675 contributions on record. Newest first, by sitting day. Page 16 of 19. Counted by Siambr
Education is at the very heart of our ambition for Wales. We see education as the key to unlocking new and better opportunities, and building the more confident, innovative and productive nation we know Wales can be. The Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language will make a statement this afternoon outlining our priorities for education in more detail.
This Government fully understands the pressures on schools, on local authorities and, more importantly, on families, due to ALN. The situation is this: a one-off, quick-fix payment for what's left of this financial year is not what will give us the long-term sustainability needed for ALN. What we need is to put in place the policy programme that will provide that sustainability, and it is precisely that—the long-term view of supporting both families and local authorities—that will guide this Government. We look forward to working with those families and local authorities in providing that long-term, rather than quick-fix, solution.
I agree with the Member that the evidence is clear now about the impact that smartphones, the use of mobile phones within school hours, can have on both the well-being and the education of children. This is a Government that is determined to act, and the education Minister will provide detail of the proposals on how we act in a national, clear way this afternoon.
I think the very real challenges faced by local authorities was the reason we decided to prioritise local authority funding alongside health funding in preparing for the budget for 2026-27 and working with the previous Government. So, you know, we have done what we could, at that stage, to try to protect budgets. But this is also about putting the measures in place that assist teachers, assist schools to help raise those standards. The numeracy and literacy framework that we will be putting in place, I am confident, will lead to a trajectory towards higher standards within our schools.
Mi oedd hi wir yn bleser gallu ymweld ag ysgol Gwynllyw yr wythnos diwethaf. Buaswn i'n licio diolch yn fawr iawn i'r staff, ac yn arbennig i'r disgyblion, o'r oed cynradd drwyddo i'r uwchradd, am y croeso gawsom ni. Mae'n ysgol sy'n amlwg yn anelu i ragori ym mhopeth y mae hi'n ei wneud.
Mae'n sicr angen cydnabod bob amser sut mae costau ychwanegol mewn unrhyw ffordd yn gallu bod yn rhwystr i ddewisiadau mewn addysg. Mae'n bwysig iawn cydnabod bod yna rwystrau yn gallu cael eu rhoi mewn lle oherwydd costau sy'n effeithio at fynediad tuag at addysg Gymraeg. Mae hynny'n rywbeth y mae'r Llywodraeth yma yn ei gymryd o ddifrif, ac mi fydd y Gweinidog addysg a'r iaith Gymraeg, wrth gwrs, yn edrych ar bob opsiwn i gefnogi ysgolion ac awdurdodau lleol i sicrhau bod y rhwystrau yna yn cael eu dileu fesul un.
It was a pleasure to be able to visit Gwynllyw school last week, and I'd like to thank the staff, and particularly the pupils from primary age to secondary age, for the welcome that we had. It's a school that evidently aims to excel in everything that it does.
And, certainly, we need to recognise always how additional costs in any way can be a barrier to educational choices. And it's important to recognise that barriers can be put in place because of costs, that affect access to Welsh-medium education. That's something that the Welsh Government is taking seriously, and the Minister for education and the Welsh language will be looking at all options to support schools and local authorities to ensure that those barriers are eliminated one by one.
GPs are the foundation of NHS care in Wales. Every month, general practices deliver around 1.5 million patient contacts, including over 150,000 across Clwyd. When access to primary care comes under pressure, the whole system feels it. That's why we have embarked on our manifesto commitments to strengthen GP services, improve out-of-hours access, expand digital and telehealth support, and deliver more care closer to home.
The boundary changes issue, in and of itself, is something that will be looked at by the Cabinet Minister for Health and Care. That is a very specific issue. There are areas that the Member referred to that I very much agree with, on the lack of a GP workforce in some areas being a particular issue, and, in particular, where you have areas of deprivation—that being a barrier, in itself, to healthcare.
Our manifesto and first 100 days commitments make clear that strengthening GP services, as I say, are central to improving access, wherever that may be, regardless of what boundary changes might have been put in place. And 100 additional GPs, which is a significant increase across Wales, I believe, can make a real difference to access to care in primary care. And I remind Members that, this week, this Government is fulfilling a pledge to convene a primary care summit, which will be an opportunity to look at these very issues.
