20/06/2012 am.pm


20/06/2012

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Transcript


LineFromTo

Good morning and welcome to the programme live from Cardiff Bay. We

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will be spending half an hour in Westminster on today's programme.

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William Hague stands in for David Cameron for Prime Minister's

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Questions today. And forget the football, can Wales

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help host the Games in 2020? What is the future for by

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healthcare in Wales? I will be speaking to a campaigner.

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Joining in the art two Assembly Members, Rhodri Glyn Thomas and

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Peter Black. Good morning. We will begin today's programme with the

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latest unemployment figures. Unemployment broadly down,

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reflecting a pattern across the rest of the UK. It's up 9% in Wales

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at the moment. -- at. Context is everything with these figures.

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you look back to last year, the figures are still substantially up

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and there is concern that the figures are continuing to go up and

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they are at this level which is very worrying. What is really of

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concern is it does not seem that the Government of Wales is doing

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anything specifically of its own making to try and address this

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issue. The figures tend to reflect what is happening in the rest of

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the UK. The beauty of being a small country with your own Government

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should be that you could put forward packages which address the

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issues within that geographical area. Carwyn Jones did mention lots

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of projects he says his Government has put forward to increased

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economic prosperity in Wales. need a package which makes a

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substantial difference. But the last election, we put the

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substantial idea forward of a policy... We keep hearing about

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this but you did not win! All we are getting is very small schemes

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which do not seem to be making a difference to the underlying

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factors in terms of the figures. They are still very worrying.

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Black, the Government can argue there is not much they can do to

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affect these figures. What do you think? I think they can do a lot

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more. For example, we have waited almost a year for the business rate

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review. The Minister has had the results of that review and she will

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reflect on it over the summer. Why aren't we doing more in terms of

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business rates to attract firms into the country? We have Trav our

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heels on enterprise zones. We haven't said Dock -- set up at we

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only have one enterprise on actually receiving the capital

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grants. We need tour to better in terms of art.

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It is clearly welcome that the unemployment figures are down but

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the rate of youth unemployment is very worrying. Are we embracing the

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UK Government's youth contract? A billion pounds trying to get

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400,000 peak -- young people back into work or training. The Welsh

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Government seemed to be shouting the odds from the sidelines when

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they should be focusing more on creating a business-friendly

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environment and working with the UK Government on the schemes they are

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put in place. -- they have put in place.

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Regional pay is something we have heard lot of discussion about. The

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Government here says it would be a bad thing for Wales. Your party is

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part of the Government in the UK level, they seem to suggest it is

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something they are going to go after. I do not think so. Nick

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Clegg was clear last week when he came to Wales that he is opposed to

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regional pay. He might be. He is the deputy prime Minister after all.

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Danny Alexander has been backtracking.

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I think Nick Clegg is prevailing on this. The Welsh Liberal Democrats

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Andy Welsh Conservatives to be fair have been opposed to reach will pay.

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Most of the commentators I have read have been saying Kirsty

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Williams's opposition to reach will pay is having a bash an impact on

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UK policy. -- regional pay. Your party on not supporting

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regional pay either. I am not sure if we should have can

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he Alexander backtracking on things. But at least he is going in the

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right direction. In Wales, we are just talking about

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jobs now, we are so dependent on the public sector. If you had

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regional pay and people were leaving Wales because the pay was

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lower, that would have an immense effect on the economy. It could

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leave us with situations where we had public services but we would

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not have properly qualified people wanting to going to those jobs.

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will leave it there for now. We will be speaking to you lot during

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the morning. -- a lot during the morning and what is left of the

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morning. Good morning. An interesting

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programme ahead in the Senedd this afternoon. We start off with

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questions to ministers. Today, that is the Housing Minister and the

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Counsel General. Then there is a brief motion to

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revise the standing orders, the rules by which the Assembly

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operator, in relation to the bringing Ford of private Bills.

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Then the first debate of the afternoon, affordable housing. This

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is a major problem. There is some research by the Welsh Government,

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rather on behalf of the world's Godman, that shows Wales's short of

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some 14,000 houses for the next 14 years -- on behalf of the Welsh

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There is a committee that has just issued a report into that. It will

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form the basis for this debate this afternoon. There is a range of

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recommendations. One is to go back and review the housing strategy.

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Another is to set a target. An interesting debate in store

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potentially. Then we will have the Welsh

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Conservative nominated debate this week. It is on transport. The

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importance of Transport connectivity to trap -- economic

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growth. It will be be ongoing issue of when and how the main line to

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Swansea, the Great Western main line, is known to be electrified.

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This has become a bit of a political football. The Assembly

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Government routinely point to what they see as the slowness of the

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Department of Transport at Westminster in coming up with the

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money to do this. The Conservatives will take it from another angle

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this afternoon and argue that the summit and that is not working well

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enough with local authorities. -- the Welsh Government.

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And we have the Welsh Liberal Democrats debate on maternity

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services. A recent report by the Auditor-

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General indicates that in many areas of Wales, the services patchy.

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The Liberal Democrats are particularly concerned about it.

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They point to the fact there has been a 10 % drop in midwives across

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Wales over recent years. Again, a very interesting debate in

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prospect. At the end of the afternoon, as always, the short

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debate. It is from Lynne Neagle. She will be looking at the impact

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of welfare reform on mental health and well-being in Wales.

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Thank you. A full run-down of what is going on today. You can find out

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more on the Democracy Live online coverage.

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What about Westminster? As we have already discussed on the programme

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on the latest unemployment figures are out. Do they make welcome

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reading? Mixed news really. The unemployment total is certainly

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falling. And given the state of the economy and the recession, that is

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a bonus but of course, unemployment is lagging -- is a lagging

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indicator and could well go up again. Economic inactivity rates,

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that is something that has been a recurring problem. That has gone up.

