Andrew RT Davies: Well, First Minister, public money has gone to this company, as I’ve highlighted—£1 million just on consultancy fees, £9 million in total, with bank loan guarantees paid by the Welsh Government. And we do know of other things that have been paid: there’s a loss-making race at Silverstone; £35,000 for gardening and also the purchasing of a motorbike company, FTR Moto, for £400,000,...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, I noticed you didn’t say you had confidence. You talked at length that there is potential within the project, but freedom of information requests from your Government, which I hope you’re aware of, from the director general of the department for the economy, James Price, clearly show that civil servants raised concerns with Ministers over the plans for the Heads of the...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, the Circuit of Wales offers a huge potential to regenerate a very poor part of Wales, and offer opportunities, both in regeneration terms and job prospects for the Blaenau Gwent and south Wales area—in fact, the whole of Wales—transforming its image into being a high-value destination for tourists and the engineering industry. But, sadly, the...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, we’ve actually seen the money going into general practice declining over the last four years—a £20 million decline over the last four years. That’s why the Royal College of General Practitioners have a campaign at the moment to increase the overall take of the NHS budget going into general practice up to 11 per cent of the budget by 2020. Can you commit to meeting that...
Andrew RT Davies: It wasn’t a trick question, First Minister; I genuinely do want to see this money used to help people get the appointments they require. Forty per cent of people do say that they have problems in getting an appointment on the day that they ring their surgeries up, whatever part of Wales they live in. So, I’d be really grateful if you could say exactly how the improvements can be brought...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. First Minister, the Government announced last week that an extra £50 million was to be made available for winter pressures—something we hope will actually alleviate some of the pressures that the acute or primary sectors faced this summer, so that people don’t have the waits they’ve historically had to endure. One of the things that people do...
Andrew RT Davies: Would you confirm, Cabinet Secretary, given the amendment that the Government has put there, that you would vote for the amended motion if the Government amendment carries, and therefore you would be supporting that part of the motion? Because you have not sought to delete it, I’m therefore reading into that that you are prepared to agree for that proposal to go forward.
Andrew RT Davies: I welcome the opportunity to contribute in this debate, which has become almost an annual debate, just before Armistice Day, tabled by the Welsh Conservatives, and you cannot disagree with the sentiments that have been echoed across the Chamber from nearly all—well, all—the political parties here. But I do think we do need to reflect on the positive experience that people—many...
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, I have asked successive Cabinet Secretaries and Ministers in this institution to actually start delivering on some of the rhetoric that they’ve talked about, especially on microgeneration in the green energy sector, and, to do that, we need a grid that can allow people to connect to it. There are many, many people who would wish to generate—or play a part in generating—green...
Andrew RT Davies: Cabinet Secretary, thank you for your statement this afternoon. This is an area that, obviously, we looked at in committee last week, when you were suffering with a heavy cold, so it’s good to see you looking in better form today, Cabinet Secretary. I am grateful for the statement that you have given today. Obviously, childcare was an important consideration at the recent election. All the...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, could we have a statement from the planning Minister, please, in relation to permitted development rights? Some years ago, when the Member for Newport East was the Minister responsible for planning, there was a statement put out by the Government that said that the then Government was going to try and make these more adaptable and easier to use for developers and people...
Andrew RT Davies: I regret that you are unable to offer some more comfort than that, because, certainly the businesses I have spoken to, when they’ve looked at the £10 million transitional money that is available, do not believe that that will go far enough to help them to stay in business. And I don’t underestimate the offer that the Welsh Government has made, but there are some very, very genuine...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that answer, First Minister. The leader of the house and I attended a protest in Cowbridge, but, I’ve been to many towns over the last fortnight, and it seems there have been examples coming time and time again of, certainly, secondary retail properties and also hospitality areas that seem to have done pretty poorly under this revaluation, and many are facing a huge increase...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. As a party that broke the glass ceiling nearly 40 years ago, First Minister, I’ll gladly hand the Labour Party the manual on how to elect a female to be leader, should you care to read that manual. But, I want to ask you a serious question on business rates, if possible, please, First Minister. With the recent revaluation of businesses the length and...
Andrew RT Davies: I declare an interest in that I supply product to the factory, I do, but this is devastating news to say the least. The company that currently operates that site is the third owner in 17 years. So, that gives us a sense of how many companies have been through the process of reorganising this site. The whole point of that site was that it was an integrated site, in that you turned the product...
Andrew RT Davies: If I could identify myself with the comments of the Cabinet Secretary at the close of that question, I’d like to do that. As someone who still plays rugby, albeit veterans’ rugby, and is still dealing with the many letters from the traumatised individuals who saw me with my shirt off at Cardiff Arms Park—that’s too much of a frightening prospect, that is—I do take the point that...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, could I ask for three statements, if possible, please? The first is: you and I were on Cowbridge High Street on Saturday, where many businesses highlighted the revaluation exercise that has been undertaken and the huge increases that many of those businesses will be facing in the coming financial year that, basically, put a real question mark over their viability. I heard...
Andrew RT Davies: I, too, warmly welcome the announcement on the Heathrow expansion. I had the good fortune to be up at Heathrow Airport and was shown the potential for Wales, and have liaised very closely with them over the last two years to offer any assistance that I’ve been able to to make sure that this project does happen. What I’m bitterly, bitterly disappointed to hear today is the inability of the...
Andrew RT Davies: I’d like to thank the First Minister for his statement this afternoon and, in particular, the updating of Members in relation to the work the Welsh Government has undertaken with its various committees, and the Cabinet sub-committee that is advising the Cabinet. I do find some disappointment, though, in some of the language in this statement today, in particular the downbeat tone. The First...
Andrew RT Davies: I hope that you will, over the weeks and months ahead now, be able to put some real meat on the bone of exactly what your Government will do over teachers’ pay and conditions with the new responsibilities. I don’t hold the Cabinet Secretary for Education to account for the department at the moment, but Dr Philip Dixon, in fairness, passed a view over the weekend on the capacity within the...
