2. 2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:21 pm on 10 October 2017.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 2:21, 10 October 2017

Could I seek two statements, please, leader of the house? One, first of all, from the Cabinet Secretary for health. As it’s world Mental Health Awareness Week, I think it would be appropriate for the Cabinet Secretary for health to provide a statement as to exactly how Government interacts with businesses and works to provide mental health solutions in the community, in particular talking therapies, which is a huge area of untapped potential here in Wales. Hopefully, the Cabinet Secretary can shed some light on the work that the Welsh Government is undertaking with partners to make sure these facilities are available, both in the workplace, where it’s been calibrated that a £3 billion loss to the Welsh economy, and £7 billion overall to the Welsh economic output, is a huge financial issue that needs to be addressed, and, with better provision of mental health services in Wales, we could make a huge leap forward in supporting people who face the challenge day in, day out, week in, week out.

The second point I’d seek a statement on is from the Cabinet Secretary for rural affairs around animal health legislation, and in particular the competence of the Assembly as to be able to legislate in this particular area. The First Minister gave some room for optimism that the Government might well progress to reviewing and firming up the legislation in this particular area, in particular the sanction that is available to the courts here in Wales where animal welfare issues do come before them. There was a question given back to my colleague Paul Davies in December last year that indicated that there did seem to be an area of greyness, shall I just say, in the advice the Cabinet Secretary received, which said that we weren’t in a position to be competent in this particular field. The evidence and the information we’ve had from the Assembly lawyers is that the competence resides fully with the Welsh Government and we can make progress in this area—so, if we could have a statement to clarify exactly what powers are available to the Welsh Government so that the words of the First Minister can be taken forward and we can have confidence that there will be progress on animal welfare issues here in Wales.