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People in the UK Government are certainly happy with the direction

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in one sense but nobody is claiming that the problem is anywhere near

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solved. We touched on on the sofa. The opposition debate. What

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argument will we hear from the Labour benches? We will hear the

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divisive. It would see people paid less in certain parts of the

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country for doing the same job. Labour are trying to flush out

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Cornish intentions on this. The Liberal Democrats are noticeably

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less keen on the idea of regional paint -- regional pay. Liberal --

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label will be tried to get some Liberal-Democrats on board and try

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and clarify where the Government's The Chancellor has written to the

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pay review bodies, yes he is waiting for the report, it is due

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next month but it does look as if the Government is not going to push

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ahead with this for all sorts of political reasons. A lot of the

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Government are away. William Hague is answering questions because the

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Prime Minister and his deputy are in Central and South America

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respectively. That is right. The Prime Minister is at the G20 in

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Mexico. Nick Clegg is in Rio de Janeiro. He -- he is at the

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environmental summit. He says he will be leading the way, looking at

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ways of measuring prosperity. That means we have William Hague against

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Harriet Harman. The roles reversed Perhaps from when Harriet Harman

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used to stand in from Tony Blair and Gordon Brown. William Hague in

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opposition as Tory leader was always rather good at asking

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questions. He was good that the game which is parliamentary Prime

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Minister's questions. We will see what he is like a dancing them. --

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at answering them. Fines cable gets a mention every week. -- Vince

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His idea will be more popular with the Liberal Democrat members,

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definitely. But there is a feeling that the issue of executive pay has

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to be tackled. And certainly linked more closely to the performance of

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companies. One of the ideas that Vince Cable is going to be

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revealing in his statement at half- past 12 is this idea of companies

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having to link or at least publish any correlation between the

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performance of a company in terms of share price and the profits and

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so on and the actual pay that they -- their directors are getting. If

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you look at the stock market, over the last decade, share prices have

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not gone up but executive pay has. Even the economists in the

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Government would argue there is a political problem that needs

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tackling of there. Thank you. We will catch up with you in 10

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minutes or so. If you would like to get in touch,

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That is enough of that. I want to talk about I care, the

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future of it in Wales. I am joined by a be acting director of the RNIB.

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There was an important vote yesterday. Would you mind going

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through what that achieved? We are absolutely delighted. We have been

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campaigning for over 10 years on these issues and yesterday was

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fantastic. We have now got real momentum, rots a priority being

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placed on it by the Welsh governor. It need -- Welsh Government. We

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have got significant issues within the system around primary and

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secondary care and what we need to find out his who was getting access

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to tests, treatment and cool macro Now we have the momentum, we want

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to keep it going and we want to ensure that children, in some areas

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of Wales, there is no vision screening going on, and we know

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parents don't treat I help in the same priority they give to teeth,

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so it is really important children have access to screening in school.

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We have got lots of children in classrooms struggling to see the

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blackboard, so it is going to have an impact on their education and

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attainment, so we are really delighted. We have got significant

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capacity issues still within the hospitalised servers, and we do

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need to see a huge change in terms of public perception. A lot of

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people going for sight tests do actually see that as part of

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needing glasses. What we need them to understand is it is part of the

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fight on eye checks. Your site can be saved if something is picked up

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early enough. Having children go through this as a matter of course,

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this could have a knock-on effect for awareness across the community.

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We are made aware of things through our children have a. We want to

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change family behaviour so if the children have the vision screening,

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the information should go back to the parents and if they take some

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for a sight test, it might have an impact on other members of the

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family. What happened here yesterday it is really good news.

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At the end of the day, 50% of sight loss is avoidable, and a lot of

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that is in a change of public perception, getting people to look

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after their eyes, and our optometry contract is from 1948, and we need

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to address those issues. What we had here yesterday was the platform

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to really take those issues forward and to start looking at how we can

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stop people going blind in Wales. So, the next stage is hospital

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capacity. Yes. We have been monitoring this for some time. And

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we know there are huge issues around cancer delayed appointments.

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For some people, go coma patients, they will lose sight permanently,

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so if they see a consultant, 12 months down the line, they will

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lose their side. Some permanently. It is critical week address those

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issues. Some of those issues have come up about because of pressure

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on referral times. The pressure to see new patients and follow-up

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appointments, we need to address that balance. We have got work on

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eye care pathways, which means that more people that need to see the

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consultant will see the consultant, and those people whose risk is not

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so high will be monitored by ophthalmic nurses. People are still

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going blind because that capacity is not there and we knew it to

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address it. A real step forward. You're up convinced the Assembly is

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committed? We are convinced and we are the envy of our colleagues in

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London so we are delighted. We want to see huge improvements moving

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forward. Thank you for joining me. Still to come, we will go live to

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the House of Commons for Prime Minister's Questions today with

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William Hague standing in for David Cameron. First, the Lords. The

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House of Lords spent the day discussing the electoral

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arrangements for the National Assembly. The UK Government is

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consulting on plans to reduce the number of constituency ams from 30

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to 40 and increasing the number of amRevolution to 30. The debate

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continued this morning. One issue that has caused pulses to

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raise is the future of the assembly's electoral arrangements -

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- arrangements. The Lords debated the matter and joining the are

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three of those whose picturing that debate. You are in favour of

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cutting the number of Assembly constituencies from 30 to 40. Why?

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We have to rearrange the constituencies. Doing nothing is

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not an option. Following legislation in Westminster to the

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UK as a whole. Moving to a 30-30 system would be fair and I am in

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favour of that. It is crying out as common sense to have the same

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boundaries for MPs and Assembly Members for their constituencies.

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It is complicated for Members of Parliament and four Assembly

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Members, for their constituents, for civic society as a whole, if

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they are working to different boundaries. Board Wigley, you are

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not in favour of the green paper in the sense this is a matter that

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should be decided in Wales. Yes. I agree with the First Minister that

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this issue should be decided by Wales alone. Having said that,

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Plaid Cymru would like to see an STV system as is used in Northern

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Ireland. It is a system tried within the United Kingdom and I

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would like to see it applied in Wales. Do you think that the

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constituencies must change to reflect those for Parliament here?

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I do not necessarily think that has to happen, but it does make life

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easier. I feel they should not be a lessening in the proportionality.

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There was a settlement in 1997 on which the referendum was taken with

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an assumption there would be a PR element, and it should be

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maintained. The only way to do it would be to move up to 90 Assembly

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Members and I do not think that is acceptable at this moment in time.

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Therefore, we must find another way forward. He said the way Assembly

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Members are elected is balmy. Why? It is. It means the party that gets

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most votes gets no seats. West Wales, Labour got 46% of the vote,

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in the Topshop, no seats. -- in the top up. This introduces no results.

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What change should happen? should be asking questions about

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the whole electoral system. This Green Paper is not asking enough

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questions. If people do want to understand the system, and I do

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take the point there are complications if you do not have

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some coal terminal city between Westminster and Assembly seats, but

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we need some more. One Lord said that the number of Assembly Members

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should be increased. It is hugely unpopular now, but it should be

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addressed at some stage. I think that we will have a problem as the

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Assembly has more powers accrue ring to it, which is what we want

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to happen, and if you have ministers, Shadow ministers,

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chairmen's of committees, who is left to do the scrutiny? There is

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not a great culture yet of scrutiny in Cardiff, as we know it in

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Westminster. It will take time, but to achieve that, we will have to

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have more members. Do you agree? Must there be more as a be members?

