Petitions Committee

Moving straight into it, item 2 is new petitions. This is new petitions being considered in the committee for the first time. I'll invite Members to comment on these petitions as we go through them in turn.

The first one we have to discuss today, item 2.1, is petition P-07-1576, 'Introduce mandatory continuous automated odour monitoring at all landfill sites across Wales'. The petition reads:

'Communities across Wales are experiencing persistent landfill odours that significantly affect health, wellbeing and quality of life. Current monitoring relies heavily on intermittent site visits, operator self-reporting and complaint-led investigations, which often fail to capture real-time impacts. Without continuous automated monitoring, harmful odour events can go undetected, disputed or minimised, leaving residents without effective protection or transparency.'

The submitter is Leighton Griffiths. It has 469 signatures and Leighton is in the good constituency of Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, which I represent. Thank you very much. I invite Janet to discuss the petition and any actions you wish the committee to take.

Thank you, Chair. It is very timely that we're discussing environmental pollution and landfill sites, because this was the main topic of a debate a couple of weeks ago in the Senedd. It's fair to say that there was cross-party agreement that we now, as Senedd Members, will be putting more pressure on the Welsh Government in terms of landfill sites.

This is specifically asking for automated odour monitoring. Current monitoring relies heavily on intermittent site visits to landfill sites, operator self-reporting and complaint-led investigations, which is, as anyone can imagine, hit and miss. I'd like to thank the petitioner, Leighton Griffiths, for bringing this forward. The petition received 469 signatures and 461 of those were from Wales. This petition closed for responses on 4 September this year, and this is the first of two petitions for consideration relating to landfill management. It does call for automated and continuous monitoring of gases, which are known to cause odours across landfill sites in Wales.

A previous Petitions Committee report on an inquiry into another landfill site in Wrexham recommended that the Welsh Government should introduce mandatory automated odour monitoring at landfill sites—this is not something currently required by Natural Resources Wales, which surprises me, I have to say—and that the Welsh Government should ensure that regulators are sufficiently funded to facilitate this. The previous Welsh Government accepted the recommendation in principle. In their letter to the committee, the Cabinet Minister noted that

'introducing mandatory automated odour monitoring at landfill sites is complex.'

We get that, but it's not impossible.

'Funding has been allocated this financial year to support further work on enhanced odour monitoring',

so that they can collect data themselves and put it into a regulatory framework. The petitioner has noted that this implementation has been successfully done in England, so my question is: why can't it be done in Wales? So, given that the Welsh Government is considering whether and how the recommendations made by the previous Petitions Committee could be implemented, I think that we now, on this particular petition, need to make the Cabinet Minister aware of this request and how we as a committee support the odour monitoring aspect of things. We can keep the petition open pending the response from the Cabinet Minister, I believe.

Okay, thank you very much. Anybody else like to come in on that, or make any comment? No. Happy with the recommendation? Okay. So, to confirm, we'll keep the petition open, pending receipt of further updates from the relevant Minister. Okay, thank you.

Moving on then to the next one, petition P-07-1615, 'Welsh Government to reform environmental permitting laws to close 'regulatory gap''. The petition reads:

'We call on the Welsh Government to reform environmental permitting laws to close a critical regulatory gap in landfill across Wales that is leaving communities unprotected from landfill emissions. Current permits fail to restrict noxious odours from breaching perimeters and polluting local communities. To bridge this gap, the Welsh Government must introduce new statutory legislation that establishes legally enforceable ambient air boundary limits for Hydrogen Sulphide.

'This petition addresses a developing public health situation by seeking concrete requirements for nationwide legislative reform. It presents critical, newly compiled 12-month air quality data demonstrating levels of pollution above 1 part per billion (ppb) for 36% of the time, and above 5 ppb for 11% of the time across the entire timeframe. This objective data refers to raw monitoring data obtained via a Freedom of Information (FOI) request from Wrexham Council.

'When analysed objectively against World Health Organization (WHO) benchmarks—which recognize human odour detection at 0.4 to 0.5 ppb and a strict annoyance threshold at 5 ppb—this chronic, long-duration exposure satisfies the legal criteria for a Statutory Odour Nuisance under Part III, Section 79(1)(d) of the Environmental Protection Act 1990 (EPA).

'This data is presented because there is a systemic legal loophole built into the EPA 1990. Operators escape liability by arguing they use Best Practicable Means (BPM) on-site within the narrow bounds of their corporate environmental permit. This creates a narrative where operators claim they legally meet technical compliance inside their gates while venting regular fumes into residential zones. Legislative reform from the Senedd is required to turn objective data into a mandatory trigger for enforceable action to move from abatements to closures.'

