Sioned Williams: Diolch. Through the Equal Power Equal Voice programme, I'm mentoring a fantastic campaigner from my region, Becci Smart, from Coytrahen in Bridgend. Becci has organised an event I'm sponsoring at the Pierhead building next month to raise awareness about premenstrual disorders, and she is also a long-standing campaigner on epilepsy, a condition she herself lives with. The point of the Equal...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Gweinidog. I would also like to talk about the events, the despicable events, in Uganda. Plaid Cymru, of course, has been proud to work with Welsh Government on the LGBTQ+ action plan to make Wales the most LGBTQ+-friendly nation in Europe, but the plan also commits, of course, to demonstrate Wales's international duty to show leadership on equality. People who identify in Uganda, as...
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Llywydd. Minister, yesterday—last evening—MPs debated the UK Tories' Illegal Migration Bill, and illegal it certainly is, because it's a Bill that has been deemed by dozens of human rights organisations and legal experts as incompatible with the international human rights treaties of which the UK is a signatory, including the European convention on human rights, the 1951 refugee...
Sioned Williams: 7. How does the Senedd estate accommodate people with photosensitive epilepsy? OQ59354
Sioned Williams: In the Swansea valley where I live, there are no trains—none. The same is true for the neighbouring Dulais valley, the Neath valley and the Afan valley. And although there are some great cycle paths, the geography and terrain of these valleys make active travel more challenging than in other urban areas of Wales. They are areas that are completely dependent on buses for public transport....
Sioned Williams: I welcome this debate. While fully supporting the motion's contention that it is a national scandal that 600,000 people were forced onto prepayment meters because they could not afford their energy bills, I would point out that, while the distribution and supply of gas and electricity and consumer protection are reserved matters, we will never be able to be fully confident that we can protect...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you for your statement, Minister. In your statement, you make a great deal of reference to the central role of reforms in the post-16 sector to the national vision for education, and we in Plaid Cymru were pleased that the steps to establish the commission for tertiary education and research was part of our co-operation agreement with the Government. I...
Sioned Williams: Diolch. The recently published Welsh Government innovation strategy recognises how crucial universities are in driving research and development, but the University and College Union have warned that excessive workloads are impacting all levels of staff, with 60-hour weeks being common, and high numbers reporting strain, and these issues are especially affecting those on low-pay precarious...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd, and I'd like to declare an interest, as my husband is a professor in Swansea University and is a member of the University and College Union.
Sioned Williams: So, you can't tell us as to when we can expect an announcement in terms of the candidate for chief executive. Because this delay is a concern, given the crucial role that one would expect a chief executive to play in shaping and developing a body that adheres to the ambitious vision that is at the heart of the legislation. Given that the appointments announced to the leadership of the...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Following the passing of the Tertiary Education and Research (Wales) Act last year, the process of establishing the commission for tertiary education and research has already commenced. The names of the chair and vice chair were published before Christmas, and the process of advertising for other board members is now ongoing. However, there is no white...
Sioned Williams: 5. What is the Welsh Government doing to promote social partnership in the higher education sector in South Wales West? OQ59263
Sioned Williams: What steps is the Welsh Government taking to protect leaseholders' rights in South Wales West?
Sioned Williams: Will the Minister provide an update on the Government's strategy for supporting research and development in South Wales West?
Sioned Williams: But, Dirprwy Lywydd, would we need to spend as much on these measures if Wales were free of this unfair and unequal union of nations? Plaid Cymru has been raising concerns about the impact of underinvestment in research and development in Wales for some time, and we heard about that from Mike Hedges. It's disappointing, therefore, to note that this budget, once again, doesn't do much to...
Sioned Williams: As Plaid Cymru's spokesperson for equality and social justice, I'd like to support the points made by Jane Dodds on the investment in the DAF and also echo the comments made by Llyr Gruffydd and Heledd Fychan on the importance of the investment in universal free school meals and expansion of free childcare as a result of the co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru. Jenny Rathbone's point on...
Sioned Williams: I'd like to thank the Conservatives for bringing this motion forward and to congratulate them on their contributions in the Welsh language. You mentioned the fact, and took pride in the fact, that S4C had been established by a Conservative Government. Of course, we would like to remind you about the stand taken by Gwynfor Evans, the former leader of Plaid Cymru, which led to the u-turn that...
Sioned Williams: Minister, we on the Equality and Social Justice Committee have heard very serious evidence about the depths of debt in Wales and that energy costs are fundamental to that. I've raised with you in the past the lack of progress in terms of delivering on the fuel poverty targets of the Welsh Government. The target was 5 per cent of Welsh households living in fuel poverty by 2035, but 45 per cent...
Sioned Williams: Thank you for that response, Llywydd. Clearly, our democracy has progressed a great deal, even since 2016, with young people of 16 and 17 years of age now having been given the vote in Senedd elections, but it appears that other aspects have made retrograde steps—more local newspapers and journalist positions having been lost. And on the basis of a survey carried out by this group recently,...
Sioned Williams: 2. What progress has the Commission made towards fulfilling the recommendations of the digital news and information taskforce's report? OQ59164
