Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you very much. I think it is important, however, to underline that we failed to convince the Government to ensure that legislative and executive powers in all areas in the devolved settlement should be devolved. This Bill comes at a momentous time for our country—a time when our nation, our continent and the world seem more unpredictable than ever before. It’s far from ideal, but...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Lywydd, over the past few months, I and Members of other parties, including Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Dafydd Wigley, Members of the Lib Dems and members of different cross-party groups have been doing what we can to correct the Wales Bill as it has gone through the House of Lords. I would like to pay tribute first of all to you, Llywydd, for your work on this Bill, and to the Constitutional and...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Okay, just one more thing and that is to mention—
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: [Continues.]—the need, I think, to provide a long-term funding framework to help organisations that are taking pressure off the NHS and care services. I wonder if the Minister would consider better funding and a long-term funding framework rather than an ad hoc process that happens at the moment.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I thought that was a very moving introduction by Joyce Watson and I’d like to thank her very much, not just for that presentation but also for initiating this discussion today. I think loneliness is a curse, really, particularly for the old and that’s the point that I’d like to focus on because I think, with more people moving away from where they were brought up, they leave their...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Will the First Minister outline how the Welsh Government is dealing with the adverse effects of alcohol abuse in Wales?
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: When you have a country where 50 per cent of the population live within 25 miles of the English border, the matter of cross-border healthcare is an essential one. We can’t draw a neat line and insist that the population living on the border must trot off to be seen just by the Welsh NHS staff. It’s unrealistic, it’s impractical, but most of all, it simply wouldn’t suit many members of...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: All around Wales there are care homes, hospital wards and communities where people live without creativity, inspiration or hope for the future. Reported levels of loneliness and mental health are spiralling. I was the former chair of Live Music Now in Wales, a role now undertaken by the former Presiding Officer, Rosemary Butler. This is a charity that sends and funds high-quality musicians to...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: S4C makes a contribution, not just culturally to Wales but economically through the injection of over £81 million, and much of this money goes towards paying small media companies to feed the channel, as happened in Cardiff over many years. What we’ve seen is a very prosperous industry developing. Will the Cabinet Secretary explain how Welsh Government is going to ensure that the local...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: The Government’s autumn statement demonstrated a very blasé attitude by the Tories towards an impending care crisis, and their failure to provide for our increasingly aging population means that there will be huge pressures now on the NHS. Will the First Minister make a commitment to work very closely with the Welsh Local Government Association to make sure that such a crisis does not...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I’m just going to say one more thing.
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Would she join me in welcoming this week’s announcement that Hacer Developments intends to develop a large food park in Haverfordwest, which potentially could bring 1,000 jobs to the area?
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I’d like to thank the Cabinet Secretary for that statement, particularly on outlining her concerns relating to the Brexit vote. I wonder if the Cabinet Secretary could confirm that, if we leave the single market and the customs union, it will not be an end to paperwork, as hoped by many farmers who supported Brexit and who were told fibs, perhaps, by some of the people who supported Brexit,...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Cabinet Secretary, you’ll be acutely aware of the concerns of residents in Pembrokeshire with regard to the changes in the way health services are delivered there. Hywel Dda health board will discuss a series of options this Thursday that seek to reduce the opening of the paediatric ambulatory care unit at Withybush hospital due to recruitment difficulties. Amongst the set of options is the...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Will the Minister make a statement on the options put forward by Hywel Dda Health Board to temporarily reduce paediatric services at Withybush Hospital? EAQ(5)0077(HWS)
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: Thank you, and that’s very concerning to hear that you weren’t even advised of this announcement. The announcement, of course, of the closure and sale of Brecon barracks, Sennybridge storage compound and Cawdor barracks will cause significant uncertainty in Mid and West Wales and beyond. These are areas that have a long and proud military tradition. There’s been a barracks in Brecon...
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: What discussions has the Minister had with the UK Government in light of the Ministry of Defence’s announcement that it intends to close several sites in Wales? EAQ(5)0059(CC)
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: I want to ask my question in Welsh. Does the Minister have any evidence to support the comment I heard recently that schools that offer education just from the ages of 11 to 16—that is, to GCSE level—are doing better generally than schools that offer education to children from 11 to 18. Is there any truth in that comment?
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: What measures can the Minister put in place to improve GCSE standards in Pembrokeshire schools?
Baroness Mair Eluned Morgan: What measures can the Minister put in place to improve GCSE standards in Pembrokeshire schools?
