The next item is the business statement and announcement, and I call on the leader of the house, Julie James.

Diolch, Llywydd. There are a few changes to make to this week's business. Statements on local government and on a consultation on the draft legislation (Wales) Bill have been added to today's agenda. Additionally, the Business Committee has decided to postpone the debate led by UKIP until after the Easter recess. Business for the next three weeks is shown on the business statement and announcement found among the meeting papers, which are available to Members electronically.

Leader of the house, irrespective of the exchanges in First Minister's questions around the consultation that the Government is going to undertake for seven and 11-year-old children around their thoughts on Brexit, I'd be very grateful to understand how, if we have a statement from the Minister who's responsible, the Welsh Government are going to undertake this survey and interaction with young people. I appreciate this is the issue of the day for many people, but it's also a very political issue. I might be mistaken, but I don't think that this type of exercise on such a political issue has been undertaken by the Welsh Government before amongst such a cohort of children in our schools.

It is important that young people's voices are heard, but it is also important to understand how the Welsh Government will initiate the consultation and will work with schools to make sure there is no—and I'm not suggesting for a minute that this might be the case—creep of politicisation over the process. Without any statement coming forward from the Minister—and I can hear grumbling from the benches, but it's a legitimate point to make, because if this consultation is going to be undertaken, as the Government have indicated, other than the press comment, there has been no statement or indication from the Minister on exactly the length of time the consultation would take, the type of interaction with young people that might be undertaken, or what sort of forums will be engaged with, and I think that's a pretty relevant piece of information that Members should have access to, should parents raise concerns over this consultation, or indeed want to interact with the consultation. So, I'd be grateful if we could have a statement from the relevant Minister to indicate exactly how this consultation will be undertaken, and in particular what safeguards will be put in place. 

I'm very much of the opinion that children should be both heard and seen, and should take an active role, as is appropriate for them, in any of the big issues of the day that affect their future. Obviously, that has to be an appropriate interaction with them, but those youngsters in our schools at the moment are the ones who will most be impacted by the decisions that we make, as obviously they will be on the planet longer than those of us who are a bit longer in the tooth.

So, I think it's an appropriate thing to do. I think it's important that the children are appropriately done. The Minister, I know, is intending to say something about that consultation shortly, but I'll make sure that he does so appropriately, and if that's not very imminent, then I'll make sure that he writes to all Members accordingly.

Can I draw the leader of the house's attention to the fact that today we established a cross-party group on gambling in the Assembly, and ask her to consider a Government debate on gambling? We've just had the Gambling Commission proposals around fixed-odds betting terminals, which surprised many of us who expected the upper limit to be much lower than the £30 that has been proposed. It surprised the market as well, because the betting companies' stocks and shares immediately went up. They were obviously expecting a much more rigorous regulation than we've got. The latest survey of problem gambling in Wales has identified that 4.5 per cent of Welsh males have what could be considered to be problems with gambling. Now, that's a figure that will grow. It's been identified by the chief medical officer as a public health issue for Wales, so I think a debate—we've had a backbench debate, but I think a Government debate on gambling would be apposite.

In that debate, I would like to understand exactly what powers the Government is likely to get over devolution. It was pitched as devolution of powers to stop the proliferation of fixed-odds betting terminals, but I think it only relates to a certain sum of money—I think £10 is the stake that's been mentioned. Clearly, if the Gambling Commission then changed the stake level then the devolution settlement looks a bit strange. We've pitched it at one sum, and then the Gambling Commission can change the sum, so it doesn't look like a very good devolution settlement to me. But it would be good to understand what the Government intends to do with these powers, and also the relationship of the Welsh Government to the Gambling Commission itself.