The submitter of this is Steve Gittins. The signatures are 314, 308 of which are from Wales. I invite Janet to discuss the petition and any actions she wishes the committee to take.

Thank you, Chair. So, again, very timely. However, this particular petition follows on, really, from other work done in a previous Petitions Committee. They want to reform environmental permitting laws to close the critical regulatory gap in landfill across Wales. The petition notes that air quality data noted levels of pollution as one part per billion for 36 per cent of the time, and above 5 parts per billion for 11 per cent of the time.

I'm grateful to Steve for submitting this. Again, following the debate we had, I believe that Welsh Government now are taking it very seriously indeed. We have a new Senedd. We now have 96 Members. We have a new Government, and I felt that certainly the response to our debate of two weeks ago was very, very responsive and heartening.

In response to this petition, the Welsh Government has highlighted technical complexities with odour monitoring. But, as I said on the previous petition, I don't believe that it's impossible to—. It has to be that—. You know, if it can happen in England, then there's no way, and I'm afraid it should fall to the operators of these landfill sites to make sure that they themselves are aware, and they can only be aware, really, by having the odour monitoring on site.

So, as with the petition discussed earlier, the Cabinet Minister's response to this petition notes that funding has been allocated this financial year to support further work, and I believe that this petition in its entirety, and the fact that it went through last term—I think this has been really instrumental in helping us as a committee, but also helping us as Members. This is really good evidence as to why this monitoring is needed.

So, I believe that we could actually close this petition because of the recommendations that have been carried out following the last petition, and the work that the Government is now doing following our debate the other week. I believe we could close this petition now, and thank Mr Gittins indeed for doing some of our work, really, in making it very obvious that these noxious smells and things should not be permitted. There are other landfill sites across Wales. I know of my colleague Paul Davies who has got one where residents cannot open windows because of the obnoxious smell, and that is not fair. Everybody has the legal right to the enjoyment and amenity of their own home and shouldn't have to live with the threat of these obnoxious smells coming from landfill sites.

So, I think that it's actually achieved its goal.

Yes, thank you. I'm minded to agree with that. And I would just, you know, echo your sentiments there. Mr Gittins has been a regular communicator on the issue. It's clear that he feels passionately about this, and I think his work has been reflected in some of the debates in the Senedd over the past few weeks. So, we thank him for that.

But, in terms of what we can do as a committee, I'm minded to say that we've kind of reached the point at which we can actually influence future direction on this. I believe that the institution has the tools at its disposal. And whilst we have to, obviously, understand the living situation where these sites are emitting odours and the quality of life for these people, there has to be a combined response between Government, local authorities and the 'polluter pays' principle to ensure that these companies are brought to account. So, in the instances where they occur, I do believe that the tools already exist and our powers as a committee are kind of limited to that.

So, I'm minded to close this, in agreement with everybody else.

[Inaudible.]—again, thank you for the work that's gone into it.

Yes, thank you.

I appreciate how much work Mr Gittins has done. So, yes, I'm happy with the recommendations. Diolch.

Okay, thank you. We'll close this petition, then, and we'll move on to the next.

Item 2.3, so P-07-1574, 'The GCSE (Curriculum Wales) course needs to put a much greater focus on Welsh history'.

'At the moment, school leavers in Wales will know more about the history of America and Nazi Germany than the history of their own country. The new GCSEs in History being introduced in September this year are likely to exacerbate this situation even further.

'We need your support to ensure that learning the story of our country is put at the forefront, giving our young people the opportunity to understand and appreciate Welsh history as a central part of their education.'

The submitter is Elfed Wyn ap Elwyn. It has 2,744 signatures; 2,573 are from Wales. I will be discussing this petition, and if we can come together at the end to confirm the actions.

So, reading through the text of this discussion point, it reminded me of a previous petition we had, maybe last week, where we were discussing statues and Welsh female figures from history and making sure they're more prominent. But I have to agree with much of what's written here by the petitioner, in their concerns that the teaching of Welsh history is inconsistent and often receives insufficient attention. It is right that Welsh history is, I believe, elevated in our schools in line with other countries as well, such as the UK, America et cetera, and those major inflection points in our history should be taught at a more prominent level. So, we thank the petitioner for raising this. I am minded at the moment, in line with what the Welsh Minister, the Cabinet Minister for education, has said on this—. And I'll just restate it here:

'Understanding Wales’s history is essential to giving young people the confidence to play a full part in Welsh society. This new Welsh Government is committed to embedding Welsh history throughout the education system, and that it is presented in a broad and inclusive way for all learners.'

