The next item is the business statement and announcement, and I call on the Minister to make her statement—Rebecca Evans. 

Diolch, Llywydd. There is one change to today's business, and that is to change the order of the regulations for debate at agenda items 4 and 5. Draft business for the next three weeks is set out in the business statement and announcement, which can be found amongst the meeting papers available to Members electronically.

May I ask, Minister: you will remember that, during last week's business statement, both Jenny Rathbone and I raised the issue of cervical screening in Wales? Cervical Screening Wales said that a third of women under the age of 30 are snubbing invites to be tested for cervical cancer. In England, recent concerns about the low rate of women having the test have led to a pilot project being launched whereby women are to be offered the chance to carry out a smear test at home. Organisers hope to offer self-sampling kits to more than 20,000 women from September this year. Please can I repeat my call for a statement from the Minister for health on this issue, with particular reference to whether he intends to carry out a similar pilot project here in Wales?

And for a second statement Minister, I humbly request you to look at how Jacinda Ardern—the Prime Minister of New Zealand has set an example of how to protect and how to behave and how to react before and after the scenario of what happened to her country. The mosques in Wales are well protected, but I think places of religion are used for religion and not for any other use, yet people are making some serious, offensive terrorist attacks on these religious places. I think it's totally unacceptable. I'd rather have a statement from the Minister to make sure that religious places in Wales are protected, and also communities are given assurance that we are here to help them, to make sure they are living in a peaceful and helpful and loving country of the world. Thank you.

Thank you very much for raising both of these issues. I hope that last week I was able to give a good oversight in terms of what the Welsh Government is doing regarding cervical screening in Wales, which is a different approach to that that is being taken across the border. However, I will ask the health Minister to write to you on the specific issue that you raised regarding home testing kits, and we'll certainly be looking at that pilot project that is being undertaken in England very closely to see what we would need to learn here, because, as you say, it is particularly young women now who are not presenting for cervical screening tests. Last week I made reference to the #loveyourcervix campaign that is going on at the moment, and that specifically aims to engage with young women in order to encourage them to go along there for those tests. I've seen some really powerful testimonies from young people on the television as well, so I think that it is something that we can all work hard together to raise awareness of.

I hope, again, that the statement that my colleague the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip issued following the terrible terrorist attack in New Zealand did provide communities and individuals with some reassurance of the level of work that is ongoing all year round between Welsh Government and all of our partners to ensure that we give as much protection to communities as possible, and to ensure that, as you say, Wales is an open and tolerant and, as you say, a loving place for everybody in our country.

Trefnydd, you will no doubt be aware of the announcement by Neath Port Talbot Council last week that they intend to withdraw from the ERW regional area education consortium as of March 2020. Now, clearly ERW has been through a difficult time in the past few years, but in recent months, following the appointment of a Welsh Government official as interim managing director, positive progress seems to have been made in terms of its strategic direction. Now, if Neath Port Talbot were to withdraw from ERW, it would find itself as the only local authority in Wales operating outside of a regional education consortium, and concerns have been expressed by the National Education Union Cymru and the Association of School and College Leaders Cymru around the impact that this move might have for schools both in Neath Port Talbot and the other local authorities remaining in ERW. I'm aware that the council leaders from the ERW region met with the Minister for Education and the Minister for local government yesterday to discuss the issue. Given the uncertainty that this is causing locally, could I ask for a debate in Government time on this particular issue? I'm sure that you would agree that it is imperative that we reach a position where ERW can focus on delivering school improvement as opposed to dealing with distracting membership and financial issues.

Thank you for raising this, and, of course, regional working is crucial if we are to raise standards in our school system. And we all have a duty to be working across local authority boundaries, not least in this important area. As you say, the education Minister and the Minister for Housing and Local Government did meet with ERW council leaders to discuss the issue further. I think, in the first instance, if the Member is content, I will ask the Ministers to jointly update you on those discussions and a potential way forward.

Trefnydd, could we have time to discuss the Government's Safe Routes to Trunk Road Schools programme and how planning authorities are implementing the guidance? Yesterday I met parents outside the school gates at Ysgol Caer Elen in Haverfordwest. This is a brand-new school and it's just off the A40 on the Withybush road that leads to the industrial estate, and has a 40 mph speed limit. Anyone who knows that stretch will appreciate just how busy and how fast that particular road is. So, quite frankly, I can't believe that Pembrokeshire County Council has built there without prioritising, in the very first place, child safety. There are no safety measures in place to speak of, despite parents' complaints. To my mind, the need for a 20 mph speed limit is fairly obvious, not to mention other road-calming measures, and also a safe place for children to cross that road.

So, what I'm really interested in here is to understand how local authorities can be so inconsistent in delivering road safety measures outside schools within their jurisdiction. And I would like to know, Minister, whether there could be some engagement with Pembrokeshire County Council on this issue so that they take their responsibilities seriously before accidents happen, not afterwards, as is the case outside this particular school gate.

I thank Joyce Watson for raising this important issue in the Chamber, and I know that she's also raised it directly with the Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport. As a result, he's asked his officials to be in direct contact with Pembrokeshire County Council to express these concerns. And I'll ask the Deputy Minister to write to you with an update on those discussions.FootnoteLink

Information further to Plenary

Organiser, could we have a statement—I think it could be your good self I'm directing this at, but I'll be directed by you in return—over the commercial advertising that the Welsh Government places with local radio stations? In my own area, I have three local radio stations, and they're all well subscribed, they are. In fact, Bro Radio, based in Barry, is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year with an awards presentation on Saturday night, and I commend Nathan and the team around that radio station. But by virtue of the relatively small size of audience capture that they have, and the way Welsh Government places its advertising slots, it is excluded from much of that—the ability to benefit from much of that advertising spend. I'm sure that's not the intention of Welsh Government and so I'd welcome an opportunity for the Government to put its position as to how it might be able to free up more ability for that advertising revenue to find its way into community radio when much of the audience that listens to community radio is the very audience that the Welsh Government is seeking to get through to with its public health messaging, for example, and many of the other messages. And it does seem that a slight tweaking of the system would free up not inconsiderable amounts of cash for a very worthy sector within our communities. And when you look at what's happened to commercial radio here in Wales—I think it's next week the changes happen at Global radio—actually, the footprint for local radio can be expanded with the right environment. So, could we have a statement, either from you, or from the Deputy Minister who'd have the responsibility for this?