I've had interactions with many UK bodies over the years who, over the last five years in particular, have made more of an effort to involve and to talk to Assembly Members, and to realise that they represent Wales when they represent the UK, or England and Wales. The Gambling Commission is a UK body that is supposed to have interaction with Wales, but I'm not aware—it certainly hasn't talked to Assembly Members, and I think it would be interesting to know what relationship the Government has. Can the Government nominate a member of the Gambling Commission itself, for example, or does it have any formal relationship like that? So, I think a debate on gambling would be really interesting for Members, but I think also very pertinent to the acquisition of the new powers and to consider how we might use them.

The second thing I'd like to ask for is a simple statement, if we may. We've had the Brexit agreement announced yesterday between David Davis and Michel Barnier. We've seen the details of that. I don't want to go into a debate now on that—we have the Bills that we're discussing as well; we've had enough of that, perhaps. But, of course, there is still, in that agreement, the potential that the whole of the island of Ireland will remain in a customs union and single market. That pushes the border straight into Holyhead in particular, but the rest of Wales as well. There are huge implications for Wales in that. I'd just like to ask for the Welsh Government to give us a written statement, probably, setting out what the Welsh Government's interpretation and thoughts are regarding that. What are the implications for us? What do we need to prepare for? I think that's just a simple factual one to know that you have considered these issues and are prepared to, if necessary, act on them with the UK Government. 

And finally, if I may, you'll have seen that today has revealed that the two founding members of New Directions, who have got the contract for supply teachers in Wales, have made nearly £1 million between them. You might wonder how on earth you can make £1 million in two years out of supply teaching. Well, I'll tell you how: you charge £1,250 for four and a half days for a history teacher, and then you pay the history teacher £130 a day. That's how you make £1 million out of supply teaching. We really should not have any profit made in supply teaching in Wales. It is completely wrong that public money is going to profit from supply teaching. There is an alternative—an alternative of a co-operative supply teaching agency, or a local authority-run supply teaching agency as, for example, food standards are held within the local authority. The previous education Minister talked about that but did nothing about it. This Government has talked about it several times but has done nothing about it. Surely it's time to draw the line under any profit from supply teachers. Just introduce some quick and easy legislation, which I think we'll support, to outlaw these practices.

Well, that was quite a range of issues that the Member raises. In terms of gambling, the Minister is going to bring a statement forward, in fact, about how we're going to use the new powers once we have them, but I think I'm right in saying that we do not have the power to appoint somebody to the commission. We have asked for the maximum stake to be reduced to £2. There's a massive campaign about this, so we're very disappointed in the outcome, which I think is a little bit of a fudge and kicking it into the long grass and not really taking responsibility. So, I think we share the disappointment that the Member expressed on that. But the Cabinet Secretary will be bringing forward a statement on the new powers and what we can do with them to make sure that we do get the best benefit. 

The Chief Medical Officer for Wales, as the Member mentioned, has previously called for the maximum stake to be reduced to £2, because, clearly, you can lose an awful lot of money in a very quick amount of time on these things. It's all part of the issue around dealing with addiction to gambling and the serious impact it has on individuals and their families. I've had a couple of meetings myself with the Advertising Standards Authority, actually, about some of these issues, so I'd be more than happy to undertake to have further contact with them about some of the adverts that are seen on late-night television. For those of us who watch late-night television, it's really quite astonishing how many there are. So, I'm more than happy to undertake to bring that up with the Advertising Standards Authority as well. 

In terms of Brexit, yes, I'm sure the Minister, when he's recovered from his flu, will want to make a statement about the most recent negotiation outcomes, as reported, and their effect on our position and so on. I'd like to wish him well. I very much wish he could be back tomorrow, but I fear not. I'm sure that as soon he is well enough he'll want to update Members on where we are with that. 

And in terms of the supply teachers, that was a National Procurement Service contract—five entities submitted tenders. I know the Member is aware of these things. I too heard the interview on the radio this morning with the supplier in question. I'm more than happy to have a conversation with the Cabinet Secretary for Education about her view as to the sentiments expressed on that programme, but the contract was let in the normal way, through the National Procurement Service. But, as I say, I'm more than happy to have that conversation with the Cabinet Secretary for Education.