I think that's a positive statement, but we do need to make sure that we follow it through and that action is taken. So, my recommendation is that we could look to keep this open and receive updates on developments from the Minister as it progresses through and just make sure that words turn into action on this.

But I also note that there's an opportunity here to look at the issue in more detail if we wanted to and recommend an evidence session where we could get some teachers or some subject matter experts in on the curriculum to see what's currently there and where and why there's a gap. So, at the moment, my recommendation is to keep it open, but I would welcome your views on whether you would want to go into this in a bit more detail. Sara.

Yes, I agree with the petitioner. I will declare an interest: I studied history myself up until GCSE and I was always wanting to know a little bit more from that Welsh angle, and that was 20, 25 years ago now as well. I wouldn't mind hearing more on this subject. I don't know what the rest of the group feel, but I just want to put my opinion in. But, yes, I agree with you, and I think it's a really important step for the people of Wales to understand their history and where we're going by understanding where we've come from.

Yes, I'm happy to support that as well. Again, there are lots of people who don't understand the history of Wales, and I just think it would be really important that young people get a chance to be educated in that level of understanding of where they're actually from.

Yes, thank you. Okay. So—. Janet, did you want to come in then?

Yes, I'll support that.

Okay, good. So, to confirm, we're going to keep this open. We will write to the Minister just to confirm that we will see some action on this, track that through, but we will then look to invite some individuals to attend a future meeting to give more evidence so that we can deep-dive into this one a bit. Okay. Thank you very much.

Moving on then to the next one: P-07-1578, 'Introduce the Mandatory Microchipping of Cats in Wales'. The petition reads:

'Our previous petition and campaigning on this issue saw the Welsh Government commit to consider mandatory microchipping in it's published Animal Welfare Plan for Wales 2021-26. This has not happened.

'Microchipping is part of responsible pet ownership and has countless benefits for both cat and owner. If a persons cat Becomes lost, stolen or gets injured, a microchip is the best chance for reunification, and microchips ease strain on rescue centres'.

The submitter is Carlie Power. It has 841 signatures, 652 of which are from Wales. And I invite Lyn to discuss the petition and any actions you wish the committee to take.

Okay. I'd like to thank the petitioner as well. Obviously, animal welfare is really important. As I've read it, the plan—the animal welfare plan 2021-26—hasn't been successful in making it mandatory, and, again, we're still going along with people who are doing it. As I understand it, when people go to the vets with their animals, chipping is automatically introduced to people and mentioned to people. And I feel that anybody who is a caring animal owner would automatically go down that route of having the animal chipped. I've gone, then, on the Minister's recommendation that they're happy to support the inclusion in the review and improve the database around this, the chipping of animals.

I feel on this occasion that I'm going to recommend to close the petition, on the grounds that they are going to be including it in the review of the animal welfare plan that's coming forward, and the petitioner will have a chance to take part in any discussions and put any comments forward. So, it wasn't a case that it was going to come out. It is definitely going to be staying in as a review and go on a health basis, and the fact that they intend to look at improving databases is sufficient for now.

Okay. Thank you. Anybody else want to come in? I'll just add to this. I did submit a written question to the responsible Minister on cat microchipping, I think last week. So, I'm just waiting for a response back. But that was part of the Blue Cross animal pet welfare organisation work. This very much ties into that. And again, you rightly point out that people are passionate about animals in Wales, so it's right that we do what we can in terms of upping animal welfare. I agree with your recommendation. I think we close but monitor, to make sure that the recommendations are implemented into future Government strategy. So, thank you to the petitioner for the work that they've done there.

I agree.

Okay, moving on, item 2.5, P-07-1594, 'Build a new crossing over the Menai'.

'Anglesey is currently connected to the mainland by just two bridges, one is 150 years old, the other is 200 years old this year. Although beautiful, the existing crossings require almost constant maintenance, and regularly prove to be insufficient. The network dangerously lacks resilience.

'A new modern bridge, designed to suit its surroundings, would provide long term improvement to the network's resilience, and provide opportunities for active travel, tourism, culture, and economic growth.'

The submitter is Benjamin Poulton. It has 7,778 signatures; 7,426 are from Wales. I invite Janet to discuss the petition and any actions you wish the committee to take.