As I say, the summit that will be convened this week will bring together Government, NHS leaders, front-line partners, to focus exactly on those issues of how we improve access, strengthen sustainability and shift care to closer to home. And the issue of recruiting an additional 100-salaried GPs to strengthen front-line capacity, improve out of-hours care in particular, is going to be at the core of dealing with the issues that constituents in Clwyd face. We recognise that those pressures, as I said earlier, are often felt most sharply in some communities, which is why we'll work with practices at the deep end, if you like, to explore modernised models of care, reduce workload pressures, and support more collaborative and federated ways of working.
Firstly, the housing shortages that we face in Wales are very, very real. Secondly, those housing shortages are not driven by immigration. That is an attempt—[Interruption.]—that is an attempt to create division when we should be looking at practical solutions to the practical problem that we face of shortage of housing.
Yes, we have set a high level of ambition for the number of houses we want to deliver. Social housing is a key part of that. And, yes, we need to work with house builders. We also need to work with social housing providers. Plus, we will work through the body established by this Government, Unnos, which will look for innovative ways of realising this promise. Let's focus on the practical issues that we face day in, day out. And yes, leveraging money in, in innovative ways, is a part of the solutions that we seek to find. But blaming one part of society for the issue doesn't help us reach the solution.
It's again seeking to blame, isn't it? HMOs was an issue in a part of Cardiff that I used to live in, years ago. That was because of student HMOs. So, the solution there is to find ways of making sure that we can house students in ways that don't impact on local populations. There are parts of my own constituency where HMOs have been because of workforces in particular sectors. The leader of the opposition says he's not blaming immigrants whilst then progressing to blame immigrants for the situation. He will have to forgive me for always focusing on the practical answers that are needed to the very real problems that we face, and that is a lack of social housing, which is why this Government is getting on with building more social housing.
I think I've made it clear on many occasions that this Government does not have any plans and will not raise taxes. Our job here is to get on with the work of delivering the programme for government that we put to the people of Wales and got a mandate to deliver in the recent election. I notice the comments from the previous First Minister that access talks would have led to open books. I also realise that the leader of the opposition decided not to take up the option of entering into access talks. That's how serious they were about getting into Government. To suggest that Plaid Cymru had access to the Government books, as the former finance Minister put it, is demonstrably not true. That's not how access talks work. What I can confirm as true is that, in health, the previous Government left in-year pressures to the tune of hundreds of millions of pounds. On top of that, they made multimillion pound unfunded commitments on childcare, for example, leaving a hugely challenging legacy behind. But I won't dwell on that fact. I won't use that as an excuse. It's for Labour to answer how this situation came to pass. It's for this Government to roll up our sleeves and be determined to deliver on those pledges that we put in front of the people of Wales. That is exactly what we are doing. That is why, today, £55 million was announced by the Deputy First Minister to roll out childcare, which the people of Wales showed they so desperately want.
This is a previous Government that promised a multibillion pound hospital building funded, but couldn't even get their sums right on how much money had been allocated for childcare—were they able to win the election, which, of course, they weren't. Yes, we were part of a process around agreeing those funds for the NHS and local government, as I explained earlier. I'm not sure the former Minister was a part of that process. But, as I say, access talks aren't an open-book exercise of the kind that the former Minister implies. The in-year pressures left as a result of the actions of the previous Labour administrations are ones that we will deal with now. What we will do is roll up our sleeves and make sure that we find innovative ways, both on revenue and capital fronts, to deliver what the people of Wales said they wanted us to.
What's become very, very clear, Llywydd, is the mismanagement of funds under the previous Government. I'm not going to use that as an excuse for the work that we have to get on with now. We have put a programme in place. It is around improving education standards. My Minister is getting on with the work of delivering a foundation numeracy and literacy project. It is about improving access to childcare. The £55 million announced today is about starting that work of delivering childcare. It's about creating better jobs in all parts of Wales. Work is already beginning on setting in place the plans for the delivery of a new development agency for Wales. All these actions are ones that we said we would be putting in place, and we are already doing so. All the points in our 100-day plan have been actioned already. We did more in 27 days as a Government than the previous Labour administration did in 27 years.
