Browse content similar to 11/10/2016. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon, welcome once again to am.pm and our coverage | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
According to the agenda we can expect questions | :00:25. | :00:30. | |
on specialist critical care, school funding levels | :00:31. | :00:33. | |
Don't forget you can follow all the latest on Welsh politics | :00:34. | :00:38. | |
Well, question time is already underway, | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
I call the National Assembly to order and before we begin members | :00:44. | :00:59. | |
should have been informed by their business managers of my intention to | :01:00. | :01:05. | |
be stricter in ensuring members ask short, succinct questions. The | :01:06. | :01:09. | |
business committee agreed this is the best way to ensure if effective | :01:10. | :01:14. | |
scrutiny. I called to order any member who will deprive others of | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
the opportunity to scrutinise by not coming quickly to a question. And so | :01:18. | :01:23. | |
the first item on the agenda of this afternoon is questions to the First | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
Minister. The first question from Nick Ramsay. Will the First Minister | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
provide an update on the timescale for developing these specialist | :01:34. | :01:38. | |
critical care centre at Llanfrechfa. Following a review over the summer I | :01:39. | :01:42. | |
can confirm that the Cabinet Secretary will receive the | :01:43. | :01:44. | |
information he needs next week and will be able to move towards making | :01:45. | :01:49. | |
a decision. Thank you, you did indicate that might be the case last | :01:50. | :01:53. | |
week. There is going concern in South East | :01:54. | :01:56. | |
Wales about the rate of progress with the critical care centre first | :01:57. | :02:01. | |
plans ten years ago. You said the Health Secretary is going to have | :02:02. | :02:04. | |
that information at his disposal in the near future. Will you do what | :02:05. | :02:09. | |
you plan to take charge of this issue to make sure that people in | :02:10. | :02:12. | |
South Wales can be reassured that they are going to get that vital | :02:13. | :02:17. | |
piece of the National health service infrastructure that they've waited | :02:18. | :02:28. | |
for foreign long time. And really need as soon as possible. | :02:29. | :02:30. | |
The information is there. I'd like to pay tribute to my colleague who | :02:31. | :02:33. | |
has been unstinting in her advocacy of the plans. It is right that a | :02:34. | :02:36. | |
project of this size, full consideration is given to the | :02:37. | :02:39. | |
project from a financial perspective. The decision process | :02:40. | :02:42. | |
can now begin as it is in the hands of the secretary this week. Question | :02:43. | :02:49. | |
tool, Jane Bryant. Willie first was a make a statement on the social | :02:50. | :02:53. | |
construction pilot scheme? We are piloting it as part of our | :02:54. | :02:57. | |
programme for government. We are scoping how the scheme could best | :02:58. | :03:01. | |
operate. Social prescribing offers an | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
opportunity to look behind medication. Chronic loneliness is as | :03:06. | :03:09. | |
bad for our health as mugging 15 cigarettes a day, and as damaging as | :03:10. | :03:14. | |
obesity. Research shows it affects people across their lifetime. The | :03:15. | :03:19. | |
friending boots provide a vital lifeline in the battle against | :03:20. | :03:24. | |
loneliness, one example which can reduce medication. In Aneurin Bevan | :03:25. | :03:29. | |
health board there is an exciting new project designed to act as a | :03:30. | :03:33. | |
description for loneliness. Does the First Minister agree with me that | :03:34. | :03:38. | |
communication between health and commuter services must be as good as | :03:39. | :03:43. | |
possible to make this work? And what support can be given to win Courage | :03:44. | :03:46. | |
volunteers who will be crucial to the success of social prescribing? | :03:47. | :03:51. | |
It is absolutely correct to say that we need to look at holistic approach | :03:52. | :03:55. | |
is to helping people when they feel depressed, when they feel like that. | :03:56. | :04:03. | |
The Welsh government is providing ?180,000 over three years to develop | :04:04. | :04:07. | |
volunteer led networks which supports lonely and isolated people | :04:08. | :04:11. | |
within communities, similar to the scheme she has mentioned. | :04:12. | :04:16. | |
Angela Burns. Thank you, Presiding Officer. As you are aware social | :04:17. | :04:20. | |
prescribing is dependent on the third sector. However, many rural | :04:21. | :04:28. | |
communities have faced consistent downgrading of community assets. And | :04:29. | :04:32. | |
support networks. Our Willie Welsh government, the house boards and | :04:33. | :04:36. | |
local government work effectively together to ensure that community | :04:37. | :04:42. | |
assets are in place. For a brief example the threatened closure of | :04:43. | :04:46. | |
the Avenue Centre in Tenby which was threatened under the terms of the | :04:47. | :04:50. | |
social care while being built. That's what the local government | :04:51. | :04:55. | |
tried to do. We take that kind of asset away then social prescribing | :04:56. | :04:59. | |
which we support, and think is an excellent way forward is going to | :05:00. | :05:03. | |
struggle to be delivered on the ground specifically in rural | :05:04. | :05:06. | |
communities. How are we going to tie this together? You've asked your | :05:07. | :05:13. | |
question. First Minister. It is absolutely right that mutation will | :05:14. | :05:16. | |
be crucial for the networks to be developed and established. -- | :05:17. | :05:23. | |
communication will be crucial. We launched us the delivery plan for | :05:24. | :05:28. | |
mental health strategy together with mental health yesterday. And the | :05:29. | :05:31. | |
social prescribing pilots included will complement that action. I | :05:32. | :05:36. | |
believe the Government can learn from the delivery plan for best | :05:37. | :05:50. | |
practice in rural areas. Now questions from the party | :05:51. | :05:56. | |
leaders. I first called the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew | :05:57. | :05:58. | |
Artie Davies. First Minister, I asked this question as a supporter | :05:59. | :06:00. | |
of alleviating the traffic congestion around Newport. Last | :06:01. | :06:02. | |
weeks announcement was bitterly disappointing. There was a clear | :06:03. | :06:07. | |
letter issued last week to a member of the Assembly here that | :06:08. | :06:12. | |
highlighted how the Welsh government had interrupted at various | :06:13. | :06:16. | |
workshops, consultations, and indeed, the changing methodology has | :06:17. | :06:21. | |
been highlighted as early as 2014 and confirmed in workshops in March | :06:22. | :06:26. | |