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Inevitably, that is going to happen if we want more scrutiny. We have

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to apply ourselves here to scrutiny much more. There are 650 members

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here. If we are to have an effective legislature, there have

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to be the numbers to do the job and what I would like to see is the

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resources, to be given to the Assembly. That would be hugely

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unpopular at the moment, though, would the public, to increase the

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number of elected politician. think he has acknowledged that

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although all of us would agree an increase is highly desirable, it is

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not on the cards at the moment. It is important that we carry on

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talking about it because, actually, it reform of the House of Lords

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goes through, it would cut the number of peers from 900 to 400,

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which will reduce the number of people who come from Wales and

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speak in Westminster. And combined with a reduced number of MPs, that,

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I think, will, in the end, have an impact on Welsh interests, and we

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need to consider extending the powers and the numbers in Cardiff

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Bay, but it is not popular at the moment. What do you say, finally,

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that this should be a matter for the people of Wales, that

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Westminster should but out? In an ideal world, it showed. It is

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rightly a matter on which the Welsh Assembly expresses an opinion, but

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the legislation was written by the last Labour government, could

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change the electoral system and the details of it without any

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consultation, direct input from the Welsh Assembly. We are still in

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that system, but primary legislation would replies here

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legally means we have to do it here. -- which applies here.

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government thinks the Welsh Assembly is somebody else to be

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consulted. But it is the major body to be consulted. Until these

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matters are devolved to Wales, these issues should be decided in

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Westminster which you cannot treat the Assembly as just another

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consultancy. Providing we can get a consensus with -- in the Assembly

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that is good for all parties. That was Bethan James talking to

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the Lords. We had a mention of 90 Assembly Members, a 50% increase.

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Jenny Anderson says that her and her fellow lords need to keep

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talking about more Ms because the public will cave in the end, but it

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is going to be very unpopular suggesting we have more politicians.

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It seems to be working. We had talk about further devolution. Moving

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forward, we need to increase the numbers. It is having an effect on

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the House of Lords. But we did have the opportunity with the Richard

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Commission. We should have bitten the bullet at that time. It is

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never going to be popular to talk about more politicians but it is

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desperately-needed. 60 members are not enough to ensure proper

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scrutiny. The government caved in to public pressure at that time,

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and it is going to be very difficult now to increase those

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numbers, but we should be talking about 90-100 members. Really? 80 is

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what Richard suggested. If we are talking about but the dock where

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will you put them? In the car park? We will cope with them in the

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building. A minimum of 80 if you are talking about effective

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scrutiny of his plays. We are where we are, 60 members, and the

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pressure on members in terms of sitting on committees and doing

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other duties within the Assembly, because of that number, it is

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greater than any other I can think of. When we had the referendum last

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year. -- last year, a yes vote would be a slippery slope, more and

0:27:310:27:36

more powers coming to the Assembly. One year on, new politicians are

0:27:360:27:40

talking about getting more politicians in. Some politicians

0:27:400:27:45

are talking about that. It isn't a good idea? It is inexcusable at

0:27:450:27:50

this stage. Is it feasible the public will not like it? No. In

0:27:500:27:54

this time of economic recession, any argument for more politicians

0:27:540:28:01

will hit a rock straighter way. I am yet to be convinced. Let's see

0:28:010:28:08

when the legislation starts flowing. We have very little legislation.

0:28:080:28:15

Why? I am waiting for an answer. Let's see how we cope with the

0:28:150:28:19

legislation. It is difficult to make that case at the moment. I do

0:28:190:28:24

not see how we can make that case. We may end up with a tea. The

0:28:240:28:34

chamber is designed to take 80. -- with 80. At this stage, we have got

0:28:340:28:38

60 and we will have to make do with fat to see how we cope. If we can

0:28:380:28:43

provide the evidence to say we cannot, then we can make the case.

0:28:430:28:47

If there is evidence, the fact that legislation isn't scrutinised

0:28:470:28:51

properly and we end up with poor legislation, that isn't great. Is

0:28:510:28:57

it? We scrutinise legislation more effectively than Westminster in the

0:28:570:29:02

sense we actually discuss all the clauses. We take evidence on the

0:29:020:29:06

legislation before we go into the discussion of the detail. There is

0:29:060:29:10

an argument that when this avalanche of legislation comes in,

0:29:100:29:15

but will not happen. We will see what happens when it happens and

0:29:150:29:19

the government may have to adjust their timetable. If that happens

0:29:190:29:21

the government puts forward legislation that will take twice as

0:29:210:29:26

long to get through because of that, then we will have a problem and we

0:29:260:29:31

will have to ovale waited at that stage. You are convinced that you

0:29:310:29:36

will need more. I know politicians don't like making predictions, but

0:29:360:29:44

when will we have more than 60? the context of the situation, we

0:29:440:29:50

are in a very difficult economic situation and people will not

0:29:500:29:56

support any call for more politicians. But you haven't got

0:29:560:30:03

the time to scrutinise. At the moment, it is being scrutinised. I

0:30:030:30:07

am sceptical as to whether we could cope with a raft of legislation

0:30:070:30:12

coming through with the numbers are we have. Thank you. Let's head over

0:30:120:30:22
0:30:220:30:26

to the Commons now, to Westminster, Just finishing off Scottish Office

0:30:260:30:33

questions. You can see William Hague getting ready to answer

0:30:340:30:36

questions for the first time. He asked plenty of questions when he

0:30:360:30:42

was leader of the Conservatives in the first four years of Tony

0:30:420:30:47

Blair's Government. Today, he will be answering them. Harriet Harman

0:30:470:30:57
0:30:570:30:59

will be asking those questions. Could I commend the honourable

0:30:590:31:09
0:31:090:31:09

member for the role he has played in promoting the bicentennial a --

0:31:090:31:17

David Livingstone bicentenary? Order. Questions to the Prime

0:31:170:31:27
0:31:270:31:32

Minister. Mr Speaker, I have been asked to

0:31:320:31:36

reply. My right honourable friend, the Prime Minister, is attending

0:31:360:31:41

the G20 summit in Mexico. The House will wish to join me in paying

0:31:410:31:45

tribute to those servicemen who have lost their lives in

0:31:450:31:55
0:31:550:31:58

Afghanistan's is the last Prime Minister's Question Time. Our

0:31:580:32:01

sincere condolences are with families and their loved ones. Last

0:32:010:32:08

week, I visited our armed forces in Helmand Province. I was reminded of

0:32:080:32:13

their exceptional work on behalf of this country. That work can be

0:32:130:32:23
0:32:230:32:28

sacrifices must never be forgotten. Belfast International Air link into

0:32:280:32:32

Heathrow is an invaluable asset to the economy of Northern Ireland.

0:32:320:32:38

There are deep concerns that this link is at risk because the landing

0:32:380:32:42

slots are allocated to carriers rather than to regional airports.