One of my first visits as First Minister was to see Valley Veterans and to share with them stories of their time serving in the armed forces and to pledge to them our determination to deliver on the covenant that is so important to those who have served. Yes, I do believe that the defence sector in Wales plays a very important part within the economy as a whole. Yes, I absolutely understand that the changing face of international threats means that we need to make sure that we have the conventional forces in place that are able to stand up to that. At the same time, this is a Government that will make sure that the ethical engagement around defence is as strong as it can possibly be. I think those are the kinds of assurances that the people of Wales want.
I think the Member is right that we would expect Wales to get a fair share. It is also equally true to say that if UK Government, as it's thought, is going to be making changes to defence spending and doing that off the back of public spending that's very important to us in terms of dealing with infrastructure issues here in Wales, that we are given advance warning of that, which is not what happened in this case. When I talk about wanting to have a reset of relations between Welsh Government and UK Government and having a respect agenda, I expect that respect agenda to work both ways, and therefore to have an early opportunity to engage on decisions that would impact us in Wales is something that I will always do, as the people of Wales expect me to, being a First Minister that has always pledged to stand up for the people of Wales and to be loyal always to the needs of the people of this nation.
It is for the Senedd to decide whether to establish the review, once the Llywydd tables the motion required by the legislation. Given the significant changes to the Senedd and our electoral system, a review of the new system can itself strengthen public confidence in our democracy. I hope the Constitution, Justice and External Affairs Committee can take forward that work, and my Government is committed to contributing to it.
I think the important thing here, and certainly what would drive me in thinking what's the best electoral system for us in Wales, is that, yes, it's a mix of what people can understand in a short period of time—being educated about how a new system works—but it is also surely about having a system that works democratically, that people feel ownership of, and that they ultimately see the way that they voted in an election translates itself to what happens in this Parliament.
I think it's important that we do learn lessons from what was a new election, and that is precisely what this review is about. We made sure, those of us who were in the last Senedd, that we had that mechanism within the legislation on expanding the Senedd and introducing a new electoral system to review it, to make sure that it is as good as it can be in terms of proportionality, understanding and so on. My Government remains committed to that review, which I think is important, but ultimately this is one for the Senedd as a whole.
Yes, I think ensuring that this Senedd is representative of the people we serve, rich in its diversity, should be something that's important to all of us. I certainly was pleased that, as a party, we were able to play our part in creating this representative and diverse Senedd, with women making up 46 per cent of this seventh Senedd, and we have diversity across other characteristics too. I absolutely agree that, by being representative of the people we serve, we can be more effective as a democratically elected institution. There's a lot of evidence to support that. There's more that we need to do, of course, but, as a Senedd, we can establish, every single one of us here, an inclusive culture, working practices and policies. But political parties in themselves are important gatekeepers, aren't they, in achieving that aim too.
I think this close to next year's local elections, I don't think it would be possible to bring in a new way of electing members, though that decision will ultimately be down to local authorities themselves. Work is still ongoing in relation to automatic registration, which is something that, as a principle, I adhere to. I want as many people as possible to be able to take part in the democratic process. We will judge whether timescales allow us to do that, but it's something in principle that I would want to do.
Locally owned businesses are important to communities in Gŵyr Abertawe. My Government will back them to innovate, scale and improve productivity. That means practical help through the business support on offer and stronger local supply chain support. We want Welsh businesses to grow without losing their local identity, so jobs, decisions and the wealth they create stay in their communities.
The frustration voiced by the Member is one that I have voiced many times as well when it comes to looking at procurement spend in action and the Welsh pound leaving Wales unnecessarily all too often. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to reiterate my determination to drive up the share of public contracts going to Welsh businesses. We will rewrite procurement rules to prioritise local supply chains, fair work and community benefit and make it easier for Welsh firms to bid by simplifying processes, actively supporting SMEs to compete. And on top of that, we will hold public bodies to account also, so that more of that £8 billion spend, as was mentioned there, stays in Wales.