20 15th brought forward in July 20 16. Why was it such a shock to the | :06:27. | :06:31. | |
Welsh government that this methodology was changing? And | :06:32. | :06:37. | |
ultimately could delay the advancement of the project? | :06:38. | :06:41. | |
This is a queue list tale, which, with your permission I'd like to | :06:42. | :06:44. | |
elaborate on. The letter received by Mohammed Asghar was dated the 5th of | :06:45. | :06:47. | |
October to apologise for a delay in responding. I do wonder when that | :06:48. | :06:53. | |
letter originally was signed, because normally we don't get a | :06:54. | :06:57. | |
response within three days from the Department for Transport. That is | :06:58. | :07:02. | |
curious, is it not? Secondly, it's not right to say that the | :07:03. | :07:06. | |
information, the planning data was before the Welsh government at any | :07:07. | :07:11. | |
time before July this year. No indication was given by the | :07:12. | :07:14. | |
Department for Transport what that data would look like. They said | :07:15. | :07:17. | |
after the referendum that they believed they would be a delay in | :07:18. | :07:21. | |
the publication of that data, that's what officials were told. It is not | :07:22. | :07:27. | |
the case either that they had information before July. Alan | :07:28. | :07:31. | |
officials discovered that highways England had received the information | :07:32. | :07:35. | |
to weeks before and had not shared it with us as the Government. That | :07:36. | :07:40. | |
information was requested and not provided until July 28. Even more | :07:41. | :07:46. | |
curious is that the data was provided is normally provided in | :07:47. | :07:50. | |
draft, with a nine to 12 month consultation period for the data to | :07:51. | :07:54. | |
be examined and question. This occasion it hasn't been | :07:55. | :07:58. | |
published in draft but in final form which disturbs us because the data | :07:59. | :08:03. | |
is so badly flawed. It uses planning data for Wales not included in the | :08:04. | :08:08. | |
LDP and has no apparent basis in fact. We've not been provided with | :08:09. | :08:12. | |
any information as to where the DFT got this information. | :08:13. | :08:17. | |
Once data is provided takes a long time to work out what the effect of | :08:18. | :08:21. | |
that data is which is why it's a nine to 12 month period for it to | :08:22. | :08:26. | |
happen. On this occasion, nothing. It was made final straightaway. | :08:27. | :08:30. | |
Curious that highways England were told before us, and what they set of | :08:31. | :08:37. | |
data does is, in fact, benefit schemes in London, the south-east | :08:38. | :08:41. | |
and east of England at the expense of everywhere else. Even more | :08:42. | :08:45. | |
furious, isn't it. We are calling on the DFT to work with us and | :08:46. | :08:50. | |
re-examine these figures. To tell us where they found the planning data | :08:51. | :08:54. | |
from and to work with us to provide figures that are far more accurate | :08:55. | :08:57. | |
for the Welsh context. Many curious issues, to which we | :08:58. | :09:02. | |
have not received an answer. Thank you for that detailed answer. | :09:03. | :09:07. | |
I don't think there's much curiosity around any of this. We've been | :09:08. | :09:11. | |
highlighting this for the last 12 months that the methodology needed | :09:12. | :09:16. | |
to be revisited. The blue and black wood could be evaluated on the same | :09:17. | :09:19. | |
methodology so that ultimately the two words could be compared | :09:20. | :09:23. | |
favourably and taken forward either blue or black. The Welsh | :09:24. | :09:28. | |
government's solution around South East Wales, it is a crisis, the jam | :09:29. | :09:34. | |
on the M4 can stretch back 12 miles, is to favour the black route. So can | :09:35. | :09:39. | |
you commit to having a traffic solution in place by 2021 so that | :09:40. | :09:45. | |
people can have confidence that your manifesto commitment to deliver that | :09:46. | :09:50. | |
solution will be met by 2021? Yes, that is the aim. It is not | :09:51. | :09:56. | |
helpful when we have government departments in Whitehall acting in | :09:57. | :10:00. | |
this way. They knew there was a public enquiry beginning in autumn | :10:01. | :10:04. | |
this year. Yet this data was... We had to ask for it. It was not | :10:05. | :10:10. | |
provided. We were not notified it existed. Then officials worked hard | :10:11. | :10:14. | |
through August to look at the date and see what it would mean for Welsh | :10:15. | :10:19. | |
road schemes. It is not just Wales affected, it's everywhere outside | :10:20. | :10:23. | |
the south-east of England. So as far as the Department for Transport is | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
concerned I urge them to revisit this data and have a proper process | :10:27. | :10:31. | |
where data is published in draft and then given to examine that data. | :10:32. | :10:38. | |
Examine its robustness rather than adopt the strange approach they've | :10:39. | :10:40. | |
adopted so far. I disagree with you about the | :10:41. | :10:45. | |
strange and unusual process. This process has been going on for two | :10:46. | :10:49. | |
years. This change would be coming down the road at you. Obviously, | :10:50. | :10:56. | |
your governments didn't respond. Traffic Scotland were involved, | :10:57. | :10:59. | |
Northern Irish transport apartment of infrastructure were debating with | :11:00. | :11:02. | |
the Department for Transport. They are all on this letter as | :11:03. | :11:06. | |
participants in workshops and consultations. What is important is | :11:07. | :11:11. | |
that we find a solution to the traffic gridlock that exists in | :11:12. | :11:15. | |
south-east Wales. Your government has put its colours firmly on the | :11:16. | :11:19. | |
mast of the black route. You are on record as saying that the blue | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
route, if you supported the blue route you could kiss goodbye to | :11:24. | :11:27. | |
winning elections in Newport for a generation. If it winning elections | :11:28. | :11:30. | |
driving the decision around the traffic gridlock and solutions to | :11:31. | :11:35. | |
solve that gridlock or are you actually looking at what is the best | :11:36. | :11:39. | |
solution both financially and in terms of traffic going forward? | :11:40. | :11:45. | |
It is a fact that the blue route goes past many homes that would | :11:46. | :11:50. | |
affect nearly 4000 people. That is the reality. It passes close to | :11:51. | :11:55. | |
their houses. Some buildings would have two be demolished, commercial | :11:56. | :12:00. | |
and residential. I doubt very much any government would be looked on | :12:01. | :12:03. | |
favourably if it were to move ahead with the blue route without proper | :12:04. | :12:07. | |
consultation. We've said that the public enquiry will look at the | :12:08. | :12:11. | |
black and blue routes and I want that enquiry to be as wide-ranging | :12:12. | :12:24. | |