0:32:420:32:47

Will the Government urgently publish an aviation strategy that

0:32:470:32:54

in Shaw's the airport maintains its link with Pep -- Heathrow? We will

0:32:540:32:59

consult in the summer. As for evidence on options, by maintaining

0:32:590:33:04

the UK status as an international hub, he is quite right that the

0:33:040:33:07

London to Belfast link is it -- important of the economy. They are

0:33:070:33:17
0:33:170:33:22

more than 18,000 flights per year. - there are. Steps to devolve will

0:33:220:33:32
0:33:320:33:33

As my right honourable friend will know from my recent letter to the

0:33:330:33:37

Prime Minister, the situation at the oil refinery on the Thames is

0:33:370:33:45

becoming increasingly difficult. In an attempt to secure well-paid jobs

0:33:450:33:50

and secure UK fuel supplies, when he used the offices of the Prime

0:33:500:33:54

assessors -- to secure and it is summer, bringing together the heads

0:33:540:33:58

of the Treasury to explore every single avenue possible to keep this

0:33:580:34:05

refinery open? I know this has been very defiant -- disappointing news.

0:34:050:34:10

The workforce on the local community have worked tirelessly to

0:34:100:34:13

help the administrators secure the long-term future of the refinery.

0:34:130:34:16

We are keeping in close contact with the administrators also they

0:34:160:34:22

are looking at further options. We are working with the council as

0:34:220:34:27

well. The Minister has met with representatives of the workforce

0:34:270:34:37
0:34:370:34:40

and the there will committee. -- local community. Can I join in

0:34:400:34:50
0:34:500:34:50

paying tribute to lance-corporal James Ashworth. These soldiers die

0:34:500:34:56

serving our country with the utmost bravery. We joined in sending our

0:34:560:35:00

at most condolences to their family and friends.

0:35:000:35:04

We know there is a long way to go until the people of Burma get the

0:35:040:35:07

democracy to which they are entitled. The fact that progress

0:35:070:35:11

has been made is due to the extraordinary commitment and

0:35:110:35:17

courage of one woman enduring more than two decades of house arrest.

0:35:170:35:20

Will the Foreign Secretary join with me in expressing our at most

0:35:200:35:28

admiration? I absolutely well. It is highly appropriate to raise this

0:35:280:35:32

in Prime Minister's Question Time. I think I was the first European

0:35:320:35:36

foreign Minister to visit her, visit Burma at the beginning of

0:35:360:35:41

this year. And I found her not only in repetition but in substance, I'm

0:35:410:35:47

absolutely inspirational figure. There is still a long way to go.

0:35:470:35:51

Not only in bringing democracy to burner but ending ethnic conflicts.

0:35:510:36:01
0:36:010:36:05

One of those continues right now. - Across all parties, we are looking

0:36:050:36:11

forward to giving her a tremendous welcome tomorrow. I found the

0:36:110:36:15

Foreign Secretary for that answer. He is right -- he was right to

0:36:150:36:21

visit Burma when he did. When he reassured us that the position of

0:36:210:36:27

the British Government will remain that sanctions will be reimposed

0:36:270:36:31

unless there is sustained progress towards democracy and the rule of

0:36:310:36:37

law? That is very much our position. I have said that with the foreign

0:36:370:36:41

Minister of Burma and indeed, we argued within the European Union

0:36:410:36:46

that sanctions should not be lifted unconditionally, but should be

0:36:460:36:52

suspended. They can be reimposed if necessary. They have been suspended

0:36:520:36:57

for 12 months. We will continue to review progress through that period.

0:36:570:37:02

I believe, having met the President of Burma on my visit, that he is

0:37:020:37:05

absolutely sincere in his intentions but there will be

0:37:050:37:09

elements within the Government of Burma who are not so enthusiastic

0:37:090:37:15

about these changes and who will be alarmed about the success in recent

0:37:150:37:21

by-elections. We will keep up the pressure as well as the welcome for

0:37:220:37:28

these changes. I thank the Foreign Minister -- Foreign Secretary for

0:37:280:37:34

his answer. Now can I turn to domestic issues are specifically

0:37:340:37:38

the National Health Service. This week, a survey showed 90 % of

0:37:380:37:42

Primary Care Trusts, because of the financial pressure they are under,

0:37:420:37:46

are restricting access to treatment. This is going to particularly hit

0:37:460:37:53

older people. How can he justify an elderly person with cataracts in

0:37:530:38:00

both eyes being told that they can only have surgery in one of them?

0:38:010:38:05

It is totally unacceptable if trusts are rationing on grounds of

0:38:050:38:10

financial considerations. The NHS medical director has written to the

0:38:100:38:14

trust to tell them the only criteria of decision must be

0:38:140:38:17

clinical and not financial. If evidence is found that they are

0:38:170:38:22

ignoring that, the Secretary of State can intervene. The Department

0:38:220:38:25

of Health will look into any cases where they are using financial

0:38:250:38:30

conditions. Allegations have been made before, including under the

0:38:300:38:33

last Government. The Department of Health are very clear about that on

0:38:330:38:40

that to be welcomed across the House.

0:38:400:38:44

There is evidence and he is not acting. It is not just cataract

0:38:440:38:50

operations. There are 125 different treatments being rationed on the

0:38:500:38:55

grounds of cost. Including hip and knee replacements. What does he say

0:38:550:39:03

to one elderly patient who needs a hip-replacement? Wait in pain or

0:39:030:39:13
0:39:130:39:13

pay and go private? I say first of all what I said earlier and

0:39:130:39:18

secondly, restricting access to operations was allowed under the

0:39:190:39:27

last Government. In 2007, patients in Suffolk have to wait 14 weeks

0:39:270:39:37
0:39:370:39:43

for routine surgery. -- had. And to any of those individuals, their GP,

0:39:430:39:48

their doctor, should be gone to work tomorrow, not on strike. --

0:39:480:39:52

going. And we on this side of the House encourage them to go to work

0:39:520:39:56

and I hope she and all of that side of the House was a clearly today

0:39:560:40:06

that those doctors should be at We do not want patients to suffer.