Again, a huge grateful thanks to the petitioner. [Inaudible.]—topic during the summer holidays, not least of which, in north Wales we've suffered for far too long—[Inaudible.]

I think we've lost Janet there. Okay, we'll come back to that one when she's back online. Oh, is she back? You're back, but we can't hear you. There you go.

I was still muted. So, yes, again, a huge, huge thanks to the petitioner. It's fair to say this has been a hot topic over years, really, not just recent months, but certainly during the summer when people found it impossible to get over from the mainland to Ynys Môn and vice versa.

I think this petition is timely. It may have helped in terms of the review that has taken place by the Deputy Minister, who came to the Chamber yesterday, and actually there is a plan going forward now for a new bridge. The Government have decided that a third Menai crossing is not only feasible and doable, but is going to happen. Clearly it's not going to be built overnight and clearly it's going to be a situation where they've got to put all the infrastructure for the review and everything in place, because these things are not built in a hurry. When we do have a bridge, it has to be the right one, and the logistics of that are for the Government to work through. But the actual principle of a third Menai crossing ends all doubt now. It's going to happen and we as Members will be holding the Government firmly on that.

So, again, I think that this petition and the number of signatures is a credit: 7,778. That's a credit to you as a petitioner, and that's Mr Benjamin Poulton. You've done good, and I'm grateful to you as a Member for Bangor Conwy Môn. I don't think I need to declare an interest, but I'm extremely interested in this petition, and I'm so grateful to you for having bothered to have collected those signatures, because that takes some doing.

But I think we can close this petition here now, and I hope you have faith and trust in us as members of this committee, and also in me as a Member, and there are five other constituency Members, including the First Minister. So, I think he will be very mindful of your petition, and let's get on now with getting those plans in place ready for that new bridge.

Hear, hear, well said. Anybody else? No. Okay, thank you very much. I don't know if I can agree with your party leader on this—he wanted to call it the 'Janet Finch-Saunders Bridge'. [Laughter.]

Why not? [Laughter.]

But it is good to see that the Government have taken that position. I agree that we need to close this petition down now, but, obviously, as ever, it's our job to keep the Government's feet to the fire on this, which we will do. But, in terms of the petition itself, I agree that it's achieved its aims. It will take eight to 10 years. I'm not suggesting we keep it open until we start seeing vehicles go across, so I'm happy to accept your recommendation on that. Okay, thank you very much.

Moving on then to the next one, P-07-1586, 'Protect Specialist Palliative Care at Ysbyty Cwm Cynon'.

'Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board is consulting on proposals that include closing the eight-bed Specialist Palliative Care ward at Ysbyty Cwm Cynon and increasing care at home. While home care is important, inpatient specialist beds remain essential for patients with complex needs, those without suitable home support, and families requiring respite. Removing the ward would reduce choice and local access to end-of-life care.'

The submitter is Barrie Murphy, with 1,369 signatures, and 1,353 of those are from Wales. And I will be discussing the petition itself.

So, the discussion relates to the closure, as was mentioned, of the specialist palliative care services in Ysbyty Cwm Cynon. It's a community hospital in Mountain Ash. There were three in-patient units in the Cwm Taf Morgannwg region, one for each of those three areas that's covered by the health board, and this is an operational health board decision. So, due to significant staffing and recruitment issues, the situation on ward 6, in the health board's own words, has become 'clinically fragile'. Earlier this year, the health board consulted on changes to its arrangements for the provision of specialist palliative care. So, they looked at different options, but, in the end, they decided that they would reinvest the £1 million budget of the ward into a community-based model of specialist palliative care in the Merthyr Tydfil and Cynon area, which supports more people in their own homes.

In a meeting on 21 May 2026, the health board approved the proposed changes to close the ward. To note, this petition was submitted in February 2026, during the consultation period, and before the proposed changes were agreed by the health board.

This has gone to Welsh Government, and the Welsh Government have stated that it's been raised as an operational matter for Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board. The Cabinet Minister also notes that the data requested by the petitioner should have been known to the health board, and used to inform its decisions on changes to palliative care arrangements.

I'm in agreement.

Yes, agreed. Okay, thank you very much.

Moving on to the next one, P-07-1623, 'Funding for road repairs must be increased immediately to prevent serious injury or loss of life'.

The petition reads:

'Funding for road repairs must be increased immediately to prevent serious injury or loss of life caused by vehicle instability. While prioritisation is necessary, many Welsh roads have deteriorated past the point of routine maintenance and now pose a critical risk to life.'