as possible and as open as possible. The process is one where they can | :12:25. | :12:27. | |
have faith in. But I say once again, any suggestion that the Welsh | :12:28. | :12:29. | |
government was involved, or knew of the data that was provided on the | :12:30. | :12:32. | |
25th of July is wrong. Wholly wrong, and wholly untrue. The information | :12:33. | :12:37. | |
he has received is simply wrong. They worked on this, the informed | :12:38. | :12:41. | |
people what they were doing, they did not even tell us when figures | :12:42. | :12:46. | |
were going to be published. They shared them with highways England | :12:47. | :12:50. | |
first. We had to ask for them and then they were shared with us on a | :12:51. | :12:56. | |
basis that is abnormal. Normally nine to 12 months is available for | :12:57. | :13:00. | |
data to be examined. That was not done and we have a set of data that | :13:01. | :13:06. | |
would benefit London and the South East of England at everyone else's | :13:07. | :13:11. | |
expense. The Leader of the Opposition, Leanne | :13:12. | :13:16. | |
Wood. First Minister, the UK Home Secretary announced plans last week | :13:17. | :13:20. | |
to force companies to publish lists of their foreign workers. A | :13:21. | :13:25. | |
regressive step, I'm sure you agree with me. It's not clear exactly how | :13:26. | :13:30. | |
this information was intended to be used, but I'm concerned that it | :13:31. | :13:34. | |
could have led us down a very dark path indeed. Since then the UK | :13:35. | :13:38. | |
Government has rolled back on that position after a public outcry. The | :13:39. | :13:43. | |
data is still going to be gathered and they remain questions to be | :13:44. | :13:51. | |
asked about what will happen to that data. | :13:52. | :13:52. | |
Can you prevent any of these measures in Wales? I think the word | :13:53. | :13:55. | |
that is now being used is nudge. Nudge companies in that direction. | :13:56. | :14:01. | |
We're not going to do that. Nor any of the body 's response. At the end | :14:02. | :14:05. | |
of the day it is a matter for companies who they employ, I don't | :14:06. | :14:09. | |
think it's helpful to have lists of people that would be used against | :14:10. | :14:13. | |
those businesses for many reasons, firstly the sinister side of it, | :14:14. | :14:18. | |
which is to suggest that if people are not UK passport holders then | :14:19. | :14:23. | |
they are in some way in in the jobs they hold. That is the message it | :14:24. | :14:27. | |
would convey. I can think of no more powerful disincentive to an | :14:28. | :14:31. | |
investor. If you come to Wales or the UK you have to tell us how many | :14:32. | :14:35. | |
workers from outside the UK you will employ, they don't have to do that | :14:36. | :14:40. | |
in other countries and it's another barrier to investment. Like me, I | :14:41. | :14:44. | |
know that she shared the same view very publicly when the announcement | :14:45. | :14:48. | |
was made. I do not think that creating lists of people from | :14:49. | :14:52. | |
outside the UK with a view to using those people against the companies | :14:53. | :14:56. | |
who employ them is the right way forward for Wales or Britain. | :14:57. | :15:02. | |
I welcome the sentiment you have conveyed. Many of our problems in | :15:03. | :15:08. | |
Wales do not stem from certain people moving into the country, but | :15:09. | :15:12. | |
from the fact that many of our young people move out and don't return. | :15:13. | :15:15. | |
This is especially true of graduates, where we have a lower | :15:16. | :15:19. | |
retention rate than any other UK nation. There has been a lot of | :15:20. | :15:24. | |
focus on immigration, particularly around the debate on Brexit. Yet | :15:25. | :15:27. | |
very little attention has been given to out migration. Plaid Cymru | :15:28. | :15:33. | |
believes graduates should be allowed to live and work where they choose | :15:34. | :15:37. | |
but we should be also be able to incentivise them to come back so | :15:38. | :15:41. | |
that we can see a return on our public investment in their | :15:42. | :15:46. | |
education. We are the only party to have proposed a mechanism through | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
higher education to incentivise students to return to work and you | :15:52. | :15:55. | |
will be aware we put forward those proposals ahead of the election in | :15:56. | :16:00. | |
May. In that election, you had no policy on this and you claimed that | :16:01. | :16:04. | |
Plaid Cymru would charge students fees. If you implement the diamond | :16:05. | :16:12. | |
review, these are likely to be charged by your government. Will you | :16:13. | :16:16. | |
accept we need to incentivise graduates to return to Wales after | :16:17. | :16:20. | |
study? If you do agree, what do you intend to do about it? The reality | :16:21. | :16:26. | |
of the situation is that if I recall I think the minister has intervened, | :16:27. | :16:36. | |
but I will answer the question. If I remember, policy in May was such | :16:37. | :16:41. | |
students would be incentivise to stay in Wales and their fees would | :16:42. | :16:44. | |
be paid if they studied in Wales but not elsewhere. That is not a | :16:45. | :16:49. | |
position I would share. From my perspective, what I want to do is | :16:50. | :16:52. | |
make sure we attract students into Wales, not just those from Wales but | :16:53. | :16:56. | |
also from outside Wales. Make sure there are skilled jobs there for | :16:57. | :17:03. | |
them. It is a question of enabling them to return, not whether they | :17:04. | :17:07. | |
leave. I see no reason why young people would want to leave and come | :17:08. | :17:13. | |
back. In the same way I know there are people who will come to Cardiff | :17:14. | :17:16. | |
in their 20s and then go back to rural Wales when they are older. For | :17:17. | :17:23. | |
us it is all about ensuring the jobs are there. Unemployment is at 4.1%, | :17:24. | :17:27. | |
lower than England, Scotland, Northern Ireland. That is why we see | :17:28. | :17:31. | |
Wales is a good place to invest in skilled jobs. First Minister, you | :17:32. | :17:36. | |
have completely misunderstood what we were proposing ahead of the | :17:37. | :17:41. | |
election. What you said we should have done is what you said we should | :17:42. | :17:45. | |
have been doing and what you were attacking us for. You should get a | :17:46. | :17:49. | |
better brief and next time. I would like to return to a serious issue | :17:50. | :17:55. | |
raised by a Welsh volunteer in the Calais refugee camp. Yesterday, the | :17:56. | :18:00. | |
UK Government agreed to house the 378 children from the camp in Calais | :18:01. | :18:04. | |
who have connections in the UK. The woman who has contacted me told me | :18:05. | :18:09. | |
she has encountered an unaccompanied child in Calais who is being | :18:10. | :18:12. | |
horrifically exploited by traffickers. She relates a story to | :18:13. | :18:16. | |