0:40:060:40:11

We do not want the GPs to be going on strike. But we are proud of what

0:40:110:40:18

we did in the NHS. More doctors, more nurses, cutting the waiting

0:40:180:40:24

lists, and it is always the same. Labour builds up the NHS and the

0:40:240:40:31

Tories target down. Today, he is saying he is 100 % behind the

0:40:310:40:34

Government's health plans. It is a different story in his own

0:40:340:40:41

constituency. Last month, the Foreign Secretary took to the

0:40:410:40:47

streets, marching in protest against the NHS cuts. Let's remind

0:40:470:40:53

ourselves of what the Prime Minister said about midwives. Just

0:40:530:40:56

before the general election, the Prime Minister wrote for the Sun

0:40:560:41:00

newspaper because professionally, of course, they were all in it

0:41:000:41:05

together, he said in the Sun newspaper, we will increase the

0:41:050:41:11

number of midwives by 3,000. Can he confirm they have broken their

0:41:110:41:18

promise on midwives? That was a long question but I congratulate

0:41:180:41:21

her on not having the Shadow Chancellor here every day. It helps

0:41:210:41:26

everyone to be able to share everything. That is a reference to

0:41:260:41:33

Ed Balls. The Chancellor -- the Shadow

0:41:330:41:37

Chancellor is presumably doing another opinion poll on what people

0:41:370:41:42

think of him. On the questions that she asked, we

0:41:420:41:49

could have told him that for nothing! But on the questions that

0:41:490:41:56

she asked, I am glad she said GPs should be at work tomorrow because

0:41:560:42:01

she should tell that to her own spokesman, the lady -- on a lady

0:42:010:42:11
0:42:110:42:16

for Hackney. -- Honourable. There is a clear division across the

0:42:160:42:21

floor of the House. What is happening in my constituency is

0:42:210:42:31
0:42:310:42:32

nothing to do with hunt are funding or health reforms. -- NHS funding.

0:42:320:42:38

We are proud of what is happening in the bass of service and we look

0:42:380:42:46

at average best in the NHS, when we look at average waiting times. The

0:42:460:42:51

best performance ever has now been obtained for patients waiting after

0:42:510:42:55

18 weeks to be treated. The total number of cloak -- clinical staff

0:42:550:43:00

is higher than at the election. There are 3,900 more doctors is the

0:43:000:43:05

election and hospital infection levels are not their lowest levels

0:43:050:43:11

since surveillance of them began. - - are at.

0:43:110:43:15

And he never answered the question about midwives because before the

0:43:150:43:20

election, the Leader of the Opposition was all, yes we can, as

0:43:200:43:30
0:43:300:43:34

well as he became Prime Lister, it The Prime Minister once told us he

0:43:340:43:44
0:43:440:43:53

could sum up his priority in three It took a long time to think of

0:43:530:43:58

that one. I have set out the achievements of

0:43:580:44:02

the Government on the National Health Service, even the King's

0:44:020:44:07

Fund in its latest report which has sometimes been courted by the

0:44:070:44:13

opposition, so there is no evidence of a decline in service quality or

0:44:130:44:20

performers -- quoted. Infection rates have not noticeably gone up,

0:44:200:44:26

they have remained stable. These are important achievements in the

0:44:260:44:33

NHS. The health spokesperson of the opposition said in 20th June 10, it

0:44:330:44:43
0:44:430:44:47

is irresponsible to increase NHS spending in real terms. -- 2010.

0:44:470:44:50

During their last year in power, the number of NHS managers rose six

0:44:500:45:00
0:45:000:45:04

times as fast as nurses. In Wales, Mr Mr Speaker, given the appalling

0:45:040:45:08

behaviour of Liberal Democrat cabinet members in not supporting

0:45:080:45:12

the Secretary of State for Culture and Media and Sport, would my

0:45:120:45:18

preferred Deputy Prime Minister arrange a divorce from the Yellow

0:45:180:45:23

peril so that we can govern with Conservative policies as a minority

0:45:230:45:33
0:45:330:45:35

government? I think... Order. I am sure members having heard the

0:45:350:45:40

questions would wish to hear the answer. I am sure they will, Mr

0:45:400:45:48

Speaker. I think, actually, my honourable friend brings up of the

0:45:480:45:52

problem of divorce which will be deeply troubling to Mrs Bone and we

0:45:520:45:56

will have to reassure her he is talking about a political one. As

0:45:560:46:03

somebody who helped to negotiate three coalition, I will not be

0:46:030:46:08

advocating a divorce in the government. Can the Foreign

0:46:080:46:14

Secretary confirm that apart from Italy, the UK is the only country

0:46:140:46:18

in the G20 in a double dip recession? Well, actually, the

0:46:180:46:23

actual fact of the matter is the IMF now forecast that in the coming

0:46:230:46:28

year the British economy... Well, they may not want to know what is

0:46:280:46:32

going to happen, the Shadow Chancellor again is not here with

0:46:320:46:36

his hand gestures, but he has always said we should take note of

0:46:360:46:42

the IMF, and they say that in the coming year, the British economy is

0:46:420:46:47

going to grow faster than the German or French economy. That next

0:46:470:46:52

it grossed will be similar to that of the United States and twice that

0:46:520:46:57

of the eurozone. And that would not be happening had we not brought the

0:46:570:47:04

excessive debt under the last government under control. In light

0:47:040:47:08

of the historic signing in China for record investments to rural

0:47:080:47:12

waters, also the granting of the turnaround cruise terminal in

0:47:120:47:16

Liverpool and the support of the automotive industries for 1,000

0:47:160:47:20

more jobs in Jaguar and saving of Fox Hall, would you say this

0:47:200:47:24

government had done more in two years to expand private enterprise

0:47:240:47:32

on Merseyside than Labour did in its entire tenure? Well, yes, I

0:47:320:47:40

would. I would say exactly that. And I would point out that that

0:47:400:47:50
0:47:500:47:51

success which she described his British exports to China going up

0:47:510:47:57

61%, British exports to India going up 73%, and that is also because

0:47:570:48:00

the British Government is out there championing British business, which

0:48:010:48:07

the other side neglect it to do! Can the Secretary of State inform

0:48:070:48:16

the housewife he wants to see nurses in Yorkshire to be paid

0:48:160:48:22

substantially less than nurses doing exactly the same job in

0:48:220:48:28

Richmond, Surrey? This is an issue the pay review bodies are examining,

0:48:280:48:33

as the Honourable Member will know. They will report next month. The

0:48:330:48:38

case for local pay, and they will back their recommendations, it was

0:48:380:48:43

once made by a Chancellor of the Exchequer. He said, it makes sense

0:48:430:48:48

to recognise a more considered approach to local and regional

0:48:480:48:53

approach is to pay makes it better for employment in our country. That

0:48:530:48:58

Chancellor of the Exchequer was the right honourable member for

0:48:580:49:04

Kirkcaldy, Gordon Brown. I am sure Conservative backbenchers wish to

0:49:040:49:12

hear from one of the coalition colleagues. Thank you. The

0:49:130:49:16

Department of Health accepts that radiotherapy is the cheapest and

0:49:160:49:20

most effective way of treating cancer, despite this the department

0:49:200:49:24

will spend over �1.5 billion on cancer drugs this year but less

0:49:240:49:28

than a third of that on radiotherapy. In the South West,

0:49:290:49:33

several hospitals rely on charity to fund basic radiotherapy services.