The submitter is Mike Penn, 254 signatures, 250 from Wales. And I'll invite Sara to discuss this petition and any actions you would like the committee to take.

Diolch, Chair. Again, I'd like to thank the petitioner, Mr Mike Penn, for raising the issue. This is something that I think a lot of us will usually get some casework on in terms of the road conditions and potholes, and their general state as well. So, it's something that we talk about regularly.

The Welsh Government says that safety critical defects are identified and repaired through a risk-based approach, and that there is additional funding and repair work taking place. But one of the things for me was that the maintenance backlog for this remains significant. So, we're talking about a £623 million local road backlog and a £1.4 billion strategic road network backlog, as I was reading in the brief. So, I think, again, if we think of this from that long-term picture: how will the Welsh Government reduce that backlog over time, and are current funding arrangements sufficient? And there's some uncertainty around the local authority funding routes, so I wonder if my recommendation to the group would be to seek further clarification from the Deputy Minister and go from there. However, I'm happy to discuss further if anybody else has anything different to say. But just from reading it, I think that would be a good next step for this petition.

Okay. Thank you. Agree? Yes. Okay. I agree with that. Just to confirm, the action there is that we as a committee will write to the Deputy Minister to seek greater clarity on the plans, but we'll keep the petition open until we receive that response and re-debate. Great. Thank you.

Thanks, Chair.

Moving on then to P-07-1610, 'Andropause is Real, Men Deserve Support Too. Don't Leave Men Behind, Andropause Care for North Wales'. The petition reads:

'There are no dedicated Andropause services in Wales.

'Men experiencing symptoms are often misdiagnosed, dismissed, or given antidepressants instead of proper hormone checks.

'Men in North Wales have the right to access proper support for Andropause, and yet currently there are no dedicated Andropause services anywhere in Wales.

'We are calling for the immediate creation of a specialist Andropause Clinic at Ysbyty Gwynedd, which can act as a model for the rest of Wales.'

The submitter is Delyth Owen with 569 signatures, 565 are from Wales. I invite Lyn to discuss this petition, and any actions you wish the committee to take.

I'd like to thank Delyth Owen for bringing this forward. She noted in her comments when bringing it together that nobody sort of seemed to know a lot about it and the lack of knowledge around it. Again, I was not aware of it. I went and did some research after seeing it. I've also checked with a few men that I know to see what their understanding was around it as well, which was quite interesting again that they weren't aware of it. For me, it's a bit narrow in some places because it's just saying about just north Wales, but I think this should be expanded to the whole of Wales. As she's saying, it's not even recognised throughout Wales.

So, on this occasion, I'd like to refer it to the health Minister to have a broader look at this and include it in the wider issues of men's health, where we know that men don't come forward and explain much about how their well-being is and all the other things that go with it. And I think, if there's some way in which we can explore to bring this onto the agenda, so people are aware of it, there are going to be a lot of males out there that are not even aware of it, just like I wasn't aware of it and other friends of mine.

So, I think that's a way forward for this, and I'd just like to again thank Delyth for bringing it forward, and hopefully we can refer it back to the Minister and get some more information on that.

Okay, thank you. Would anybody else like to come in?

I've got a question to the group and I wonder if it's worth—. I've recently, in the last couple of months, become aware of the andropause, actually, just by speaking to some of the dads at my children's school and the ones that are slightly older. I wonder if it's worth writing to the education committee to find out if adolescents learn about the andropause, because I think that's where we could be certainly increasing understanding of the menopause, and I think just on the basis of equality that could be something that if they're not doing anything about it, it certainly just raises that question. That wasn't in the pack, but I wondered if that could be an action because I feel that's where you'd make—. If people feel they don't know—and there's a lot of men you've spoken to, by the sound of it, that don't know about that—that's a very good place to start in terms of making a difference. So, it might be that there's nothing, but I think that would be a potential option for us as well. I wonder how the group felt about that.

Yes, I agree. That's a great recommendation, so we'll certainly include that. Just from my point of view, it's a term I wasn't aware of until this petition came in, so I thank the petitioner for raising it. It is an increasingly more visible issue that now has a name to it, which I've not come across before. The issue of male suicide has increased in visibility in our daily lives and organisations such as Andy's Man Clubs and people like that are having more prevalence in our society, and, I think, are having a benefit. And this, I think, this directly feeds into that. So, I agree with the recommendations you've made. I think there are two letters that come off as a result of this—one to the education Minister and also to the health Minister, to find out exactly where we stand on it. Yes, we will keep that open until we receive those responses.