Thank you for raising this issue, and you'll recall that last week, in response to a question from Alun Davies, I was able to express the concerns that we have in terms of the recent decisions regarding commercial radio stations and the impact that might have on their ability to provide the best possible news service for the local populations. But you make a good point and I'll certainly look into it and write to you following that. 

I've been contacted by a woman from the Rhondda whose 23-year-old daughter recently went through a health scare. After getting symptoms, she went for a blood test and, while at the clinic, she read information on a poster about cervical cancer and realised that she had all the symptoms that were described on that poster, bar one. When she told the doctor of her concerns, she was told that she couldn't have a smear test because she was under the age of 25. Now, this was in a week when all of us were being encouraged to go for our smear test, and she was told that she would have to wait until she was over 25 before she could have it. Such was the worry in the family about the symptoms that this young woman was displaying, they arranged an appointment with a gynaecologist at a private hospital the following morning. The woman and her family had a two-and-half-week anxious wait for those test results to come back, which thankfully were clear. 

Now, this family were lucky, they could afford to pay to go privately, but what if they didn't have the money for that private smear test? I agree with the mother of this woman when she said, 'If there is advertising of symptoms and someone displays those symptoms, surely it's common sense to investigate.' So, I'd like a statement on Government policy on this, and in that statement I want the health Minister to clarify what the Welsh Government policy is on the screening of women with symptoms of cervical cancer under the age of 25. Are there exceptions to the general age rule? And I also would like to know what mechanisms there are in place to reimburse this family for being forced to go privately in order to get the peace of mind that they should have been able to get through our NHS. 

Thank you very much for raising that. It is my understanding that the GP could have referred the individual for the test that you described. However, given the interest that I'm glad there is in cervical cancer, I'll certainly ask the health Minister to issue a statement that does capture all the issues that have been raised in the business statement both this week and last week. 

I was wondering if we could have a debate in Government time on fair pay for civil service workers. You'll be aware that the Public and Commercial Services Union—I currently chair the cross-party group—is balloting on industrial action until 29 April. Now, they're concentrating on the UK Government at this point in time, in order to secure a fair pay increase for vital Government workers after a decade of pay squeeze. Do you agree with me that civil service salaries should be increased above inflation in line with PCS demands, to go some way to correcting a decade of unfair treatment and civil servants being used as a scapegoat in austerity policies? And would you commit to having a debate so that we can have a discussion about how we can support this sector here in Wales?

The second statement that I wanted to ask for was in reaction to something we've already discussed today, but I wanted to re-emphasise it, in relation to asking for a Government statement on community cohesion. I think that we need to understand what the Welsh Government is doing as a direct consequence of the attack in New Zealand, not just what the Government does every day of the week. I know that there were fewer people attending Friday prayers last week than would otherwise have done in this city as well because of the fear that they felt with the current situation towards the Muslim population. It's not just about community cohesion in terms of the groups that are speaking to one another, but that visual presence that the community will feel by the police, by the authorities, so that they feel secure in their own communities. So, I would urge you to bring forward that statement so that we can share that with communities here in Wales and we can engage with them in a positive way. 

Thank you for raising both of those issues. On the first, as negotiations are currently still ongoing in terms of pay, it probably isn't appropriate for me to say anything further at this particular point. But on the matter of community cohesion, I've been having some discussions with colleagues regarding the kind of statements that Members are bringing forward on Tuesdays in the business statement and asking for as we plan our programme of statements and debates moving towards the end of the summer term. I know that the Minister with responsibility, the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, certainly wants to bring forward a statement that looks at tackling racism, and this could be something that would be an opportunity to discuss in that statement.  

I would like to request a debate in Government time on the steps being taken to tackle the increasing problem of attacks by dogs on livestock. There has been another case in my constituency recently, at Llety farm in Rhosybol, where a number of sheep and lambs have been killed. I know this is an issue that Llyr Gruffydd has been in correspondence with the Government on, as has Ben Lake with the UK Government. We are also in discussions with a Member of the Scottish Parliament, where Emma Harper there has recommended legislation that could be introduced in Scotland in order to tackle this situation. Now, from what we see, the Government here believes that this is a devolved issue. The Westminster Government believe that everything possible is being done, but clearly the problem is ongoing. So, I would appreciate a debate in Government time, where you would have an opportunity to explain what the Government is doing and we could have an opportunity to suggest improvements in terms of possible legislation that could move things forward in terms of safeguarding livestock in Wales.

Thank you for raising this issue and, obviously, the matter of responsible dog ownership is extremely important, and I know we've all been very distressed by the kinds of stories that we've seen recently. I think it's a fact that the legislation on this area is mixed in terms of being a mixture of devolved and non-devolved elements, but specifically the issue of the enforcement by the police of the Dogs (Protection of Livestock) Act 1953 is a non-devolved issue. That said, I know this is an issue that the Minister has taken particular interest in, and just in the last week has attended two events where dog ownership was the key focus. And we'll be continuing to work with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs as part of membership of the National Police Chiefs Council working group to ensure that any possible changes to legislation are relevant to our devolved powers. 

Thank you, Trefnydd.