We clearly share a common ambition to grow the indigenous businesses that we have here in Wales. The Cabinet Minister for enterprise often speaks of that need to grow that missing middle in Wales, and that is precisely what we will try to do. It will be one of the driving forces of the new development agency to grow those businesses. We want them to grow and succeed, without losing their roots in Welsh communities too. It's about creating a simpler, stronger business support system with a clear front door for firms. The development agency itself will not only help Welsh businesses to start, but to scale, which is so, so important. And in everything that we do, if we are to achieve our aims about closing the productivity gap with the UK, the role of Welsh businesses and the support given to them by Government will be absolutely key in that.
The Member draws attention to the situation within his particular constituency, as I would expect him to. And whilst I'm unable to draw comparisons, because I don't have the numbers here, between what happens precisely on the border between one constituency and the next, I can say this: when I had initial conversations with my Cabinet Minister for enterprise about the kind of remit that we would want the new development agency to have, I made it clear that I was pretty open-minded about the way it worked, because I wanted that flexibility in place as it developed its place within that landscape of the Welsh economy. One thing I did say was that I was determined that, in everything it did and in everything that we do, there is a recognition of making sure that prosperity is spread and that there is no creating pockets of prosperity where one area is able to prosper not necessarily at the expense of another, but where it feels as if it's an unlevel playing field. That is something that's going to be at the core of our approach to promoting prosperity: making sure that everybody has a slice of that cake.
The nation of sanctuary approach promotes safer, more united communities by working with partners to support integration, safeguard vulnerable people and identify and address risks appropriately.
I guess, Llywydd, we're going to have to get used to this kind of contribution, where there is an attempt here to drive wedges between communities. And I, as First Minister, and I know I speak for my Government, will not rise to that from the Reform benches. Yes, the nation of sanctuary policy did house mostly Ukrainian refugees. I understand the difficulty that the Member has in addressing that issue, given the fact that the former leader of Reform in Wales is currently serving a lengthy jail term for taking money from the Russians, and one of the first calls made by their finance spokesperson was to tear down the Ukraine flag flying outside our Senedd. Let's focus here on what unites us. Let's focus on the leadership that's incumbent on all of us to show in order to create cohesion between communities.
I will remind the Member that today is the tenth anniversary of the murder of Jo Cox. Our thoughts are with her family today, and our focus as leaders in politics in Wales should be on finding ways of getting over divisions rather than trying to create them.
I certainly will, and I hope I speak for all of this Senedd in saying that we have been proud to be able to support people who came here from Ukraine to flee Putin's bullets. I remember the film shown on Newyddion on S4C of a girl who'd come from Ukraine and who was at the school in Moelfre, and she was asked what her favourite Welsh word was, and she said with immense pride 'archfarchnad'. So, I'm not sure which archfarchnad, which supermarket, particularly impressed her, but it just showed me in that little instance—and there were other children there too—that we can provide a home for Ukrainians. And no, Wales doesn't have the power to decide who seeks asylum here, but we do have the power here to decide what attitude we show, as a nation, towards people who end up here and how kind we decide to be towards them.
I certainly associate myself with those comments and agree with them, and make the point again that it's our job here to show leadership on the kind of debate. And that is one positive that comes out of this, that we are able to show leadership and to show that we will not be cowed by those who are intolerant and want to seek division; we can put forward a more respectful argument.
That was a very creative way, Llywydd, of aligning himself with the comments, rather too closely, of the Member from Reform.
On grooming gangs, I'm quite clear that we need to understand exactly what is happening. Policing is not devolved, of course, to Wales, but this Government will support any measures to make sure that we understand the threats faced by be it young people or women in Wales, in whatever guise that might be.
My Deputy First Minister was also very proud to be at the event last night and to have been able to give an address there. Again, I want to associate myself with the Member's words, clearly showing again an understanding of the importance of showing leadership. What that means is not encouraging people to vent anger on the streets, as other political leaders have sought to do. That is what undermines cohesion, that is what creates violence, that is what creates the risks that face our communities. It's pleasing to see that, within this Senedd, there is still a very firm majority for the cohesive, positive view of the way that we can work together for the greater good.
We're supporting the safe and responsible adoption of artificial intelligence in the health service. In partnership with the NHS, we're exploring how such technologies can improve patient access to services, reduce the administrative burden for healthcare professionals and assist with diagnostics and treatment plans.