I think it plays into that as well, doesn't it, that we talk a lot about anxiety and depression, but there's usually an underlying cause for those. And if that's one that needs to be more on people's agenda, then we should be thinking a little bit more about it.

And we've been touching on Movember, and there's Men's Sheds—there are all sorts of organisations out there now. Again, it's important, when I was looking into this, that we get that message out to people. And I think that's, to me—. Again, education is really good, but I think we need to get it out to organisations of that older stature, because that's who it's affecting, and that's why I particularly wanted to keep it open, so that we get a little bit more run on that.

Well, we'll implement those recommendations with the two letters. But if we bring this back to committee again, I think maybe this is something we can look at in more of a detailed evidence session, and invite representatives from Men's Sheds and these man clubs, et cetera, to look into this and see if there's a cross-over there, also as part of the male suicide prevention strategy. That would be good. Okay. Thank you very much. So, we'll keep that one on.

Moving on, then, to agenda item 3.1, 'Stop the detention of learning disabled and autistic children, young people and adults in hospital'. The submitter is Stolen Lives, with 1,754 signatures, 1,300 from Wales. This one has quite a history to it. I will be speaking to this petition and going through some of the actions. So, this petition is one of nine referred to the committee from the sixth Senedd's Petitions Committee, and, as I mentioned, it's got quite a history, and this is the fifth time we're considering it. The petitioner, Stolen Lives, is a campaign group consisting of families who have loved ones with a learning disability and/or autism who've been incarcerated in hospitals. They are supported by a range of different organisations, including Mencap Cymru, All Wales People First, Down's Syndrome Association, Learning Disability Wales, All Wales Forum of Parents and Carers of People with Learning Disabilities, and Cymorth Cymru.

The previous Petitions Committee agreed to keep this open as work was ongoing following a task and finish group in January 2026. The task and finish group was a sub-group of the Welsh Government's learning disability ministerial advisory group, and they noted that, in February 2022, there were 147 people with a learning disability in hospital. As of October 2025, this had fallen to 131. And the recommendations that fell out of that by the Minister said that,

'Many call for major service reform and will require detailed preparatory work, resources and investment. I will continue to rely on the Learning Disability Ministerial Advisory Group's expert advice...as we work through these issues. There are an estimated 60,000 adults with a learning disability in Wales—a population which experiences significant inequalities and barriers to everyday life. Addressing these inequalities requires sustained investment, attention and leadership.'

I completely agree with that. There were various other letters that came in as part of that process, but the issue we have with the status of this petition is that the words at the moment appear to be non-actionable; they are aspirational. So, I think the recommendation I'll be making now is that the petitioners have raised concerns in that there aren't any clearly identified metrics that we can track in terms of its implementation. So, in light of the concerns raised by the petitioners, the committee may choose to highlight with the new Minister and seek an update on progress, given that we've got a new Government in place. This could include asking for details of the in-patient audit data, progress with recommendations, and how it plans to engage with campaigners, going forward. So, the recommendation there is that we keep this petition open until those actions have been completed and we receive feedback from Ministers in that regard. Does anybody have anything to add? Okay. So, just to confirm, we'll keep this one open, and we will write to the Ministers with an update on progress. Thank you.

Moving on, item 3.2, P-06-1548, 'Welsh Government to provide fair funding to Cardiff Council to enable essential works on Roath Park Primary.' The submitter is Nia O'Donnell, with 658 signatures, 622 from Wales. I will also be discussing this petition and summarising our actions. So, this petition is the committee's second consideration of the petition. Senedd petitions must call for action by the Welsh Government, rather than changes to the operational decisions of bodies, including local authorities. Now, Members will recall that although school repairs are primarily an operational matter for the local authority, this petition was admissible because it specifically called for Welsh Government funding to repair this grade II listed building. When it was looked at previously, the education Minister reported that Cardiff Council had advised that the tender process for the works closed in June 2026 and is undertaking further work to ensure that the proposed expenditure represents value for money before proceeding with the contract award. So, that, to me, tells me that they're moving forward with this. They've got the funding in place, and my view is that this petition can call itself successful.

We're not going to project manage this for them. We have to flow this down now to let the local elected representatives work this and see it through to completion. But, as far as the petition process goes, I think I would be minded to close this and call it a success, with thanks to the lead petitioner, Nia O'Donnell, and those people who've signed it on behalf of the school. Does anybody want to come in and add anything to that? No. Okay. Thank you. So, we'll go ahead and we'll close that petition. If we could write to the petitioner, let them know that's the case, and thank them for raising it. I think there will be a grateful school there.