me how this young boy of 12 has been given heroin by traffickers, | :18:17. | :18:21. | |
promising him that it will helping get to the UK easier and it will | :18:22. | :18:26. | |
make his journey easier. On his addiction to heroin, he was passed | :18:27. | :18:30. | |
by the traffickers to predatory men outside the camp, not other | :18:31. | :18:35. | |
refugees, who paid those traffickers with violence being the price of | :18:36. | :18:38. | |
refusal along with the withdrawal of heroin, on which he is now | :18:39. | :18:44. | |
completely dependent. I am sure you will agree with me that this is a | :18:45. | :18:47. | |
completely up current situation and I am sure that you will, like me, | :18:48. | :18:53. | |
wants to do what you can to help children in vulnerable situations | :18:54. | :18:56. | |
like this. During the Second World War, we did what we could to help | :18:57. | :19:02. | |
the Kindle transport children. To help these children today, we need | :19:03. | :19:06. | |
to make sure our child protection systems are ready and prepared to | :19:07. | :19:10. | |
accommodate what will be incredibly vulnerable children who may be sent | :19:11. | :19:15. | |
to Wales. If we are to remove those children from a very vulnerable | :19:16. | :19:18. | |
situation, we cannot risk putting them into another vulnerable | :19:19. | :19:21. | |
situation, so how can you ensure that local authorities social | :19:22. | :19:25. | |
services departments in Wales are ready to step up and help these | :19:26. | :19:32. | |
children now? Who can disagree with the powerful testimony that the | :19:33. | :19:34. | |
Leader of the Opposition has given? I have no reason to disbelieve what | :19:35. | :19:39. | |
has been said. In an atmosphere of desperation, predators will thrive. | :19:40. | :19:45. | |
It seems that is the case in Calais. Last week, I met with CW LGA's | :19:46. | :19:55. | |
responsible elected member, we worked through some of the issues | :19:56. | :19:58. | |
including unaccompanied children. It is true to say that few refugees | :19:59. | :20:06. | |
have come to Wales thus far, but we talked about how we can help local | :20:07. | :20:09. | |
authorities to resettle adult refugees, as well as unaccompanied | :20:10. | :20:15. | |
children. And of course we agreed to work together in order to make sure | :20:16. | :20:19. | |
that where we feel that the funds should come from a non-devolved | :20:20. | :20:24. | |
sauce and those bonds do come from Whitehall. Certainly, it was a good | :20:25. | :20:29. | |
meeting and emphasise once again that we want to very much an issue | :20:30. | :20:34. | |
worth that children have a safe haven in Wales and are able to move | :20:35. | :20:38. | |
away permanently from the sort of exploitation she has relate. VW get | :20:39. | :20:46. | |
group, Neil Hamilton. In the year 2000, Wales was second from bottom | :20:47. | :20:50. | |
in the league tables amongst the nations and English regions in the | :20:51. | :20:55. | |
UK for gross weekly earnings. In the interim period, earnings have gone | :20:56. | :20:59. | |
up by 55% in Scotland, 51% in Northern Ireland and only 46% in | :21:00. | :21:03. | |
Wales so that we now have the dismal accolade of being bottom of those | :21:04. | :21:09. | |
league tables. We've had Labour governments in Cardiff Westminster | :21:10. | :21:12. | |
for either all or most of that time. Do you and your party accept any | :21:13. | :21:16. | |
responsibility for this regard of failure? He was a member of the | :21:17. | :21:20. | |
Conservative Party in the 1980s and if you look at the statistics, | :21:21. | :21:25. | |
inequality increased markedly. Markedly. In the 1980s compared to | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
any other decade. That was when people started to lose confidence in | :21:32. | :21:36. | |
politics and saw that inequality rise. If we look at the level of | :21:37. | :21:40. | |
employment in Wales, it is at a record high, far higher than when he | :21:41. | :21:45. | |
was in government. Employment is -- unemployment is 4.1%. Youth | :21:46. | :21:50. | |
unemployment 13.7%. The UK rate is 14.1%. The fall in Wales was nearly | :21:51. | :21:58. | |
5% in one year. As far as numbers are concerned, we know the economy | :21:59. | :22:01. | |
is moving in the right direction. It is right to say that challenge is to | :22:02. | :22:06. | |
make sure we raise people's incomes, and make sure they have the skills | :22:07. | :22:10. | |
required to bring well-paid jobs from investors who are coming in | :22:11. | :22:14. | |
from abroad but also that they have the ability and confidence to set | :22:15. | :22:18. | |
themselves up in business and succeed in the future. None of these | :22:19. | :22:21. | |
things were in place when he was a member of the Conservative Party. No | :22:22. | :22:25. | |
party did more to wreck our economy, raise unemployment and create more | :22:26. | :22:29. | |
inequality than the party he was once a member of. I don't intend to | :22:30. | :22:35. | |
rehearse the arguments about the winter of this content in 1979, | :22:36. | :22:39. | |
which led to all the cuts that took place in the 1980s. We are here to | :22:40. | :22:43. | |
talk about the 21st century, not the 20th. Looking forward to the future, | :22:44. | :22:49. | |
although the First Minister won't accept his responsibility for this | :22:50. | :22:52. | |
record of failure, isn't it clear that we now need to create in Wales | :22:53. | :22:57. | |
and enterprise economy, a low tax jurisdiction relatively speaking, | :22:58. | :22:59. | |
and one where we have proportionate regulation, and the opportunity that | :23:00. | :23:04. | |
wrecks it provides its us the tools with which to achieve what both he | :23:05. | :23:07. | |
and I want, which is greater prosperity for the Welsh people? Not | :23:08. | :23:11. | |
surprised he doesn't want to discuss his record in the 1980s. One phrase | :23:12. | :23:17. | |
I picked up on there. The creation of a low tax economy. I thought his | :23:18. | :23:21. | |
party's line was he didn't want to see any text evolution to this | :23:22. | :23:24. | |
place. He needs to make his mind up by what he means by that. I think | :23:25. | :23:31. | |
there is merit in looking, for example, at the way corporation tax | :23:32. | :23:34. | |
operates, particularly in terms of tax breaks. I think the territory | :23:35. | :23:38. | |
needs to be far more flexible in terms of the powers it gives in that | :23:39. | :23:43. | |
regard. Why not have a system of tax breaks for research and development | :23:44. | :23:45. | |
in Wales watch my bees are the powers we think will be practical, | :23:46. | :23:52. | |
without carrying too much danger in terms of potential loss of three the | :23:53. | :23:55. | |
Barnett formula. It is correct to say we want to make sure Wales is a | :23:56. | :23:59. | |
good place to invest. We see it, we have seen a number of big investors | :24:00. | :24:02. | |
coming in over the last year and beyond. There is a challenge of | :24:03. | :24:06. | |
