David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, can I urge all appropriate support from the Welsh Government? This will be a wonderful project for Blaenau Gwent, Gwent as a whole and all of Wales, because the marketing potential would just be vast. You’ve chosen there a highly popular, innovative sport, really the sort of image we want to project—that Wales is open for new and exciting business.
David Melding: 3. Will the Minister make a statement on the availability of common ailment schemes in pharmacies in South Wales Central? OAQ(5)0078(HWS)
David Melding: Would the Cabinet Secretary give way?
David Melding: I just wonder, we’ve heard a lot about the context we’re in for these particular budgets now, but let this wicked Tory observe that what happened between 2010 and 2015 with the coalition Government was not a million miles away from the Darling plan.
David Melding: I do apologise. Small-scale generation opportunities are there, and I think that can also create more community ownership and also more investment opportunities. In an age of low interest rates, there are opportunities here for people to get a fair return on their savings—and a general use of new technologies such as tidal. Thank you.
David Melding: Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for the statement, and also for the advance copy of the statement that she’s just made? Quite wide-ranging—I think, if I could be critical, rather low-wattage: we need a bit more oomph in this, probably the most critical area of Government policy. Can I just start first of all—? And there are many areas where we agree with the Government’s approach;...
David Melding: Will the First Minister make a statement on how the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 is being integrated into the work of the Welsh Government?
David Melding: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I also thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement, and also the courtesy of giving us the statement, or sight of the statement, a good few hours in advance—that’s very helpful? I’d like to start with areas where I think there is going to be agreement all around the Assembly. I think the goal of zero waste and a circular economy is an important...
David Melding: First Minister, these fees are something of a horror. There aren’t many goods and services where we actually get charged for the process of purchase, and there’s clear support all around the house for action to be taken on this. These fees do distort the market. They’re a disincentive to the mobility of labour, and the clear experience in Scotland is that the charges would be absorbed...
David Melding: Minister, to emphasise the drift in policy implementation, I must ask why the strategic impact assessments for your department are so vague. They’re at the heart of the future generations Act, and they do not seem to have played much of a part in your budget priorities or choices. Is it not the truth that this Government is keen on legislation, but very poor on implementation, as Stop...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, carbon budgets are at the heart of the environment Act, and they’re now not expected until the end of 2018. And I think it’s reasonable for us to ask, ‘Why the delay?’ Does it really take three years to produce the first carbon budgets? We’ll be halfway through this Assembly, and those budgets are supposed to help you prioritise and us to scrutinise.
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, are you disappointed that Stop Climate Chaos Cymru has said that Ministers are yet to deliver on climate change policy, and that WWF Cymru warns of an ambition gap?
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, we’re of the same generation and probably the only two people in this Chamber that remember the 1994 White Paper to establish unitary authorities. I’m sure we’re the only people that would have read it. It said that at the heart of the concept of unitary authorities was that they’d have to collaborate, but a generation later—there have been some partnerships, of...
David Melding: Will the Minister make a statement on how the Welsh Government could work with local authorities to produce innovative solutions to the delivery of public services in Wales?
David Melding: It's too late to read it now. [Laughter.]
David Melding: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I start by commending the practice of the Welsh Government to carry out an interim report? This is an important change in public policy, and it seems to me very good practice indeed to thoroughly review the position and then to ask for ways in which the enforcement of the rolling out of the policy could be improved. So, I really think that that is to...
David Melding: May I start by commending the work that Lynne Neagle has done in the area of dementia? I think that was a very passionate speech and she challenges her own side, as well, appropriately, which I think is really being an effective champion, then, for those with dementia. I want to talk a little bit about those older people who end up being carers. There are more carers amongst older people in...
David Melding: Cabinet Secretary, we know that the major cause of poverty is economic inactivity, and this programme is aimed at helping those most distant from the labour market. They’ve either always been economically inactive or have been for a very long time, and aiming at low skills, aiming to get mentors who can talk to these people and inspire them and give them the confidence to go forward, and to...
David Melding: First Minister, two of the most important trade routes with Ireland run through Wales, north and south, and they've received substantial funding over the years from European programmes, and, as we're seeing the UK Government talk about infrastructure investment as being key now, post Brexit, can you assure us that you are discussing these matters with them and the Republic of Ireland, because...
David Melding: 11. What discussions has the Welsh Government had with the government of the Republic of Ireland on trade and transport connections post Brexit? OAQ(5)0255(FM)