The next item is P-06-1582, 'Restore a fair funding route so Welsh students aren’t shut out from MT dance degrees in England.' The submitter is Jennifer Capitao. Very good—10,585 signatures, 8,396 from Wales. I invite Sara to discuss the petition and any actions you wish the committee to take.

Diolch, Gadeirydd. I think it was my first petition, this one, that I spoke on at this group, so it's nice to see it come back and be considered again, and I welcome the progress that's been made since the last time we were considering this one. As I was reading through the notes, the petitioner argues that the core issue remains unresolved and that designation does not automatically mean fair access. So, what that means is some courses may be designated but only attract the lower tuition fee loan rate, I think, and that families may still face significant shortfalls. So, I think there's a legitimate question, as well, about what happens beyond 2028, as to whether some students will continue to receive only the lower tuition fee. There was something about this petition, I think, as well, with the amount of signatures gathered, where I did wonder if this should be one that we recommend to go for debate and to have more of a discussion around, and then see what comes out of the Chamber, because I would want courses to be equitable for Welsh students. So, I don't know if anybody disagrees, or if anybody agrees with me, but I just felt, reading through this and the amount of work that's gone into it, it should be justified to have a debate around it and to discuss it.

Okay. Does anybody want to come in? Janet. No. Lyn. No. Okay. I'm happy to take your recommendation on that. We'll recommend this one is taken forward to the Business Committee for debate in Plenary.

Yes, and just to say 'well done' on the amount of signatures as well. Like you said, that's no mean feat, so well done on the work there.

Okay. So, to confirm and summarise, we'll keep this one open, recommend it's taken forward for Plenary debate, and review it as it progresses. Thank you.

The next item is P-07-1588, 'Introduce a Basic Income for the Arts scheme in Wales, modelled on Ireland’s successful initiative.' The submitter is Simon Lewis, with 472 signatures, 453 from Wales, and I invite Sara to discuss the petition and any actions you wish the committee to take.

Diolch, Gadeirydd. So, again, I'd like to thank the petitioner and, again, this is another one where this is the second consideration. Again, reading through the notes, the Welsh Government recognises the value of the arts and the creative sector. I think we're all in agreement that it's vital to have a thriving arts and creative sector for well-being and for society as a whole. And the Minister also acknowledges interest in the Irish scheme and the wider international evidence that came with that.

I note that there was a question raised around the affordability, the fairness, the value for money, eligibility and the interaction with tax and welfare systems, and the Welsh basic income for care leavers evaluation is still ongoing as well. So, I think on the basis of this—. Sorry, I lost track of my notes then. Sorry, I've lost where I was on this. I think this was similar to my last one—I haven't had a break to catch back up. But I would think it would make sense to encourage the petitioner to engage with the consultation, with the one that the Welsh Government has got out for culture and sport—that's where I was going with this—and put their views through that way for the time being, and bring that to the Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee then, if we wanted to, as well. I'm happy to hear other colleagues' views.

Just to clarify, are you recommending a closure, and then—?

Would that be—?

If we say that we—

Yes, we could close it, and they could put their views through there. Yes, sorry. Sorry, I'm still getting used to Petitions Committee and all the different avenues for ones that come in, and I wanted to make sure I gave that attention then. But, yes, we could close the petition, but make it known to the petitioner that they could put their views through that committee and have them heard.

Yes, absolutely. So, their views are going forward, just under a different mechanism, effectively.

Brilliant. Thanks, Chair. Team effort there. Thank you very much.

No worries. Okay, so happy with that decision to close this petition but to encourage the petitioner to contribute to the consultation, and to highlight the fact that there was a petition with such a good number of signatures to it.

The next one is P-07-1589, 'Keep Welsh-speaking children with complex needs in Wales—stop placements in England'. The submitter is Nia, with 560 signatures, and 537 are from Wales. I invite Janet to discuss the petition and any actions she would wish the committee to take.

Thank you, Chair. In the first consideration, the committee noted the importance of care and services being available in the language of choice, and of this issue being borne in mind as part of the development of an additional learning needs strategy. It was agreed to write to the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language to seek a response to the petition and then to share that with the petitioner. So, this is the second consideration of this petition. The response from the Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language recognised that although authorities must take all reasonable steps to make Welsh-medium provision available under the ALN bilingual framework, challenges still remain.