Brexit of re-entering investors in the future they will have access to | :24:07. | :24:09. | |
European markets, bigger than America and Russia combined, and we | :24:10. | :24:12. | |
ensure to make sure that they see Wales as a natural place to access | :24:13. | :24:19. | |
that market in the future. My party is not against the devolution of | :24:20. | :24:23. | |
income tax per se, what we are against is devolution of income tax | :24:24. | :24:26. | |
without a referendum as we were promised before 2011. Moving to the | :24:27. | :24:31. | |
future and the opportunities that Brexit provides, isn't it rather | :24:32. | :24:35. | |
disappointing that the European advisory group that the First | :24:36. | :24:40. | |
Minister has appointed 20 members has lots of politicians and | :24:41. | :24:44. | |
academics on it, very few people with practical business experience, | :24:45. | :24:47. | |
and as far as I can define from looking at the names, very few of | :24:48. | :24:53. | |
these were the people were actually in favour of leaving the EU. The new | :24:54. | :24:57. | |
one I can positively identifies my honourable friend from North Wales, | :24:58. | :25:03. | |
Nathan Gill. Would it not be sensible therefore to have more | :25:04. | :25:09. | |
people actually see Brexit as an opportunity rather than something to | :25:10. | :25:14. | |
be feared? The purpose of the group is not to refight the referendum, | :25:15. | :25:17. | |
the result is clear. The purpose of the group is to advise government on | :25:18. | :25:24. | |
potential ways forward. For example, looking at models like Norway, can | :25:25. | :25:28. | |
that be adapted? Or the other models? This is what we need to look | :25:29. | :25:31. | |
like. Nathan Gill is a member of that group, he is an MEP. He is | :25:32. | :25:35. | |
somebody who has contributed greatly to the work of the group thus far | :25:36. | :25:39. | |
and is somebody who can bring his experience in Europe and bring -- | :25:40. | :25:51. | |
use it to good effect. Will the First Minister make a statement on | :25:52. | :25:54. | |
schools funding levels in South Wales West? The Welsh government | :25:55. | :25:59. | |
will shortly publish it local government settlement for 2017, 20 | :26:00. | :26:07. | |
18. Thank you for that response. We all understand the complexes of the | :26:08. | :26:10. | |
funding formula, but can I ask what you are doing to secure adequate | :26:11. | :26:18. | |
funding for smaller schools? Well, it's a matter for local authorities, | :26:19. | :26:20. | |
of course, to ensure there is sufficient funding for their | :26:21. | :26:27. | |
schools. We give them the funding and we expect them to spend an | :26:28. | :26:32. | |
adequate amount of money on their skills in order to create good | :26:33. | :26:36. | |
education in their areas, but the responsibility lies with the local | :26:37. | :26:39. | |
authorities for funding of individual schools. Will the First | :26:40. | :26:49. | |
Minister join me in congratulating Swansea Council on record-breaking | :26:50. | :26:57. | |
GCSE results? And congratulate to macro skills on the excellent | :26:58. | :27:02. | |
results. I very much welcome where Pathways success skills have | :27:03. | :27:07. | |
improved. I would also like to congratulate the schools on their | :27:08. | :27:11. | |
best ever sets of results whilst taking part in the challenge. The | :27:12. | :27:17. | |
member is rightly proud. It was back in December 2011 that the then | :27:18. | :27:22. | |
education Minister Leighton Andrews made an announcement about ?1.4 | :27:23. | :27:26. | |
billion of expenditure for the 21st-century schools programme. That | :27:27. | :27:30. | |
covered south Wales West and other parts of Wales. Kanute us how much | :27:31. | :27:34. | |
has actually been released of that cash, given we are now five years | :27:35. | :27:39. | |
into the programme and that 700 million was supposed to have been | :27:40. | :27:42. | |
spent within the first seven years? I believe roughly half has been | :27:43. | :27:46. | |
allocated. It is a matter for local authorities to come forward with | :27:47. | :27:51. | |
schemes to replace or repair schools and I have seen them up and down | :27:52. | :28:00. | |
from real to Cardiff. We see that new buildings are going up all over | :28:01. | :28:04. | |
Wales to provides facilities that youngsters need and expect. At the | :28:05. | :28:07. | |
same time, nothing is happening under his party in England. First | :28:08. | :28:15. | |
Minister, cuts in local authority budgets have put pressure on school | :28:16. | :28:19. | |
budgets throughout my region. In addition to school budgets, Swansea | :28:20. | :28:23. | |
Council have also increased the amount they charge for service level | :28:24. | :28:28. | |
agreements, which is impacting upon schools' ability to deliver things | :28:29. | :28:32. | |
like music lessons, swimming lessons and supply library books. Swansea | :28:33. | :28:38. | |
now has one of the lowest per-pupil funding levels in Wales. Will the | :28:39. | :28:42. | |
Welsh government consider the impact budget cuts are having on schools in | :28:43. | :28:47. | |
my region when it set the level of government funding in the | :28:48. | :28:52. | |
forthcoming budget? Of course we expect local authorities to allocate | :28:53. | :28:56. | |
money for local services such as education. It is for them to justify | :28:57. | :29:00. | |
the amount of money they spend on education. It is true that there are | :29:01. | :29:04. | |
some schemes run centrally as a government, but we expect all local | :29:05. | :29:08. | |
authorities to fund schools in such a way that we continue to see the | :29:09. | :29:12. | |
improvement we have seen over the last few years in children's | :29:13. | :29:19. | |
education. Will the First Minister make a statement on road safety in | :29:20. | :29:24. | |
Pembrokeshire? The road safety framework sets out the actions that | :29:25. | :29:28. | |
we and our partners will take to achieve our casualty reduction | :29:29. | :29:35. | |
rates. On our roads. The framework will be reviewed once again | :29:36. | :29:43. | |
following the release of the 2016 I shall teach statistics are released. | :29:44. | :29:49. | |
Rio I'm grateful to the First Minister for that response. Road | :29:50. | :29:56. | |
safety is a problem for walkers in Fishguard. Despite having assurances | :29:57. | :30:08. | |
from previous ministers and although feasibility was undertaken in 2012, | :30:09. | :30:10. | |
2013, the current minister has asked for another study to build a | :30:11. | :30:13. | |
footbridge. I am sure you are familiar with that part of the town | :30:14. | :30:16. | |
and it is important to improve safety in that part, so what | :30:17. | :30:20. | |
assurances can you give the people of that area that a footbridge will | :30:21. | :30:24. | |
truly be built during the term of this Assembly, rather than | :30:25. | :30:30. | |
commitments on endless feasibility studies are smart and what funding | :30:31. | :30:31. | |