Leader of the house, in recent weeks, I've been made aware of severe restrictions on the connection of power sources, including renewable power sources, to the national grid in Merthyr Tydfil—and, so, I presume in other areas as well. It seems to me that that has significant implications for several policies of the Welsh Government, including energy generation, decarbonisation of the public sector estate, and for local economies. So, could you, leader of the house, possibly arrange to bring forward a statement from the Welsh Government about this problem and the actions that could be taken to overcome it?

Yes, we're very much aware of the issue of grid constraints, particularly in south Wales, which are restricting the ability to deliver renewable energy projects in some areas, and it's been an ongoing issue for some time. We've raised these concerns with Western Power Distribution, who manage the distribution network in south Wales. Although it's called 'the grid', it isn't, of course, a single entity. We've been assured that there are no widespread restrictions on the network, but ease and cost of connection to the network very much depend on a number of factors, like the size of the connection, where the site is, what other generation demand is already connected to the network, what the capacity already is—it's a very complex web to negotiate. So, because of that, we are convening a group to work with us on solutions to the challenges inherent in developing a grid suitable to support our future energy systems, and then we will be able, as a result of convening that group, to develop options to address Wales's grid infrastructure issues, which are very much live. I'm sure that the Cabinet Secretary, once that group has been convened, will want to update the Senedd as to how it's going and its future work progress.

Two matters, if I may, leader of the house: the first is that it's a good six weeks now since the closure of the consultation around the location of the new trauma centre for south Wales. I know that Members worked very hard to get people to contribute to that consultation. There's a very strong opinion, as you probably know, in favour of Morriston Hospital being the location for those services and, of course, being the better access for west Wales and south-west Powys. It's such an important service; I'm wondering if you might have an update from the health Secretary as soon as possible after the Easter recess.

Secondly, I wonder if I could ask you, or perhaps the Cabinet Secretary for local government, for either a short statement or perhaps a letter to Assembly Members confirming whether there is guidance available to local authorities about the use of disability bays during periods of civic construction. Constituents in Bridgend have complained that work being undertaken to comply with the Active Travel (Wales) Act 2013 has meant that disabled parking bays are full of construction materials, and that makes it particularly challenging for them to access council services, and not least to go into council offices to make an application for blue badge renewal. Thank you.

On the first matter, I was very keen that as many people as possible contributed to the consultation. The result of that, of course, is that we had a lot of contributions to the consultation, so the Cabinet Secretary, as soon as that process is finished, will be reporting back shortly after the Easter recess. He's nodding happily at me, so I'm confident in saying that.

In terms of the other matter that you raise, I have no awareness of that at all. I think it's actually the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport who is responsible for that, so I suggest that you write with the specifics of that particular incident to him, because I'm not aware of that as a general problem.

Leader of the house, can I first of all support the comments from my colleague Simon Thomas as regards the gambling debate that we would look to have following the inaugural meeting of the cross-party group on gambling today? There are very strong feelings that, really, we need to tackle that issue, particularly following the news coming out of Westminster as regards the betting limit of £30, which is totally unacceptable.

My second issue is that you will be aware, leader of the house, that Abertawe Bro Morgannwg University Local Health Board has been under Welsh Government targeted intervention since September 2016, which, as you know, is only one step away from special measures. Concern existed at that time about unscheduled care/unplanned care, amongst other matters. Locally, obviously, we're aware that there have been significant operational pressures on unscheduled care, as everywhere else, over the winter, and there's been a knock-on effect on the delivery of national performance targets. So, bearing all that in mind and given the fact that over a year and a half has elapsed since the Welsh Government decided to provide targeted intervention in ABMU, I'd be grateful if the Cabinet Secretary for health were to bring forward a debate with a particular focus on improvements against the targeted intervention priorities in ABMU. Thank you. 