0:49:330:49:40

Cancer drugs fund is underspent... Border. Order! A one-sentence

0:49:400:49:45

question and a short sentence. could the Right Honourable

0:49:450:49:48

Gentleman speak to the Prime Minister about authorising the

0:49:480:49:51

investment of that unused money into radiotherapy so hospitals in

0:49:510:49:58

my region... My Honourable Friend is right to point to the importance

0:49:580:50:02

of radiotherapy. It is also important to stress that decisions

0:50:020:50:06

on treatments should be made by clinicians based on whatever is

0:50:060:50:12

most appropriate for their patients, but we are investing over �150

0:50:120:50:16

million more over the next four years to expand radiotherapy

0:50:160:50:20

capacity. And I know my Honourable Friend will welcome that, as well

0:50:200:50:25

as the fact that at the same time over 12 a half 1,000 extra patients

0:50:250:50:31

have benefited from the �650 million drugs fund introduced by

0:50:310:50:36

this government. -- over 12,500 more patients. The regional growth

0:50:360:50:42

fund is the Government's flagship scheme for boosting growth in jobs

0:50:420:50:46

in regions. The recent National Audit report criticised it for

0:50:460:50:52

spending too much money on projects creating too few jobs, in some

0:50:520:50:57

cases �250,000 per job. What is the government doing about it?

0:50:570:51:02

Honourable Member's own region will benefit from this fund, including

0:51:020:51:05

�235 million from the regional growth fund. It is important that

0:51:050:51:09

money is spent effectively and by ministerial colleagues will do

0:51:090:51:13

their utmost to ensure that is happening, but it is also important

0:51:130:51:17

to remember his region benefits from so many other things the

0:51:170:51:20

government is doing, including infrastructure projects to support

0:51:200:51:25

growth in the West Midlands, an enterprise zone in Birmingham city

0:51:250:51:27

centre, an enterprise zone for the Black Country, and these measures

0:51:270:51:32

are much more likely to get regional growth going than the

0:51:320:51:38

excessive tax and spending of the party opposite. My constituent has

0:51:380:51:43

now lost 300 cattle to bovine TB, a scourge exacerbated by the fact the

0:51:430:51:47

last government did precisely nothing about this issue and whilst

0:51:470:51:51

I recognise the sterling work this government has done, would my Right

0:51:510:51:54

Honourable Friend will reassure my livestock farmers but when it comes

0:51:540:52:00

to disease Control regulations, there will be proportionality and

0:52:000:52:04

nothing that will detract from their lively for it? My Honourable

0:52:040:52:07

Friend raises an important issue. Bovine TB is one of the most

0:52:080:52:11

serious challenges facing the British cattle farming industry and

0:52:110:52:15

last year around 26,000 cattle were compulsorily slaughtered in England

0:52:150:52:21

alone. Death row will be making an announcement tomorrow about how

0:52:210:52:26

they intend to proceed. -- DEFRA. Cattle measures continue to be the

0:52:260:52:34

foundation of our TB control, and I invite him to stand by for a

0:52:340:52:39

further announcement tomorrow. Foreign Secretary will be aware

0:52:390:52:46

that today it is the Dalai Lama will be visiting Parliament this

0:52:470:52:50

afternoon. On such an auspicious day, will he used that opportunity

0:52:500:52:55

to restate his Government's commitment to the human rights of

0:52:550:53:02

Tibetans within China? We believe in this country and in his house

0:53:020:53:06

and in the universality of human rights and that is a point I often

0:53:060:53:11

make to Chinese leaders, including in the strategic dialogue that I

0:53:110:53:16

conduct with China on an annual basis. We also have a formal human

0:53:160:53:19

rights dialogue, which we do not shy away from raising any of these

0:53:190:53:24

cases. Of course, we do see, as did the last government, we see Tibet

0:53:240:53:29

as part of the People's Republic of China, but we also look for

0:53:290:53:32

meaningful dialogue between representatives of the Dalai Lama

0:53:320:53:38

and the Chinese authorities and we will continue to support that.

0:53:380:53:41

government has made clear its commitment to root out tax

0:53:410:53:46

avoidance by public officials and civil servants and can the Foreign

0:53:460:53:53

Secretary make it clear... That the government might well be equally

0:53:530:53:58

robust in rooting out tax avoidance by the corporate sector, who do

0:53:580:54:03

jobs for government or are employed by the government? Absolutely and I

0:54:030:54:09

will not mention to the Deputy Prime Minister his slip. It is

0:54:090:54:19
0:54:190:54:20

entirely between ourselves. Yes, the Chancellor set out very clearly

0:54:200:54:23

in the Budget his absolute determination to deal with tax

0:54:230:54:28

avoidance and to do so without warning in future. And I know that

0:54:280:54:32

the Chancellor if he were here, he would say that would apply to the

0:54:320:54:41

corporate sector as well. Closed questions. No. 8. The government

0:54:410:54:45

believes it is not reasonable for further tussles should receive a

0:54:450:54:48

greater income from benefits than the average weekly wage for working

0:54:480:54:52

households. In some cases, it can be more than double the average

0:54:520:54:56

household income. Our changes will mean no family on benefits will

0:54:560:55:03

earn more than a working family's average salary, �26,000 a year.

0:55:030:55:06

This strikes a balance between supporting families and providing

0:55:060:55:16
0:55:160:55:17

incentives to work. When I was in London, Jobcentre Plus have written

0:55:170:55:22

to 900 families in my constituency who have between them 2000-4,000

0:55:220:55:28

children that their benefits will be cut by �200 a month. This will

0:55:280:55:33

cause them to rack up rent arrears or have to move. The mayor, Boris

0:55:330:55:39

Johnson... Says he will not preside over the removal of the poor from

0:55:390:55:45

inner London but why doesn't the Government get it? The Honourable

0:55:450:55:49

Member has long-running concerns about this, and has frequently

0:55:490:55:53

expressed them. I think it is important to stress that for all

0:55:530:55:57

but the most expensive parts of London, at least 30% of all private

0:55:570:56:01

rental properties will be affordable and under the system

0:56:010:56:07

that we inherited, 150 families were receiving housing benefit of

0:56:070:56:11

over �50,000 a year. And that is not acceptable to the taxpayers of

0:56:110:56:16

this country in general. Our reforms are fair. Housing benefit

0:56:160:56:23

will still be paid to meet rents of �21,000 a year. There is also �190

0:56:230:56:26

million fund for discretionary payments to couple local

0:56:260:56:29

authorities with changes and including assistance to renegotiate

0:56:290:56:34

a low rents with landlords, but the principle is that it is not fair

0:56:340:56:37

that people on housing benefit can afford to live in streets and homes

0:56:370:56:45

that people out working hard are not able to we live in themselves.

