Helen Mary Jones: ...the differences are in the final plan from the original draft. The Minister has referred to the considerable efforts that were made, for example, by third sector organisations, by partners, to make representations, and yet—I must admit that this is our first reading, Deputy Presiding Officer—it doesn't seem to have had, the consultation, a very big impact on what the Minister has...
Helen Mary Jones: ...like Llanelli, where people are just about struggling to make their bills, should be penalised with that kind of possible raise, and I'm very glad to hear that the Minister is continuing to make representations to attempt to get this punitive potential decision reversed.
Helen Mary Jones: ...living in residential settings continue to be very concerned about the fact that those people they care about so much have not yet been prioritised. I've personally lost count of the number of representations I've received—from Llanelli to Powys, from Pembrokeshire to Pen Llŷn—from families who are concerned, and given that Mencap estimate that there are only about 3,500 people in...
Helen Mary Jones: ...those bodies operate properly in the Welsh language legislation—how is that going to be carried out when they're co-operating at a regional level. Where is the responsibility? If he has to make representations about a failure, where and to whom does he make that representation? It isn't clear how the regional approach, as set out in the framework, will support and promote the Welsh...
Helen Mary Jones: ...that you've said, Minister, about the consequential that should be available from HS2. It is absolutely unacceptable that it's not being made available, and, again, we will support you in any representations you're making. Just finally, I appreciate you cannot, as you said to Russell George and you said in your statement, give us details of the financial arrangements, and I appreciate the...
Helen Mary Jones: .... Of course, I want to very warmly welcome the additional funding for the economic resilience fund—that's very important—and I'm very pleased to see that the Minister has agreed, in response to representations from both main opposition parties, to repurpose the fund to focus more on emergency support and less on development. We look to the day when our businesses can be developing, but...
Helen Mary Jones: ...were highlighting the dangers of a 'no deal' Brexit as potentially very serious for their future. This, obviously, has a big effect potentially on the Trostre steel plant in Llanelli. What further representations can the Welsh Government make to the UK Government with regard to the importance of retaining the steel industry here in Wales, and those parts of it that are in the mid and west...
Helen Mary Jones: ...agree with me that it now seems likely that the solution to this will come from political decisions rather than from any legal ruling. Would this be a timely moment for the Welsh Government to make representations once again to the UK Government on behalf of the women of Wales so affected? It seems to me that, in the aftermath of the COVID crisis, this is particularly pertinent. We of...
Helen Mary Jones: ...to us. And it is also a time for us to reflect on the need for the arts to truly reflect our nation in its full diversity. The Black Lives Matter campaign has led us all to reflect on the under-representation of black and minority ethnic people in our cultural life, and this must be addressed. Now is the time for us to think, to look ahead, and to plan, and that is why we have...
Helen Mary Jones: ..., out of the 20 towns likely to be worst hit in England and Wales, 10 of those were in Wales, and, of course, that's greatly out of proportion with our population. Will the Minister consider making representations to the UK Government that any further business support should be on a base of the scale of need in Wales for that support, rather than on what has become the traditional Barnett...
Helen Mary Jones: ...and therefore not being able to be furloughed, the extension to the scheme for those individuals is potentially not good news. Can I ask the Minister this afternoon if he will continue to make representations to the UK Government around the position of the new starters, now that we know that the extension is in place? And will he also continue to raise the concerns that I and others have...
Helen Mary Jones: ...'s statement about people with motor neurone disease who seem to have been missed altogether. Can I ask the Minister what would be the best way for us to proceed, as Members, if we are receiving representations—as Lynne Neagle has, and I have, and many of us—from constituents who are still being told as customers of supermarkets that they can't use the slots or that they haven't got...
Helen Mary Jones: ...of these powers—some of these powers—does not necessarily mean the use of them; it may not be necessary. But there are some areas, and I’m sure many other Members of the Senedd will have had representations, for example, from disabled people who are really concerned that if the requirements, hard-fought-for requirements, requirements that they’ve taken many years to campaign for...
Helen Mary Jones: ..., the Minister will be able to keep us all informed about what's going on about the response from the Westminster Government. I hope that colleagues on the benches opposite will also support any representations that are being made to Ministers at the other end of the M4, because I'm sure that they do understand the different structure of our business. But the more that we are all informed...
Helen Mary Jones: ..., and that that Government talks a lot about levelling up and about fairness, would the Counsel General consider, perhaps with the Deputy Minister with responsibility for equalities, making further representations to the appropriate Minister at Westminster and perhaps looking again at whether or not there may be some contribution that we could make, perhaps by way of evidence, to the...
Helen Mary Jones: 3. What legal representations has the Counsel General made on behalf of the Welsh Government in support of the Backto60 appeal about the alleged mishandling of raising the state pension age for women born in the 1950s? OAQ55205
Helen Mary Jones: ...a benefit to which they're entitled to ask for means-tested benefits in order to get redress. So, can I ask the Counsel General if he or the appropriate person in the Welsh Government will make representations on behalf of these women should his party find itself in Government? Nobody underestimates the scale of the problem, but I'm sure that he would agree with me that it's also difficult...
Helen Mary Jones: Will the Minister take an intervention? I'm really pleased to hear you say that you'll be making those representations. Of course, one of the protected characteristics where violence against the persons holding that protected characteristic is not treated as a hate crime is violence against women. Do you believe that there may be a case? I wouldn't ask you to postpone—I'd ask you to...
Helen Mary Jones: ...know that if I was a woman of child-bearing age living in that region, I would want to know that there was a timeline and that at some point I could expect that service to be safe. I've received representations, and I know that other colleagues have, suggesting to me—well, proving to me—that the cultural issues, which again I accept can't be changed overnight, in Cwm Taf extend well...
Helen Mary Jones: ...to hear you say that consideration will be given to the different challenges the different local authorities face. You will be aware, through those conversations, and, I'm sure, through direct representations, that some of the local authorities in the north, for example, have real issues with transitory populations—that families will turn up who are already in really serious trouble, and...
