6. 4. 90-second Statements

– in the Senedd at 4:24 pm on 29 March 2017.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Elin Jones Elin Jones Plaid Cymru 4:24, 29 March 2017

(Translated)

The next item on the agenda is the 90-second statements. Jenny Rathbone.

Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 4:25, 29 March 2017

On 24 April 2013, over 1,100 garment workers were killed at Rana Plaza, the worst industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh. The nine-storey building had been evacuated because large cracks had appeared in the building structure, but no action was taken. Over 3,000 mainly young women were herded back to work, or they would face the sack. Half an hour later they were dead or seriously injured.

(Translated)

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) took the Chair.

Photo of Jenny Rathbone Jenny Rathbone Labour 4:25, 29 March 2017

The Rana Plaza disaster in Dhaka highlighted the conditions under which most of the clothes that we buy in our country are being made—appalling pay and conditions and little regard for basic health and safety. High-street names including Primark, Gap, Walmart and many others are all involved. Four years on, they’ve done little to get factory safety improved. Indeed, if Bangladesh enforces the building regs, these multinationals will likely move their operations to another country where the rules are not enforced. It is therefore up to us to make the global multinationals insist on decent standards, wherever in the world our clothes are produced. Nothing will change unless we the consumers insist upon it.

Fashion Revolution Week starts on 24 April, when we’re in recess. Fashion Revolution is a global movement, demanding a safer, sustainable, transparent fashion industry. Question where your clothes are coming from, and under what conditions they’ve been made. Wear your jacket or your jumper inside out, so we can see the label. Fashion Revolution demands greater awareness of the cost of cheap clothing, and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 also demands it.

Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative

This week is World Autism Awareness Week, raising awareness so that as many people as possible learn about autism. There are a number of targets in the Welsh Government’s autism spectrum condition strategic action delivery plan 2016-20, which should have been completed by April 2017. Care pathways should have been developed by health boards for neurodevelopmental conditions under the Together for Children and Young People programme by November 2016. We need to know whether they’ve been developed and how they can be accessed.

The March 2017 26-week waiting time target for referral to first assessment—we need to know whether it’s been met for both children and adults. The target date for the integrated service was also March 2016, and in response to a witness statement to Janet Finch-Saunders on 21 February, the Minister for Social Services and Public Health said that the first four regions will offer the service from June this year. It would therefore be useful to know if that’s still the case, and when, in north Wales, Betsi Cadwaladr health board will offer the service.

Above all, all children and adults, regardless of academic or social ability, have skills and strengths, but too many suffer from people’s attitudes towards autism and professionals’ poor understanding of autism. This must change.

Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative

Diolch, Ddirprwy Lywydd. Last week, the Dementia Engagement and Empowerment Project, or DEEP as some of you may already know it, did something with a supermarket in Swansea that I thought you would like to know about, to see if anything similar is happening in your constituencies and regions. On Wednesday, Tesco laid down the gauntlet to other businesses and opened its doors for the first time to its self-styled Slow Shopping Day in its Swansea Marina store. It was just the first. Every Wednesday from now on, between 1 o’clock and 3 o’clock, Tesco is committed to have dementia-trained staff on hand throughout the store that recognise the signs of dementia, and to help shoppers. More chairs are available, and a dementia-friendly till will be open to assist shoppers and provide help with tasks like sorting small change. All very discreet and dignified, but providing service without discrimination.

I recently hosted a Dementia Friends training session with Alzheimer’s Society Wales in Killay in Swansea, and even though we all learned from it, you could really see the light bulbs go on above the heads of the businesspeople there. DEEP has already advised Welsh Government on its dementia strategy and I hope that their partnership with this particular supermarket will be seen as an invitation to all businesses in Wales to seize the initiative and to really help Wales become a dementia-friendly country. Thank you.