Yes, I support the Member's comments on gambling, as I indicated in response to Simon Thomas. I'm pleased to see that the cross-party group has been convened to do that, and, as I said, the Cabinet Secretary will bring forward a statement as soon as we have the powers available to us to explore what we can do with those powers. It's a very important point.

In terms of the ABMU situation that the Member raises, the Cabinet Secretary will be bringing forward an end-of-year statement summing up all of the issues involved in that. We're not very far off the end of the year with regard to that.

Leader of the house, will you join me in welcoming the credit union payroll deduction scheme, supported by Michael Sheen. I spoke at the launch event last week at Capital Law. Could you clarify how the Welsh Government is supporting this Wales-wide initiative, which benefits employers and employees in the labour market?

Could we also have a statement on the call from Ovarian Cancer Action for a Wales national clinical audit of ovarian cancer. As was highlighted to Assembly Members last week, when Ovarian Cancer Action came to the Assembly for an event sponsored by Hannah Blythyn, ovarian cancer is the UK's deadliest gynaecological cancer. On Mother's Day, I joined hundreds of others on a walk in memory of Lesley Woolcock from Barry who was a tireless campaigner on ovarian cancer, but sadly lost her life in 2016 as a result of ovarian cancer. Can I also pay tribute to Soraya Kelly who joined the walk, who's supporting TheGlovesAreOn campaign?

Yes. In terms of the credit union's payroll deduction scheme, I'm delighted to welcome the recent work—whether it's supported by famous actors or not, in fact—to boost credit union payroll deduction schemes. There has been an ongoing campaign for several years now, actually, to encourage large employers to allow payroll deduction to support the credit unions because, obviously, they offer people a great way to save and borrow responsibly and to keep control of their finances and there are real benefits for employees and employers—as Jane Hutt has pointed out—in partnering with credit unions.

I really hope employers across Wales will be involved, and I have no doubt that having a mark to recognise employers who offer payroll schemes will help to progress this. A hundred and forty organisations across Wales have already signed up to the Credit Unions of Wales payroll partner mark, so it's a very encouraging start. The Welsh Government has encouraged credit unions to visit our offices to help increase membership and to promote a responsible attitude to saving and borrowing amongst staff. The Minister for Housing and Regeneration recently wrote to the Assembly Commission, in fact, to promote the value of payroll services for National Assembly for Wales staff as well. We'll be advising them very shortly on funding awards to take forward projects from April this year, so it's a very good scheme indeed, and I hope that we can extend it right across Wales. That's very good.

Two issues, if I may, leader of the house. Firstly, as Minister for all things broadband and connectivity, I'm sure you'll join me in welcoming the UK Government's decision to pilot the 5G broadband technology in Monmouthshire. This is a great opportunity: I'm sure you'll agree with me on that. How are the Welsh Government planning to work with the UK Government on trialling this to make sure that it can be, if successful, rolled out as quickly as possible across the rest of Wales or other innovative, bespoke solutions can be developed?

Secondly, many of my constituents are deeply worried about Aneurin Bevan health board's decision to close the St Pierre dementia ward at Chepstow hospital. I appreciate that this is a health board matter, but I wonder if we could have a statement on guidance to local health boards on ensuring that vulnerable people are not left—because of health board decisions—having to travel very long, unreasonable distances to access the dementia care that they need.

I'll do those in reverse order: the Cabinet Secretary is saying that he's happy to look at any issues that the Member is aware of in that regard, so I'd suggest that you write with any particulars that you have and he can address them in that way.

I thought I was going to get away with not mentioning the word 'broadband' today, but there we are; it's not to be. Actually, I had a very useful meeting with Monmouth council and the councillors there about broadband in Monmouth and about the 5G roll-out, so we're very happy to support them and we had a very useful meeting about how we could do that. We continue to push for several 5G pilots in various places in Wales. I continue to be very concerned, as I've said very often in this Chamber, about the way that the UK Government intends to approach the sale of 5G technology and we'll be keeping very much a weather eye on that and consulting in all of the usual ways that we do.

