Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. The White Paper also proposes to build upon existing regional arrangements where they are in place. However, Estyn has criticised some educational consortia over governance and performance. For example, in June 2016, they criticised the north Wales education consortium for poor working standards, that the rate of improvement in many pupil outcomes had been the...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Diolch, Lywydd. Cabinet Secretary, your White Paper on local government reform deviates considerably from the proposals outlined in the previous draft Bill by having 24 such proposal either omitted, and 13 amended. Some of these would have allowed reporting mechanisms that would enable the electorate to be far better informed, and also far more able to hold their elected members to account....
Janet Finch-Saunders: First Minister, Fairtrade Fortnight runs from 27 February to 12 March, and I think we should be rightly proud that Wales has been a Fairtrade Nation since 2008, and it's the first ever. Eighty-two per cent of local authorities and 93 per cent of universities have fair trade status, 150 schools, and a further 50 per cent are registered on the fair trade schools scheme. The Welsh Government has...
Janet Finch-Saunders: On 6 February 1952, King George VI sadly passed away. Princess Elizabeth, next in line to the throne, returned home, stepping off the plane as our Queen. That was 65 years ago this week, and not a day has gone by that our sovereign has not put our country and its people first. She is our longest reigning monarch and the first of the United Kingdom to reach a Sapphire Jubilee—a mother,...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Rhun. The Health Foundation report recently stated that the need for social care funding was going to double in the next 13 years. Don’t you think we should be planning now, not waiting for the next few years and then suddenly having to find all this funding? I do appreciate that £50 million has been put in to help us with winter preparedness, but the fundamental basis is, if...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I, too, welcome this report from the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee. When considering the challenges facing our healthcare system, we must do so in a way that fundamentally incorporates health and social care, as a complete circle, as noted in this report. No-one is denying the many pressures facing health and social care, and we are fully aware that, during the colder months, it is...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I certainly welcome this report. The monitoring of how our public sector bodies comply with their equality duties is essential, and only this week we’ve seen Rhondda Cynon Taf council criticised for spending £80,000 on a bus station revamp, whilst omitting to make step-free access provision so that it’s available for all. This demonstrates the utmost importance of this annual debate, and...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Member take an intervention?
Janet Finch-Saunders: If I could just come back on that point, during the last term, during the domestic abuse Bill, I was on the committee and the figures were there for all to see of actual domestic abuse perpetrators. The statistics were there. We did acknowledge that there are male victims, but, certainly in Wales, the figures are quite categorically there, in fact, that women are subjected to domestic abuse...
Janet Finch-Saunders: I would like to take this opportunity to thank the Cabinet Secretary. Having worked with three former predecessors on the issue of moving towards local government reform, I find it extremely refreshing that we as a party have been able to be consulted and engage with you, and I know I’ve enjoyed the meetings we’ve had. I do expect to see that reflected—our policy proposals, our...
Janet Finch-Saunders: [Continues.]—with the appropriate treatment they not only need, but deserve?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Well, clearly, your priorities are not orthopaedic care in north Wales, First Minister. I hope you are as shocked as I am with the recent findings of a 5,000 per cent increase in those having gone longer than the 36 weeks waiting time for orthopaedic and trauma services. That is 3,052 patients now having gone considerably longer than that. I have constituents—80 weeks requiring a knee...
Janet Finch-Saunders: 1. Will the First Minister make a statement on the health service in North Wales? OAQ(5)0407(FM)
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you to the Member for bringing this motion here today, and you did so in a very eloquent and balanced manner. I welcome this debate, which highlights the absolute importance of the role of our GPs, and I have no fetish—as the Member suggested that my colleagues have in UKIP—about GPs, but they are a fundamental first step in any patient seeking a diagnosis. Primary care is indeed...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Will the Member take an intervention?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Would the Member take an intervention?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Would you agree with me, isn’t is normally correct for a Cabinet Secretary or a Minister to be present in the debate to respond to you and to all the others of us who want to contribute to a UKIP debate?
Janet Finch-Saunders: Wales’s population is expected to increase dramatically over the next decade, with the number of elderly persons over the age of 85 expected to double. The suitability and practicality of our urban design, our housing and the transport connections of our towns and our cities to fit this demographic need must continue to evolve in line with growing need and greater expectation. Age Cymru...
Janet Finch-Saunders: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, and I’m sure you would agree with me in welcoming the Hendry review, and the positive support therein for tidal lagoon developments across Wales. For us in north Wales, such a project would provide essential flood protection, deliver significant employment and economic inward investment opportunity, and contribute towards helping Wales to become a world leader...
Janet Finch-Saunders: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the potential economic benefits of a north Wales tidal lagoon? OAQ(5)0114(EI)