We have a list there of potential technological and AI interventions that can genuinely help us transform the health service. We've made it one of the central parts of our plans to make healthcare sustainable for the future, because in the face of an ageing population, it's that sustainability, perhaps, that's the greatest challenge of all. The role of digital and AI are hugely important in that.
It is all of the above that the Member mentioned. It's things like ambient voice technology and other uses of AI. I have no doubt that AI has the potential to bring about efficiencies for the clinicians and professionals in the health service. If we can safely introduce AI technology, clinicians and practitioners' time can be spent with patients and not on paperwork. It's not just getting it done more efficiently, there's a potential to do things better too, which is something that we should all aim to do.
I'm afraid I can't explain or describe which exact AI tools are in use. I'll see if we can write to the Member to give a taste of the kinds of tools that are already in place. But the key thing is that we are at, still, the beginning of a revolution here, and one of the ways that we need to act now is to find which tools are best, and they will almost certainly be incomplete tools as of now, but to find out which ones provide most promise for the future. We have technologies being developed in Wales that we want to support for the economic benefits that that brings, but I'll see if I can get some details to the Member.
The important thing to say is that AI isn't about replacing staff, it's not about replacing clinical judgment, for example, it's about reducing administrative tasks so that clinicians can focus on the parts of the job that only humans can do. As the Member says, where we have shortages, the advantage of freeing up the time of nurses, doctors and others through the effective use of technology is that they can then really be using their time on the front line, getting to grips with those waiting times and ambulance handovers and so on. As I say, we're at the beginning of understanding where this revolution in digital in healthcare can take us, but I can assure you that it's a matter that my Cabinet Minister for Health and Care takes great interest in.
We are committed to a whole-system approach to neurodivergence, building on the autism code of practice to improve consistency, reduce inequalities and deliver better outcomes across Wales. We will strengthen workforce training and awareness, promote earlier, needs-led support through closer collaboration across education, health and social care, and ensure the voices and lived experience of neurodivergent people are central to shaping policy and services.
Mewn ffordd, mae'r ateb yn y cwestiwn hefyd, ac mae'r Aelod yn sylweddoli yr her, ac mae cydweithio ar draws Llywodraeth yn rhywbeth dwi'n gobeithio fydd yn dod yn thema y byddwn ni'n dychwelyd ati dro ar ôl tro. Mae gwaith eisoes yn digwydd o fewn y Llywodraeth o fapio allan sut i wneud i'r cydweithio yna ddigwydd, beth bynnag ydy'r mater.
Yn yr achos hwn, mae gwella canlyniadau i bobl niwroamrywiol yn rhywbeth sy'n barod yn rhedeg ar draws rhaglen gyfan y Llywodraeth. Dyna sy'n bwysig; nid rhywbeth un adran ydy hi, fel mae'r Aelod yn dweud. Rydyn ni'n cyflawni hyn drwy'r rhaglen gwella niwroamrywiaeth, ac mae honno wedi'i halinio yn glir iawn efo'n hymrwymiad ni i un gwasanaeth cyhoeddus Cymru, yn dod â iechyd, addysg, gofal cymdeithasol, a llywodraeth leol a phartneriaid eraill ynghyd o amgylch canlyniadau sy'n cael eu rhannu gan bob un ohonom ni. Mae'r mesur yn mynd i fod ym mha mor llwyddiannus yr ydym ni'n gwneud i hynny ddigwydd, ond dwi'n cyd-fynd yn llwyr efo'r egwyddor sy'n cael ei nodi gan yr Aelod, mai cael y cydweithio yna yn iawn ydy'r allwedd i gael yr allbynnau neu'r canlyniadau rydym ni eu hangen i bobl.
In a way, the answer's in the question again, and the Member realises the challenge, and collaboration across the Government is something that I hope will become a theme that we'll return to time and again. Work is already happening within the Government in terms of mapping out how that collaboration happens, whatever the issue.