0:56:460:56:50

Wales is the only nation in the UK without a single yard of

0:56:500:56:54

electrified rail track thanks in part to the party opposite. As a

0:56:540:56:57

former Secretary of State for Wales, could he persuade the government

0:56:580:57:02

that extending third track as far as Swansea would be great for jobs,

0:57:020:57:05

grade for wealth and cheaper than the refurbishment at Tottenham

0:57:050:57:12

Court Road station? We are committed to elect a find more than

0:57:120:57:16

300 miles of railway routes which compares, actually, with just nine

0:57:160:57:20

miles are electrified under the last government. That is an

0:57:200:57:24

interesting contrast in infrastructure investment. The

0:57:240:57:28

Department for Transport is conjure considering a business case for

0:57:280:57:32

electrification between Cardiff and Swansea. Prepared in Wales. I

0:57:320:57:37

understand the decision will be made by the summer and it will

0:57:370:57:41

depend on whether it is affordable and on the assessment of competing

0:57:410:57:47

priorities as well. Unemployment has reduced in Scotland for the

0:57:470:57:51

third month and for the second year in a row, Scotland is the best

0:57:520:57:55

performing a location for international investment and will

0:57:550:57:58

the Foreign Secretary take the opportunity to congratulate the

0:57:580:58:03

Scottish Government, and the lead agency securing foreign direct

0:58:030:58:09

investments? The Honourable Member is quite right to draw attention to

0:58:090:58:13

the employment figures, which we must never be complacent about, and

0:58:130:58:21

there is always so much work to do. They show a quarterly fall in

0:58:210:58:25

unemployment of 51,000. They do show the rate of unemployment

0:58:250:58:31

coming down. Youth unemployment is also coming down by 29,000. Long-

0:58:310:58:36

term unemployment is still rising, which remains a challenge. Of

0:58:360:58:43

course, Scotland, as part of the UK, is an attractive place to invest in.

0:58:430:58:47

And I congratulate many Scottish people and businesses on their work.

0:58:470:58:51

They have much harder work to do if Scotland were not part of the

0:58:510:58:56

United Kingdom. While welcoming overseas students to come to this

0:58:560:59:00

country to get a world-class education, then return home to

0:59:000:59:04

benefit their countries, will my right honourable friend to look at

0:59:040:59:07

vice-chancellors who believe they cannot compete unless students are

0:59:070:59:12

given an additional incentive to stay on in this country legally or

0:59:120:59:17

illegally, especially as 120,000 students last year sought and were

0:59:170:59:24

granted the right to extend their stay here? Yes, Mr Speaker. The

0:59:240:59:27

government has introduced radical reforms to stamp out abuse and

0:59:270:59:33

restore order to what was then out of control student visa system. It

0:59:330:59:37

made the immigration system easier for students, universities and the

0:59:370:59:41

UK Border Agency to operate, so we are closing bogeys colleges and

0:59:410:59:45

regulating the remainder. We are restricting the right to work here

0:59:450:59:48

and bring dependence and we are making sure that all but the very

0:59:490:59:52

best go home at the end of their studies, and on that basis, of

0:59:520:59:56

course, talented students from around the world are welcome here

0:59:561:00:06
1:00:061:00:09

As MP for Rotherham, can I welcome the fact the right honourable

1:00:091:00:17

Gentleman has realised the ambition thwarted in 2001 briefly, but will

1:00:171:00:27
1:00:271:00:36

he take this opportunity to invite a third Asian Nobel Prize winner,

1:00:361:00:46
1:00:461:00:47

mention his name, inviting here to London next year -- invite him.

1:00:471:00:51

It is nice to issue a nice words about Rotherham during Prime

1:00:511:00:56

Minister's Question Time. We do raise individual cases, of course,

1:00:561:01:01

that I will assess which wants to raise and when to do so, of course,

1:01:011:01:04

but the human rights dialogue we have with China is very important

1:01:041:01:09

and it is important in China there is an understanding of our deep

1:01:091:01:19
1:01:191:01:26

concerns about many of these cases. The Government is reducing funding

1:01:261:01:32

to the police by 20 % in real terms over four years. Can my right

1:01:321:01:36

honourable friend assure me that also in the cause of deficit

1:01:361:01:42

reduction, he will be insisting on a reduction to our contribution to

1:01:421:01:47

the European Union budget? highly desirable as that would be,

1:01:471:01:51

my honourable friend is aware that contribution is not decided by a

1:01:511:01:55

single decision of Government. It is the balance between two large

1:01:551:02:00

figures determined in other ways. He can rest assured, however, that

1:02:001:02:05

we will be far better at negotiation it than the honourable

1:02:051:02:09

member opposite, the Shadow Foreign Secretary, and when he was Minister

1:02:091:02:14

for Europe, the party opposite gave away �7 billion of the British

1:02:141:02:21

rebate. And it was nothing in return. It was an abject failure of

1:02:211:02:27

negotiation and leadership that we will not repeat. Does the Foreign

1:02:271:02:32

Secretary agree with the words of the honourable member for Wrexham?

1:02:321:02:42

I see no argument for real pay. They are on a variety of few was on

1:02:421:02:52
1:02:521:02:54

regional pay. -- views. It is worth pointing out that the last

1:02:541:02:57

Government introduced local pay into Her Majesty's courts and

1:02:571:03:07

tribunals Ursel stop -- Tribunal Service. What a wonderful

1:03:071:03:15

announcement it was for the role Investment of Rolls-Royce in Derby.

1:03:151:03:19

Unemployment in South Derbyshire has gone down in recent months.

1:03:191:03:23

This indeed is good news. It is good news for investment in this

1:03:231:03:29

country, good news for Derby and the surrounding area and it is good

1:03:291:03:33

news for the long-term security of this country that we are prepared

1:03:331:03:36

to invest confident the in submarine technologies for the long

1:03:361:03:46
1:03:461:03:47

term. Come the Foreign Secretary tell the House how it differs from

1:03:471:03:53

the proposals in 2009? Both parties oppose that. It differs

1:03:531:03:58

substantially, enormously from that. The proposal of the last Government

1:03:581:04:05

was to hold all data in a central database.

1:04:051:04:10

Although he uses the catchphrase of the snoopers charter, this is

1:04:101:04:17

designed to be a criminal's nightmare. Unless we update it our

1:04:171:04:22

-- Update our ability to detect criminality in this country, that

1:04:221:04:26

will have a very serious effect. Why encourage him to look at this

1:04:261:04:34

in detail. -- I encourage him. The highlight of the Olympic torch

1:04:341:04:42

relay will take place on 6th July, when it arrives in Southend, to be

1:04:421:04:47

met... Would my right honourable friend agree with me the Olympic

1:04:471:04:52

Games is an opportunity for our country to come together and

1:04:521:04:56

celebrate this Government put in the Great back into Britain?

