell me what permanent changes have...
Suzy Davies: Will the First Minister provide an update on the proposed South Wales Metro project?