will be available? When you mention that area I'm not | :30:32. | :30:42. | |
aware of any footpath there. There is a problem with Newport, to | :30:43. | :30:54. | |
Cwmgwaun. I will write him on the issue with greater detail so that we | :30:55. | :30:58. | |
can ensure that those details are available to his constituents. | :30:59. | :31:04. | |
Thank you, First Minister for his answer on that. I wanted to widen | :31:05. | :31:07. | |
this slightly to those safety issues. They've certainly been | :31:08. | :31:13. | |
raised with me and other members relating to safety around schools. | :31:14. | :31:17. | |
It's often the case that even with the provision of separate pelican | :31:18. | :31:21. | |
crossings the safety of children travelling to and from schools is of | :31:22. | :31:28. | |
concern. Ideally the council would imply a school crossing patrol | :31:29. | :31:33. | |
staff. But the cost of that is prohibitive as councils need to | :31:34. | :31:36. | |
prioritise spending. Does the First Minister agree with me that as part | :31:37. | :31:41. | |
of obligations under the active travel at their is opportunity for | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
local authorities, when preparing maps, to think proactively about | :31:47. | :31:49. | |
addressing concerns in schools in respective areas. | :31:50. | :31:54. | |
Absolutely. The point of the active travel act is to encourage road | :31:55. | :31:58. | |
safety and to ensure that the local authorities see walking and cycling | :31:59. | :32:02. | |
not just as forms of recreation but most of transport. It was at the | :32:03. | :32:15. | |
heart of the active travel act. John Griffiths's summary was very | :32:16. | :32:20. | |
passionate. We want to see local authorities ensure that in the | :32:21. | :32:23. | |
future cycling and walking are seen as normal as modes of transport. | :32:24. | :32:31. | |
Alongside more traditional modes. Simon Thomas. Thank you, Presiding | :32:32. | :32:37. | |
Officer. It's difficult to reach the state of normality that you talk | :32:38. | :32:42. | |
about when cycling accounts for 1% of all journeys taken in Wales, or | :32:43. | :32:46. | |
in premature. Being killed or seriously injured on bicycles is | :32:47. | :32:54. | |
33%. There is a huge mismatch there between the risks taken by those on | :32:55. | :32:58. | |
cycles and those who are killed or seriously injured. This is | :32:59. | :33:01. | |
particularly true of younger people where you have a target of 40%. You | :33:02. | :33:06. | |
reduce the number killed or seriously injured by 28% but haven't | :33:07. | :33:11. | |
reached your target. What steps will you take to improve road safety in | :33:12. | :33:15. | |
premature and beyond, particularly for cyclists and young people who | :33:16. | :33:20. | |
make use of those roads? One of the things that the act gives | :33:21. | :33:25. | |
as is the power over speed. Because on some roads it would be worth, in | :33:26. | :33:30. | |
my view, considering whether the speech should be reduced in order to | :33:31. | :33:35. | |
safeguard cyclists. There is a risk in doing that, because obviously a | :33:36. | :33:42. | |
cycle isn't as large as a car. Obviously we don't want people to be | :33:43. | :33:47. | |
at an excessive risk. Others would not agree with me on this, but it's | :33:48. | :33:52. | |
important that we have cycle only parties. It's believed that cyclists | :33:53. | :33:58. | |
should have the same rights as cars. For many people they don't have the | :33:59. | :34:02. | |
confidence to go on the roads and mix with cars. Developments we've | :34:03. | :34:08. | |
seen recently with a bypass in Rhondda Cynon Taff, the Church | :34:09. | :34:15. | |
Village bypass where it is quite usual for them to have a cycle path | :34:16. | :34:20. | |
in parallel. That's a safe way of travelling. | :34:21. | :34:27. | |
Question five, Rhiannon Passmore. What importance does the Welsh | :34:28. | :34:30. | |
government plays on broadcasters in terms of public money for high-level | :34:31. | :34:33. | |
programming? We believe they should portray the | :34:34. | :34:39. | |
culture of Wales. We ensured that the new BBC Charter included a much | :34:40. | :34:44. | |
better public purpose to deliver that content. | :34:45. | :34:54. | |
The Chief Executive of S4C stated 50% of its programmes had been shown | :34:55. | :34:57. | |
before compared to 20% when it was launched in 1982. Funding will | :34:58. | :35:07. | |
remain at ?74.5 million a year until 2022. S4C also received ?7 million | :35:08. | :35:11. | |
from the UK Government. What actions can the UK Government take to wonder | :35:12. | :35:16. | |
store the importance of individual programming and when programmes such | :35:17. | :35:22. | |
as hinterland are universally applauded, when my constituents are | :35:23. | :35:26. | |
concerned at the lack of representation of English bilingual | :35:27. | :35:29. | |
Welsh lives across the public sector Metro. | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
As we are reviewing the charter, the BBC would be obliged to reflect the | :35:35. | :35:38. | |
diverse communities of Wales and other nations and regions of the UK. | :35:39. | :35:42. | |
It will now have to set up and develop those new duties including | :35:43. | :35:49. | |
improving services for Wales. That is a new development, one we believe | :35:50. | :35:58. | |
will develop and reverse the slow decline in English language | :35:59. | :36:02. | |
programming made in Wales. Thank you, very much, Presiding | :36:03. | :36:07. | |
Officer. Bearing in mind the Brexit wrote and the need emerging from | :36:08. | :36:14. | |
that to improve the information available to the people of Wales as | :36:15. | :36:19. | |
to what happens in this place and what happens in Wales, the portrayal | :36:20. | :36:23. | |
of Wales and what we in the Assembly do to address that and can't do. | :36:24. | :36:29. | |
What's discussions have you had with the hierarchy at the BBC and others | :36:30. | :36:34. | |
on the dire needs to improve the portrayal of Wales both within Wales | :36:35. | :36:39. | |
and outside Wales? There is a problem with some parts | :36:40. | :36:42. | |
of the BBC weather isn't a great deal of understanding. One of the | :36:43. | :36:49. | |
things we have discussed is whether we should have our own news at six, | :36:50. | :36:56. | |
and also our Ronan News at ten. And this is something we have to | :36:57. | :37:03. | |
consider -- our own News at ten. It's sure to say, of course, that | :37:04. | :37:12. | |
there is a lack of knowledge and information amongst the people of | :37:13. | :37:16. | |
Wales about what happens here, what we do, and what happens in Wales | :37:17. | :37:21. | |
itself. We must ensure that more news is available for the people of | :37:22. | :37:25. | |
Wales, appropriate to the people of Wales. | :37:26. | :37:29. | |
The draft charter provides an opportunity for further scrutiny of | :37:30. | :37:33. | |
