27 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, thanks to Buffy Williams for drawing attention to the very good news that Transport for Wales has reopened the Treherbert line this week. The investment has moved the line from being a Victorian, nineteenth-century part of our infrastructure to the…
27 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, I thank Gareth Davies, Llywydd, for the acknowledgement he made at the start of his question about those areas that have improved at Glan Clwyd. But I agree with him that the performance at the emergency department has not been satisfactory, and that…
27 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank Gareth Davies, Llywydd, for that question. Waiting times for some patients at Glan Clwyd Hospital are not where they need to be, especially in the emergency department. Extra investment by the Welsh Government and a fresh focus by the new board will…
21 February 2024 , Plenary
Short Debate: The importance of Wales's voice in the campaign for peace—Celebrating the hundredth anniversary of presenting the peace petition by the Women of Wales to President Coolidge and Wales's role in speaking up for peace today
The Temple of Peace was opened in 1938, so it's less than two years before the outbreak of the second world war. It was opened by Mrs Minnie James of Dowlais, a woman who had lost all three of her sons in the conflict between 1914 and 1918. She said this on…
21 February 2024 , Plenary
Short Debate: The importance of Wales's voice in the campaign for peace—Celebrating the hundredth anniversary of presenting the peace petition by the Women of Wales to President Coolidge and Wales's role in speaking up for peace today
The early 1920s were a time of enormous flux. Here in Wales, in 1921 you have the election at the Caerphilly by-election of the first MP who had been a conscientious objector during the first world war. Extraordinary, isn’t it, to think of Morgan Jones, who…
21 February 2024 , Plenary
Short Debate: The importance of Wales's voice in the campaign for peace—Celebrating the hundredth anniversary of presenting the peace petition by the Women of Wales to President Coolidge and Wales's role in speaking up for peace today
Llywydd, I'm looking at a photograph of those four women who took the peace petition across to America. It's at the top of the article that Sioned Williams referred to by Dr Rowan Williams. There they are, the four of them. They are formidable. They are…
21 February 2024 , Plenary
Short Debate: The importance of Wales's voice in the campaign for peace—Celebrating the hundredth anniversary of presenting the peace petition by the Women of Wales to President Coolidge and Wales's role in speaking up for peace today
Llywydd, thank you very much, and thank you to Sioned Williams and everyone else who has contributed to an important and inspiring debate today.
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, I thank the Member for that question, and congratulate all Members across the Chamber who took part in that migraine awareness event. The purpose of the all-Wales toolkit is to respond to a number of the practical suggestions that Mark Isherwood just…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. An all-Wales toolkit was launched in June of last year, to support clinicians in diagnosing and caring for people with different types of headaches, including migraines. The toolkit was co-produced by the…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, I thank Jayne Bryant for that, and for the part she played in yesterday's event. I know it was addressed by the Deputy Minister with responsibility for services for unpaid carers. And the panel that the Member for Newport West took part in…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, the Welsh Government remains committed to supporting all unpaid carers in Wales, ensuring that they are aware of their rights, as outlined in the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014. Since January 2022, we have allocated £42 million of…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank the Member for that question and for the clear and consistent support that he gives to this sector, which will do so much to help people in his part of Wales. Maybe I'll give just one example of a very recent action, because I wrote yesterday to the…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, the sector in the Member's constituency has huge potential to meet our energy needs while retaining wealth and value in Wales. We are streamlining planning and consenting processes, leading strategic work on energy plans and working to maximise the…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
It's very important, Llywydd, as Ken Skates says, that people recognise that this continues to be a deeply iterative process. I don't think it does help the process when people portray it as a process in which no change has been made, because changes have…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, I agree with what the Member says, but, when any community is facing change, then mental health pressures will be part of what any Government would need to respond to. When I was at Tata Steel with my colleague the economy Minister only a few…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I don't regard the point that the Member made as alarmist nonsense, because he's right that this goes to the heart of the bargain that we want to see there in the future for Welsh farming. It's why the total amount of the BPS has been sustained here in Wales…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, let me begin by recognising that, when change happens, people find that challenging, and in rural Wales, there are many changes that are inevitably on their doorstep. They're there because we left the European Union, with the security and…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Llywydd, an integrated impact assessment was published on 14 December last year, as part of the current sustainable farming scheme consultation. An updated assessment, together with supporting evidence, will be published before any final decisions are made.
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, it is a shame, Llywydd, that the Member's welcome for the scheme is shrouded in such a mist of misinformation. She's entirely wrong about the Government's approach to road building. She's entirely wrong about sections 5 and 6, which is being constructed…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, I thank Vikki Howells for that and for the invitation she made on the floor of the Senedd to make that visit, which I thoroughly enjoyed, together with the Member for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney. It followed an earlier visit that I'd made with Alun…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank Vikki Howells for that, Llywydd. Work on dualling sections 5 and 6 of the Heads of the Valleys road is currently three years into its construction period. Despite the project starting during the height of the COVID pandemic, good progress has been…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank Hefin David for that, Llywydd. Laura Anne Jones mentioned the Bedwas tips, and there are three disused category D coal tips above Bedwas, and we know that, thinking of the question I was asked originally by Peredur Owen Griffiths, because the Welsh…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
Well, Llywydd, I thank the Member for that important question. Just to be clear that, based on current information, the regulators do not currently consider there is a risk to public health at Tŷ Llwyd, but the local authority—who, let's remember, themselves…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
I thank the Member for that important question. He is right, of course, that the landscape of Wales is scattered with examples of the legacy of events that happened many, many years ago. The current system is that it is a responsibility of a local authority…
20 February 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the First Minister
The legislation that deals with safety at such sites in Wales is set by the Senedd. The Welsh Government provides statutory guidance to assist local authorities in the discharge of their responsibilities. Further assistance is available through Public Health…
