, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, first of all, I'm very happy to confirm for Ken Skates that, as a result of the help provided to the county borough council, an application has now been received from Wrexham council. Let me say to Ken Skates that I entirely understand the need…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, I thank Ken Skates for that. The Welsh Government has provided £90 million to local authorities for highway maintenance over the past five years. This is funding over and above capital contained in the local government settlement, itself increased by…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, I don't share the Member's concerns because, despite not devoting the amount of time he does to social media, I turn out to be a good deal better informed than he is. [Laughter.] So, let me help him. Let me explain to him that over the last two…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, our strategy is to deploy social media channels to communicate directly and bilingually with the public, especially those audiences less engaged with conventional media. We provide rapid, authoritative information in forms that are clear, engaging…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, this is a matter for Bridgend County Borough Council, but, anticipating the next question, thanks to the Member's social media publicity, I am more familiar with the Zia Nina restaurant in Bridgend than I was hitherto the case. So, I'm pleased…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, the fund to which the Member refers ended in April of last year. Its successor programme includes an expanded list of ways in which funding can be applied to urban centre improvement, and that investment continues to be available in the Bridgend…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, I thank Joyce Watson for that important question. We are on track, we believe, to move beyond alert level 0 on 28 March. And on Friday of last week, we published our transition plan, which is all about living safely with the virus. We are moving from…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, I thank Joyce Watson for that. Our transition plan, published on 4 March, continues our well-established approach to the pandemic, informed by the best advice, focused on living safely with COVID-19 and prepared for new threats that the virus could…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, let me begin by just correcting the record on one important thing that the Member said in the beginning, when she suggested that the reduction in the number of dentists in Wales was part of a long-term trend. In fact, the number of dentists…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, a reduction in the number of NHS dentists in South Wales West is primarily due to the effect of boundary changes on data reporting. Brexit and the COVID pandemic have also reduced the overall level of dental activity and that too is reflected in…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank Vikki Howells for that, Llywydd. I referred earlier to Welsh Government-commissioned research that we published that is about community asset transfer in Wales, and the purpose of the research was to look at the conditions that enable that to happen…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, it's a really interesting question and deserves a longer answer than what I can offer this afternoon, because if we were to explore it in the way that Delyth Jewell began there, we'd start by recognising that when we use the word 'community' we…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, I simply don't agree with some of the points that are made in some of those reports. There are other parts that are very useful and constructive, and that we will wish to discuss further and to take forward. But the truth of the matter is that in…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, experience of the coronavirus pandemic has powerfully illustrated the continued vitality of local action in Wales. The Welsh Government continues to support such actions through the promotion of best practice and the provision of significant annual…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, childcare services clearly are a fundamental part of ensuring that there can be equal participation in the workplace, and equal pay as part of that deal as well. We are committed through our co-operation agreement to extend free childcare to…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank Adam Price for that. I have already raised with UK Ministers ways in which we could do things differently here in Wales, using the experience we have of working with our local authorities, with our third sector organisations, so that we have a simple…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Every time I meet with UK Ministers in relation to events in Ukraine, they assure me that the UK Government wants to do everything it can to make provision for people who will want to make their way to this country because of the desperate situation they face…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
There is to be an inter-ministerial group, bringing together Ministers from across the United Kingdom, on 21 March. The Welsh Government has asked for food security to be placed on the agenda of that inter-ministerial group. I'll ask my colleague Lesley…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
The agriculture Bill will, of course, support the production of food by Welsh farmers, and the changing nature of the marketplace, the Member is right, needs to be taken into account in that. But, the agriculture Bill will also reward active farmers who…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I agree of course with what the leader of the opposition has said about those wider impacts of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Russia and Ukraine, between them, provide about 30 per cent of global wheat exports. We're not as exposed directly to that…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
All those are very important points that the Member has made. The single biggest way in which we have been able to address that challenge in Wales is, as I said earlier, in reducing year on year the total number of children from Wales who find themselves in…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, I thank Rhys ab Owen for that, and congratulate the Wales Governance Centre on the continuing work that they do and the very important, if very bleak, insights that they are providing to us through the work that they do. The figures to which the Member…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Thank you very much to Rhys ab Owen for the question, Llywydd. We continue to work closely with police and crime commissioners and justice partners through the criminal justice in Wales board to ensure our race equality action plans tackle discrimination in…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, that's a very good example that Jack Sargeant cites of exactly the point I was making earlier, about the way in which the Welsh Government has had to step in to make good for the lack of investment—not just lack of investment, but lack of interest…
, Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, I thank the Member. It's good to see her do her bit for International Women's Day on the Tory benches in this Chamber. She will know that digital connectivity and telecommunications are not devolved to the Welsh Government. Every penny that this…
