2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:55 pm on 17 November 2020.

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Photo of Huw Irranca-Davies Huw Irranca-Davies Labour 2:55, 17 November 2020

Minister, could we have a debate on the Wales and, indeed, the UK-wide calls for the UK Government to develop a benefits take-up campaign across the UK to make sure that all of those who are entitled to financial support are actually getting it, particularly as the downturn hits our lowest income families and disadvantaged communities, and also whether we'd make permanent the current temporary £20 a week increase for universal credit and extend it across the new benefits that will be replacing universal credit in the near future? This is surely a moral obligation, so let us show where the Senedd stands on this issue. 

And, similarly, could we also have a debate on the annual real living wage campaign, which began last week, and the Citizens Cymru Wales campaign for care workers to be paid the real living wage? Again, it would allow Members here to show their support for this in principle, but also recognising—COVID has certainly shown us this—that it is those low-paid workers who are actually the most valuable, the ones who look after our friends and our family, who stock our shelves, deliver our goods, work on the shop floor and factory floor. They are the ones who really deserve and need a real living wage. 

Presiding Officer, just finally, on a very different subject, I've been asked by cultural facility providers in my area if we can have a statement that explains why arts centres and theatres as buildings in their entirety have to remain shut? Because these theatres are more than simply performance spaces; they provide space for workshops, classes, meetings, educational services, and they're professionally operated and regulated and can meet safety requirements. So, a statement could help clarify that these places, these facilities, can open, subject to regulated activity, and it's not to do with the name of 'theatre' or 'cultural venue' or 'performance space'. This would be a real help. Thank you, Trefnydd.