the BBC to include the appointment of a nonexecutive director agreed by | :37:34. | :37:37. | |
the UK and Welsh government. Amidst concerns that the National Assembly | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
of Wales will not be afforded the same waiting as the House of Commons | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
and the House of Lords, what representation are you making half | :37:48. | :37:50. | |
of this Assembly to ensure we are part of that process as regards to | :37:51. | :37:54. | |
the appointment of a nonexecutive director? And also the further | :37:55. | :38:00. | |
workings of the BBC? That is an important point. What I | :38:01. | :38:04. | |
can say is that the Assembly will have powers to scrutinise the BBC. | :38:05. | :38:09. | |
That's not happened before. To call it to appear before the Assembly and | :38:10. | :38:13. | |
holder to account which puts it on a par with the UK Parliament. In terms | :38:14. | :38:18. | |
of the issue the member raises it is something that is still being | :38:19. | :38:21. | |
discussed in terms of the ability and the role of the National | :38:22. | :38:24. | |
Assembly. Question six, Julie Morgan. What is | :38:25. | :38:29. | |
the Welsh government doing to ensure there is a workforce with | :38:30. | :38:31. | |
appropriate skills in Wales? One of the things we are doing is | :38:32. | :38:35. | |
creating a minimum of 100,000 or later prone to ship during this | :38:36. | :38:38. | |
term. That will continue our focus on raising -- apprenticeships. What | :38:39. | :38:47. | |
progress has been made with the apprenticeship levy proposed by the | :38:48. | :38:52. | |
former Chancellor, George Osborne, and what are the consequence of that | :38:53. | :38:56. | |
for Wales? It's an issue which catch across | :38:57. | :39:01. | |
much of the work we are doing. I know the Minister has been involved | :39:02. | :39:04. | |
in many discussions with the UK Government on this. It is an area | :39:05. | :39:10. | |
where I don't believe many businesses comply. They are not | :39:11. | :39:16. | |
aware of the levy coming. They are certainly not knowing what they are | :39:17. | :39:20. | |
going to get out of it. The UK Government has a great deal of work | :39:21. | :39:23. | |
to do in informing businesses and what it means for meshing with | :39:24. | :39:30. | |
programmes we already run. Thank you, president. There is | :39:31. | :39:36. | |
evidence of course that pupils who fall behind in the early years, | :39:37. | :39:41. | |
particularly in terms of cognitive development are more likely to | :39:42. | :39:46. | |
struggle later in life in terms of lifetime opportunities and there is | :39:47. | :39:51. | |
no evidence showing that having degree level practitioners in those | :39:52. | :39:55. | |
early years is a great assistance in ensuring that doesn't happen. Your | :39:56. | :40:01. | |
government, of course, will, in the spring, publish the early years | :40:02. | :40:05. | |
workforce plan which will, hopefully, give workers in that | :40:06. | :40:08. | |
sector the necessary skills. Will that planning to take commitment to | :40:09. | :40:14. | |
ensuring that practitioners in the sector are of degree level, | :40:15. | :40:19. | |
particularly working with children? This will be something discussed | :40:20. | :40:26. | |
before the plan is published we wish to ensure that those working with | :40:27. | :40:31. | |
children at an early age, when the children are at an early age, have | :40:32. | :40:34. | |
the skills required in order to ensure that the best pathways is | :40:35. | :40:43. | |
followed by those children. The older people's Commissioner for | :40:44. | :40:46. | |
Wales stressed the need to keep older people in the workforce and to | :40:47. | :40:54. | |
bring them back to work as well. How will the first moves ensure that the | :40:55. | :40:58. | |
100,000 high-quality apprenticeships promised in the programme are | :40:59. | :41:03. | |
delivered in a need basis rather than on the age of the person in | :41:04. | :41:06. | |
Wales? The intention is that it is all age. | :41:07. | :41:11. | |
I think the question here is making sure we work with those people who | :41:12. | :41:17. | |
want to come back to work. Somewhat retired may feel financially | :41:18. | :41:20. | |
comfortable. They are the basis for volunteers we have across Wales. One | :41:21. | :41:27. | |
of the issues we face is people work longer is the prospect that we have | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
fewer volunteers because people have less time. The whole point is to | :41:33. | :41:37. | |
make sure it is an all age scheme. Vicky Howe was. Diolch, Llywydd. I | :41:38. | :41:44. | |
recently met with careers Wales staff in Aberdare who told me how | :41:45. | :41:48. | |
they are using the reactor programme to ensure that people who are | :41:49. | :41:52. | |
affected by redundancy of the skills they need to seek alternative | :41:53. | :41:57. | |
employment. Do you agree, First Minister, that's Korea's wheels and | :41:58. | :42:01. | |
the reactor programme have a crucial role to play in developing skills | :42:02. | :42:06. | |
people need to re-enter stay in the workforce -- careers Wales. | :42:07. | :42:13. | |
It's certainly a good example. We will continue to ensure that schemes | :42:14. | :42:18. | |
like we act that have been successful continue to work for the | :42:19. | :42:25. | |
people. Question seven, David Melding. | :42:26. | :42:31. | |
Willie First Minister make a statement on the measures to improve | :42:32. | :42:33. | |
the planning process for the provision of housing? | :42:34. | :42:41. | |
First Minister, a rational land policy needs to identify land | :42:42. | :42:46. | |
provide good quality, preplanning application advice and then | :42:47. | :42:51. | |
encourage speedy use so that we don't have speculative land banks | :42:52. | :42:54. | |
being built up. How will legislate achieve these | :42:55. | :43:00. | |
AMs? We seek to ensure that if we look at, for example, the LDP | :43:01. | :43:06. | |
process, that is done in a suitable time it will look at certain | :43:07. | :43:09. | |
developments in order for them to be considered. Most speedily, not in | :43:10. | :43:15. | |
terms of less detail, but in terms of being considered in an | :43:16. | :43:20. | |
appropriate timescale, also, of course, it will ensure that as far | :43:21. | :43:23. | |
as developers are concerned they will be a better understanding of | :43:24. | :43:27. | |
how the process works and at what point the planning process must be | :43:28. | :43:32. | |
identified. Ultimately, it's about ensuring not just that there is land | :43:33. | :43:35. | |
available but various models are available in terms of the type of | :43:36. | :43:40. | |
tenure that people wish to get when they either buy or rent houses. The | :43:41. | :43:49. | |
local development plans, of course, are central to the process of | :43:50. | :43:53. | |
housing provision. These plans have been established on the basis of | :43:54. | :43:59. | |
