Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:57 pm on 20 March 2018.
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.