And in this case, improving outcomes for neurodivergent people is something that is already running across the whole Government programme. That's the important thing; it's not just for one department, as the Member said. We're delivering this through the improvement programme on neurodivergence, and that is aligned very clearly with our commitment to one public service in Wales, and bringing health, education, social care, and local government and other partners together around outcomes that are shared by all of us. The measurement will be of how successful we are in making that happen, but I do agree completely with the principle that was brought up by the Member, namely that getting that collaboration right is the key to getting the outcomes or the results that we need for people.
The Member is right that I and we on these benches were supportive of that legislative response, and going down the legislative route is something that can still be discussed. There is a significant programme of legislation that we need to pursue, but let's keep on talking about where opportunities might arise. What we can't do is wait for that legislative window and let that stop us from taking action that we're already able to take, of the kind that I mentioned in my previous answer, in making sure that Government works across departments to provide the kind of support that neurodivergent people should be able to expect from Government.
We will review our planning and infrastructure policies to ensure the scale, siting and cumulative impact of energy developments, including transmission and distribution infrastructure, are properly considered through the planning system. The review will allow communities to express their views and ensure that local concerns are given appropriate weight when applications for energy developments are considered.
I think it's very important that decisions are ones that we are able to control here in Wales, and I hope the Member would join me in making the call for all energy projects to be devolved from Westminster to Wales, because in Westminster there's certainly no understanding of what's important to our communities, I believe.
We have in Wales the Infrastructure (Wales) Act 2024, which provides an up-to-date decision-making process for large-scale wind projects. Developers are required to provide robust evidence to support and justify their proposals, including the effect on communities. And what I've said, and I will repeat time and time again, is that this Government is serious about making sure that we are able to use those tools, including legislation already in place, to give communities a genuine voice, and whether it's on developers having to propose shared ownership, or the development of more nationally focused wealth funds that can help those communities, those are the principles that guide our thinking around renewables projects. We're in favour of renewables projects, but we're in favour of protecting communities in the context of their development too.
The Welsh Government will ensure that economic development supports businesses across the country, with the 100 days plan looking to bring together a panel of experts to look at forming a national development agency to help unlock the potential of businesses across the whole of Wales.
Rwy'n cytuno'n llwyr. Mae cyfoeth a bwrlwm economaidd yn gorfod bod yn gallu cael eu teimlo ym mhob rhan o'r wlad, ac mewn cymunedau efo nodweddion gwahanol. Un o'r syniadau tu ôl i Arfor, wrth gwrs, oedd gwneud yn siŵr bod ardaloedd gwledig Cymraeg eu hiaith yn gallu teimlo'r math o fwrlwm economaidd a fyddai’n arfer cael ei gysylltu efo ardaloedd dinesig mawr. Rydyn ni wedi gosod cenhadaeth genedlaethol glir fel Llywodraeth i gau'r bwlch cynhyrchiant efo'r Deyrnas Unedig dros y degawd nesaf, a dim ond os bydd pob rhan o Gymru'n llwyddo y gallwn ni gyflawni hynny. Rydyn ni’n gwreiddio twf daearyddol gytbwys wrth galon ein strategaeth economaidd. Fel y dywedais i mewn ateb i gwestiwn cynharach, mae'n rhaid i fwrlwm, llwyddiant a llewyrch gael eu teimlo ym mhob rhan o'r wlad, ac mae hynny'n golygu sicrhau bod Cymru wledig a threfol fel ei gilydd yn elwa o fuddsoddiad.
I agree entirely. Economic activity and wealth have to be felt in all parts of the country, and in communities with different characteristics. One of the ideas behind Arfor, of course, was ensuring that rural areas that are Welsh speaking can feel that kind of economic activity that would usually be connected with large urban areas. We have set out a clear national mission as a Government to reduce the productivity gap with the UK Government over the next 10 years, and only if all parts of Wales succeed can we deliver that. We are embedding geographically balanced growth at the heart of our economic strategy. As I said in response to a previous question, economic prosperity and activity have to be felt in all parts of the country, and that ensures that all parts of Wales, rural and urban, can benefit from investment.
Respect, solidarity and fair play will guide how this Government builds fairer, safer and united communities. We want Wales to be a safe and inclusive nation where people and communities thrive. Our community cohesion programme is designed to promote cohesion and foster shared belonging across the whole of Wales.
I find our flag to be a symbol of immense national pride and I don't support it being misused.
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