The petitioner noted that the review of the Welsh-language provision considers Welsh-medium additional learning provision across a range of settings, including special schools and specialist resource bases. It does not, however, address the availability or sufficiency of Welsh-medium residential specialist education provision. Now, in light of the review's conclusion about the deficit in Welsh-medium provision and the petitioner's view that their specific concerns have not been addressed, it may well be that there are not any Welsh-medium providers of this nature—the support that's needed—in Welsh-medium residential specialist education provision. Now, I think that what we should do, the committee—. We've already requested a debate on ALN funding, and I think that maybe a debate later in the autumn term would provide Senedd Members with an opportunity to actually name and raise this petitioner's concerns.

So, again, it's one that we could close, pending the fact that we as—. Nia is one of my constituents in Bangor Conwy Môn. We've got 560 signatures, 537 from Wales. It's a good number on a specialised topic. I think that we could close this now, Nia, and hope that we, as local Members, and we as Members generally across the Senedd, recognise that we do need Welsh-medium residential provision, not necessarily anywhere else—. When it says 'stop going to England', for some children, it may be necessary to get the ALN provision they need, but there has to be that choice, if you need that provision here in Wales. I certainly will keep pressing the Welsh Government for that.

Okay, thank you. Anybody else like to come in? No. Just from my perspective, I'm in agreement. We do have a debate coming up on ALN and I think, while we should close this particular petition, the points that it raises would be worthwhile revisiting during that debate. So, if we can just contact the petitioner to say that it has been discussed, we will be closing it, but that doesn't mean that we will be forgetting about it or not trying to action it. We can commit now to saying that we will try and raise the points during that ALN debate, which I think we have in November. We look forward to that, then. Okay. So, to summarise, we'll close and make sure the points are raised during the debate in November.

The last one of the day is P-07-1590, 'Bring Jess’s Rule to Wales to prevent missed & delayed diagnoses'. The submitter is Tiffany Summerfield, with 1,572 signatures, 1,292 from Wales. I invite Lyn to discuss the petition and any actions you wish the committee to take.

I'd like to thank Tiffany Summerfield for bringing this forward. I'd just like to say that reading the stories is horrific, really, in the sense that it takes so long for something to be diagnosed and, obviously, outcomes are not that good.

Having said that, given the fact that there are lots of safeguards—duty of quality, duty of candour, the Once for Wales concerns management system, you've got the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, Llais, and the fact that the Welsh Government are going to bring a cancer plan forward—I feel that there are enough avenues for people to take things up and move things forward. We are slightly different to England in the way that we implement things. So, as much as I feel for everybody concerned, I just feel, at this time, we should close it, on the counts that we've got quite a lot of mechanisms in place. This will be under review as well, even down to the ombudsman. So, I think there are avenues for this to be covered and we will be able to monitor things as we go through, when people are reporting, and the actions and outcomes.

I can only apologise that I'm coming with the close, but I just feel that there are enough avenues there for people to pursue any misdiagnosis and take it up thoroughly with other organisations. Thank you.

Thank you. Anybody else like to add anything? Just from my point of view, I note that the petitioner wasn't satisfied with the Minister's response and felt that it didn't adequately address what the petition is calling for. Do we think it's worth going back to revisit that and asking for further clarity prior to closing?

Again, I feel uncomfortable about what I'm suggesting in some ways, but I also feel that, down on the ground, when you are taking up causes, you've got a right, again, for review. You can ask your doctor, you can ask your specialist, to have a review. I think there are plenty of options that we have got already in place that would cover it. I can understand that they might not have been happy with the outcomes, but some of these—the duty of quality and duty of candour—are all quite new and need to embed as well. But again, like I said, the ombudsman is there and Llais is there, so there are plenty of opportunities to get that chased up using other organisations.

Okay. So, if we can include those in the letter back to the petitioner and then we'll move on to close this, with those recommendations. Okay, that's what we'll do. Thank you. That includes the allocation of today's petitions.

Moving on to agenda item 4, which is papers to note, the papers do not require decisions or discussion by the committee, but please make it known if you would like to comment on any of them. The papers in question are correspondence from the Llywydd to the Chair, which is on the debate threshold, of 18 September 2026, and correspondence from the Llywydd to the Chair on the Business Committee consultation on the Senedd timetable, of 24 September 2026. Does any Member wish to come in and speak on those? No. Okay, thank you very much.

Agenda item 5 is a motion under Standing Order 17.42 to resolve to exclude the public from the meeting for the remainder of the meeting. Does any Member object if we move into a private session? No. Okay, thank you very much. We'll move into private.