historical statistics as regards the level of population growth. Do you | :44:00. | :44:04. | |
therefore believe that it is high time to develop a more effective way | :44:05. | :44:13. | |
of gauging the demand and getting in more strategic coordination between | :44:14. | :44:17. | |
local authorities? There is opportunity for local authorities to | :44:18. | :44:22. | |
produce their own figures. It is possible for them to say we have our | :44:23. | :44:26. | |
own figures. They are figures which are supported by evidence, and | :44:27. | :44:29. | |
therefore these are the figures we want to use. Then it's a matter for | :44:30. | :44:35. | |
the planning Inspectorate as to how much waiting will be given to those | :44:36. | :44:40. | |
figures. So it is already possible for local authorities to use | :44:41. | :44:43. | |
different figures if they are evidence -based. Thank you, | :44:44. | :44:50. | |
Presiding Officer. Since the 1960s Wales has seen many tens of | :44:51. | :44:53. | |
thousands of new homes built that were never destined for local | :44:54. | :44:58. | |
buyers. This happens on a grand scale across Wales and particularly | :44:59. | :45:02. | |
north-east Wales. The situation we find in rural North Wales, | :45:03. | :45:07. | |
particularly in Flintshire, is that commuters from across-the-board buy | :45:08. | :45:10. | |
up houses as soon as they are available, distorting the local | :45:11. | :45:14. | |
housing market. These commuters are earning money in England than | :45:15. | :45:17. | |
spending it in Wales, but they are locals out of housing. The situation | :45:18. | :45:23. | |
is cleverly manipulated by planners, developers, estate agents and others | :45:24. | :45:27. | |
in the housing trade as an argument to build more new housing from which | :45:28. | :45:32. | |
most locals are deluded. Improved transport connections... Can you | :45:33. | :45:38. | |
bring yourself to a question please? Along the a 55 corridor will only | :45:39. | :45:43. | |
exacerbate the problem. Are you willing to introduce legislation to | :45:44. | :45:46. | |
reserve a percentage of housing stock for local buyers and went you | :45:47. | :45:53. | |
post to do so? -- when do you propose to do so? | :45:54. | :45:58. | |
We already require developers to reserve a certain percentage of | :45:59. | :46:06. | |
housing for affordable housing. We have to see whether there is scope | :46:07. | :46:11. | |
for the local market in the future to ensure there is sufficient | :46:12. | :46:15. | |
housing available, particularly in villages where, at the moment there | :46:16. | :46:19. | |
are no plans to build any houses. The reality is that the cross-border | :46:20. | :46:25. | |
flow is there, it is in the economic interest of both England and Wales | :46:26. | :46:28. | |
to work together for the prosperity of both regions. It shows how | :46:29. | :46:34. | |
popular wheels is as a country to live in, people want to live in | :46:35. | :46:40. | |
Flintshire rather than treasure. That rather than Cheshire. What | :46:41. | :46:45. | |
plans does the Government have two review TAN8? Nun at the moment. | :46:46. | :46:51. | |
That's a disappointment because TAN8 has been in place without | :46:52. | :46:56. | |
significant review since 2005. In a way it has failed in its main | :46:57. | :47:00. | |
objective to plan renewable energy. The targets set we are a long way | :47:01. | :47:05. | |
off will stop we know that new powers in that area will come to the | :47:06. | :47:11. | |
Government up to 350 megawatts which includes all of the terrestrial | :47:12. | :47:13. | |
developments as well as interesting things such as tidal lagoons. Is it | :47:14. | :47:19. | |
appropriate now to review TAN8 and have enforcement powers for climate | :47:20. | :47:25. | |
change objectives and also to put pressure on the National Grid to | :47:26. | :47:28. | |
strengthen the grid without needs to be done? I don't believe the problem | :47:29. | :47:36. | |
lies with Islwyn full stop the problem is with the boundaries. | :47:37. | :47:42. | |
Of course, everything else was considered by ministers in London. | :47:43. | :47:50. | |
It's not TAN8 that is the problem but the artificial boundaries. We | :47:51. | :47:54. | |
welcome the fact that 350 megawatts will be the ultimate boundary, there | :47:55. | :47:58. | |
is no reason why that's been chosen. But perhaps we should... I quite | :47:59. | :48:03. | |
agree, we should have the same powers over the grid as Scotland | :48:04. | :48:07. | |
has. It's the powers that are the problem. Willie first Mr make a | :48:08. | :48:12. | |
statement on trade between Wales and Ireland? | :48:13. | :48:18. | |
Ireland is our fourth largest export market. While she exposed to islands | :48:19. | :48:22. | |
are worth just over ?1 billion in 2015. -- Welsh exports to Ireland. | :48:23. | :48:33. | |
The question of borders with Ireland is one of the most crucial question | :48:34. | :48:38. | |
in terms of the debate on leaving the UPN union. If a border is placed | :48:39. | :48:44. | |
around the ideal of Ireland as is suggested and the Secretary of State | :48:45. | :48:47. | |
for Northern Ireland as said he wants to strengthen border controls | :48:48. | :48:52. | |
in the ports and airports of Ireland, then what is the First | :48:53. | :48:56. | |
Minister's assessment of the impact of that, or likely impact of that? | :48:57. | :49:02. | |
On the crossing point in terms of trade between Britain and Ireland, | :49:03. | :49:07. | |
that's in my constituency, the port of Holyhead? There are a number of | :49:08. | :49:12. | |
problems and I alluded to this before the vote. Nobody wants to see | :49:13. | :49:17. | |
a hard border between Northern Ireland and the republic. Nobody | :49:18. | :49:21. | |
knows how that can be avoided. If some kind of system was put in place | :49:22. | :49:25. | |
where you had to show your passport to fly from a fuss to Belfast | :49:26. | :49:34. | |
Cardiff the Unionists of the DUP you would be completely against it. | :49:35. | :49:38. | |
They've said they wouldn't wish to see a system where you had to show a | :49:39. | :49:43. | |
password as they would see it, from one part of the United Kingdom to | :49:44. | :49:47. | |
another. If that does become the position I don't see what will take | :49:48. | :49:53. | |
place in Holyhead, Pembroke Dock or Fishguard because they would be | :49:54. | :49:59. | |
different immigration policies in the Republic. And in Northern | :50:00. | :50:04. | |
Ireland. So I can't see what kind of system they can have unless it's one | :50:05. | :50:06. | |
where you have to show a passport. It would be any benefit to the | :50:07. | :50:14. | |
residents. There we are, that was | :50:15. | :50:17. | |
First Minister's Questions. If you want more coverage | :50:18. | :50:19. | |
of the National Assembly you can go online to BBC Wales's Senedd Live | :50:20. | :50:22. | |
page at bbc.co.uk/walespolitics. As for am.pm though, from all of us | :50:23. | :50:24. | |
on the programme, goodbye. | :50:25. | :50:28. |