Jenny Rathbone: I’m concerned about the impact of the re-writing of the immigration rules by the UK Government and the impact it’s having on the well-being of my constituents. In particular Bashir Naderi, a 19-year-old Afghani who’s lived in this country since he was 10 years old is being threatened with deportation back to Afghanistan, even though he speaks with a Welsh accent and he is, to all...
Jenny Rathbone: Cabinet Secretary, you mentioned earlier that buses need to be clean, and the most important part of their cleanliness is the clean emissions. So, I just wondered what progress we’re making on that, because I notice that the UK Government has handed out grants of £30 million to 13 local authorities—and none of them was in Wales, as far as I'm aware—to invest in electric or hybrid...
Jenny Rathbone: First, I’d like to thank the Cabinet Secretary for prefacing his remarks by saying that, of course, the future generations Act is the umbrella by which we should judge everything. We have to deliver a united, connected and sustainable Wales, and, if we don’t provide the public transport for people to get to work, they won’t be able to keep those precious jobs. So, I’m sure we’re not...
Jenny Rathbone: Given that even Alun Cairns now seems to be an enthusiast for the south Wales metro, and has recognised the strategic importance of it for providing jobs and growth for the whole of the south-east Wales area, are you confident that the UK Government will give us the money that we need to ensure that we can deliver this project on time, and to the quality required?
Jenny Rathbone: 1. Will the First Minister provide an update on the funding needed for the South Wales Metro? OAQ(5)0222(FM)
Jenny Rathbone: I wouldn’t disagree with that, but I still think that deprivation is a substantive contributor to emotional ill health. I’d like to pay tribute to Angela Rayner, who’s the shadow Secretary of State for Education in another place, who spoke so courageously about the inability of her mother to love her, and this was in the presence of her mother, in front of about 1,000 women. I think...
Jenny Rathbone: Bethan Jenkins gave us a very powerful example of somebody having to deal with mental health issues on a day-to-day basis, without any of the training that you would normally expect. My daughter, as a primary school teacher, often tells me about very painful circumstances that she describes of children in her care, which is a daily experience for any primary school teacher, unfortunately, in...
Jenny Rathbone: As there seems to be widespread consensus across all parties here, I just want to introduce a little bit of urgency and perhaps challenge to this debate. The fourth clause calls on the Welsh Government to fully engage communities in identifying new routes that would link up local destinations, and they would be most likely to be well used. No. 1: I’d like to suggest that Dai Lloyd tries out...
Jenny Rathbone: I’d certainly echo that, Cabinet Secretary, and certainly in the case of Cardiff council. I just wanted to revisit the issue of empty homes, because I know that the Government’s done a great deal of work to try and get empty homes back into use. But there are still over 20,000 empty homes that could be providing homes for people who desperately need them. And as it only costs around...
Jenny Rathbone: My understanding, Minister, is that this wasn’t exclusively a contract to connect rural communities, because I do recall that the Penylan notspot in my constituency was one of the early wins of this contract. As they no longer bother me about this issue, I can rather assume that they’re now very happy bunnies. But I recently visited, with the Climate Change and Rural Affairs Committee,...
Jenny Rathbone: Firstly, I’d just like to welcome your emphasis on the importance of the north and south Wales metro in ensuring that isolated communities are able to take up the job and training opportunities and that if they’re not connected, they simply can’t get there. So, I look forward also to your Better Jobs, Closer to Home project, because I know that in many isolated communities, there’s an...
Jenny Rathbone: What progress is the Welsh Government making towards building zero carbon housing?
Jenny Rathbone: Do you recognise that, for many people, owning their own home is simply not possible, because they don’t earn enough? Therefore, social housing is a much better option—more stable, more secure than private rented.
Jenny Rathbone: Well, that’s a complicated story. Obviously, the land costs have to be accounted for, but the point is, if the receipts aren’t sufficient to build another home, then you’re always going to be having a decreasing supply. In the current situation, where we’ve got 90,000 people waiting for a home, it would be reckless of us to not suspend the right to buy in the meantime. So, although...
Jenny Rathbone: I’ve only just started. [Continues.]—entirely prudent for us to suspend the right to buy. Mrs Thatcher’s right-to-buy initiative didn’t need to be an unmitigated disaster. If the money that people paid to buy their homes had been reinvested in building more homes, it could’ve introduced a choice and a diversity of approach to home management. I do recall the days when you never...
Jenny Rathbone: I agree, absolutely, that we need to build more homes, but you have to recognise that it’s simply not prudent to encourage people to borrow more than two and a half times their combined income in order to buy a home. And, for probably half the population, that simply isn’t possible with the current price of homes. Yes, possibly, home prices could come down if we built more, but at the...
Jenny Rathbone: I just wonder whether you could explain to us why George Osborne wasn’t mindful of this absolutely correct analysis that housing could’ve boosted the economy instead of shoving it all into the banks who then kept it to themselves.
Jenny Rathbone: I very much welcome the Government’s commitment to develop innovative solutions to the challenges we face. The challenges we face are many and varied, not least those caused by the decision to leave the European Union. I’m also glad that the Government is open to new ideas and will be happy to listen to people from across our communities. The programme for government makes relevant...
Jenny Rathbone: I think the outrage expressed by Neil Hamilton and Dai Lloyd is entirely misplaced. It’s absolutely essential that, if we’re going to go ahead with a really major capital investment, we do so on the basis of accurate information. So, I applaud the Cabinet Secretary’s decision to delay things in order to look at the latest data, ensure that they are accurate, and enable us to make...
Jenny Rathbone: Cardiff council is committed to building 600 new homes over the next 10 years, built to the highest energy standards, and that’s created an extra 250 jobs. This is great news, as it’s the first time that Cardiff council has built homes for a generation, but more needs to be done. Even the Tories are recognising that there is a housing crisis. Whether they’ll actually do anything about...