I wanted to ask for a ministerial statement in relation to what’s happening with the private sector’s involvement in the safety of flats that come under the aluminium composite material scenario. I know that the Westminster Government is looking into this situation, but when we received evidence to the committee chaired by John Griffiths, it became clear that much of the private sector hadn’t been involved with this situation; hadn’t provided information as to whether there was ACM cladding on their buildings; and I have met with a number of tenant groups in the private sector who are concerned that they will have to pay the bill if there are problems. So, before we break for recess, I wanted to ask for an update on our return, so that we can understand what’s happening specifically in the private sector. 

Yes. I understand that we've made excellent progress, actually, in engaging with private owners and managing agents of around 105 high-rise residential blocks across Wales, but the Minister's indicating that she's happy to update us about where we are at the moment. So, fortunately for you, she's sitting behind me indicating her agreement to that.

Leader of the house, I'm afraid you're not getting away from broadband because my question comes from correspondence that I've received from the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. They've brought to my attention a lack of broadband at their St David's Head station.

They assure me that it's the only RNLI station in the whole of the UK without broadband. A fast, reliable service, as you can imagine, is vital to getting a lifeboat to those who need it, when they need it. At the moment, the launch of the lifeboat can be unreliable due to poor radio links, particularly in bad weather, when, of course, a lifeboat is most likely to be needed. The RNLI inform me that they're in the process of updating their launch system in St David's, but reliable broadband is critical. It seems that they've fallen off the end of the system that has been hugely successful, but in this case, is completely missing.

So, I suppose my question is: would you have a word with the Cabinet Secretary responsible for broadband—that is yourself—and talk and engage BT in some talks about installing broadband, in whichever way they do it, to this lifeboat station in St David's, so that it isn't the only RNLI station without broadband in the UK?

Yes. Joyce Watson makes an excellent point, and it's a very important point as well. I'm certainly going to be raising the issue with both Openreach and with my officials to see if we can sort out some issues with them as soon as possible. We have some issues in the pipeline that are commercially confidential around new procurements, but I'm hoping to have a resolution to them this week. So, hopefully, we'll have some good news before the Easter recess on that point.

My first question was actually asked by Mr Nick Ramsay, and eloquently you answered it.

My second one is, actually, one of my constituents walked into my office and the local council asked him to make—. Because his business is not doing very well, after 30 years he wants to close it down, so he went to the council and the local council said, 'If you shut the shop, you have to pay the full rate, but if you keep the shop open, you'll pay half rates.' Is it the case that Caerphilly council is doing in the area for the rates? Could you ask your local government Minister to explain why these businesses who are struggling to survive, for the rates and everything, and why they're having such knock-on effects? When they are in business, they have to pay half rates, but if they are not in business, they've got to pay full rates for the properties.

I think that's a very specific issue, that's not suitable to be addressed as a statement. I suggest you write to the Cabinet Secretary for a specific answer to that problem.

Whilst we've been in the Chamber, you might have seen it's been reported that emergency services have been sent to RAF Valley after a Hawk aircraft flown by the Red Arrows display team has crashed. Members may be concerned. Hopefully there haven't been injuries or fatalities, but we know that 1,500 people work on the base and there's also residential accommodation on and surrounding the base. Could the Welsh Government, therefore, urgently establish what we know and make a written statement for Members, so that we can be appraised of the circumstances?

And secondly, and finally, on a happier note, would you join me in congratulating Glyndŵr University, which is celebrating its first 10 years as a university?

Yes, I'm aware of the incident at RAF Valley. My colleague has actually left the Chamber in order to ascertain more information. I have no further information as yet. I'm sure as more information becomes available, we will make it available to the Senedd.

And yes, of course, I'm very happy to join with the Member in congratulating Glyndŵr University on that anniversary.

Thank you, leader of the house.