1:04:561:05:01

arrival of the torch in Southend is one of the highlights. The other

1:05:011:05:05

highlight being the fact that today, it is passing through Richmond in

1:05:051:05:11

Yorkshire. I would have dearly love to have been there to see it but

1:05:111:05:17

that is one of the highlights. He is quite right, this is an opera --

1:05:171:05:23

enormous ability for his country. - - to this country. We are looking

1:05:231:05:29

to attract an additional 4 million extra visitors, including to sell

1:05:291:05:35

them, to inspire more young people to take up sport -- Southend. It is

1:05:351:05:45
1:05:451:05:45

a great moment for Britain. We know the Prime Minister... We

1:05:451:05:49

all know the Prime Minister likes to relax down the pub but when it

1:05:491:05:53

comes to Anglo-French relations, shouldn't he adopt a more sober

1:05:531:05:59

approach? I must say, the Prime Minister

1:05:591:06:02

always has excellent relations with any prime Minister of France,

1:06:021:06:07

including the New prioress of France, and we should welcome and

1:06:071:06:10

applaud be fact that the city we are sitting in today is the

1:06:101:06:14

seventh-largest city for French people in the world -- a prime

1:06:141:06:24

I understand why the right honourable Gentleman would have

1:06:241:06:34
1:06:341:06:39

liked to have been in Richmond... Thank you, David. William Hague,

1:06:391:06:46

there was a hint of Foreign Secretary customers! Harriet Harman

1:06:461:06:53

started with a Foreign Secretary question. It gave a wider scope to

1:06:531:07:00

the whole affair. I thought William Hague did well. He was masterful,

1:07:001:07:05

to be on us. He has always been a good performer in the House. -- To

1:07:051:07:15
1:07:151:07:16

He came back strongly on every point. The thing which computers

1:07:161:07:20

confuses me, because can -- Conservatives and Labour are proud

1:07:201:07:25

of their achievements in the NHS, why is it such a mess? The it's

1:07:251:07:30

investigate further. The NHS did come up. -- let's investigate

1:07:301:07:40
1:07:401:07:40

further. It is the message that keeps recurring from the UK

1:07:401:07:45

Government. It is. I think it is something that has obviously come

1:07:451:07:51

from the Conservative Party. They gave a commitment to ring-fence the

1:07:511:07:54

National Health Service budget at the last election. That meant cuts

1:07:551:08:00

of up to 20 % in other budgets, including education and social

1:08:001:08:05

services. None of the other parties were prepared to support that.

1:08:051:08:09

Obviously, it would create a situation where other budgets were

1:08:091:08:12

suffering and people would suffer as a result of that. It has given

1:08:121:08:18

ammunition to the Conservatives. They are saying the Government is

1:08:181:08:23

cutting health spending. With health spending in Wales, the

1:08:241:08:33

Assembly budget is about 15.4 �5 billion. Bullfight by seven plants

1:08:331:08:40

-- �5 and billion -- about 7.5 billion tackles on health. There

1:08:411:08:50
1:08:511:08:52

Measures. But no wonder coalition tensions. -

1:08:521:09:02
1:09:021:09:05

He is very much a lone voice in the Commons. I know there is

1:09:051:09:10

dissatisfaction. Frankly, the Conservatives did not win a

1:09:101:09:14

majority. The country was facing a minority Government. An unstable

1:09:141:09:19

Government. The double democrats wanted coalition with the object of

1:09:191:09:25

having a stable Government. -- the double pink -- he'd Liberal-

1:09:251:09:35
1:09:351:09:41

Regional pay was raised. We were talking about art earlier. -- about

1:09:411:09:51
1:09:511:09:55

Of course, Labour introduced regional pay. That was in the Court

1:09:551:10:00

Service. Labour's record on this is pretty poor. The parties are united

1:10:001:10:06

in saying it would be bad for the Welsh economy. It is not something

1:10:061:10:13

they want to see extended. An MP was reading a question and got told

1:10:131:10:20

off by the Speaker. We see a lot of Assembly Members reading questions.

1:10:211:10:24

You do not see any reading questions. Yes, I do not think

1:10:241:10:29

there is a method. People should do whatever they are comfortable with.

1:10:291:10:34

I prefer not to use paper but other people do. Is that an environmental

1:10:341:10:40

concern? I distanced -- I prefer to ask the question or make a

1:10:401:10:45

contribution without using notes. I think what the speaker was doing

1:10:451:10:50

was that she was taking a long time to go to the point. The important

1:10:501:10:55

thing is you have got to last the question and to that in a sharp way.

1:10:551:11:03

Otherwise, p process gets weary. People ask very wrong questions,

1:11:031:11:07

three questions at the same time, it leaves people in a very

1:11:071:11:15

uncomfortable position -- long questions. Rosemary Butler tends to

1:11:161:11:23

clear her throat to move people on. Is that a success? It is causing

1:11:231:11:32

some resentment. But she is right. They need to focus on the question.

1:11:321:11:42
1:11:421:11:43

A quick question is often more successful.

1:11:431:11:47

We will be back with you before the end of the programme. Coming up,

1:11:471:11:50

the Welsh affairs Select Committee is holding an inquiry into the

1:11:501:11:54

future of the Welsh Cavalry. We'll be hearing from a member of the

1:11:541:12:01

Defence Select Committee later. We will talk about transport now.

1:12:011:12:04

Transport infrastructure and how important artist of economic growth.

1:12:041:12:10

It is the subject of a concerted debate this afternoon. --

1:12:101:12:16

conservative. What do you hope to achieve this afternoon? It is to

1:12:161:12:19

raise the profile of the issue of bringing electrification down to

1:12:191:12:28

Swansea. And the Connectivity be on that. We hope to get the Government

1:12:281:12:38
1:12:381:12:43

You are calling on the was committed to more to bring it about.

1:12:431:12:52

The UK Government at Westminster, this is the first time

1:12:521:12:55

electrification has been brought to Wales and been suggested as part of

1:12:551:13:01

the control number five, as they call it, the Westminster Government

1:13:011:13:07

looking at how they can improve infrastructure. But when you look

1:13:071:13:13

at it in context, the previous Westminster Government, the Labour

1:13:131:13:19

Government, did nothing. It is quite an exciting time. Leafy in

1:13:191:13:24

that case that the last Government is being adversarial -- do you feel

1:13:241:13:34
1:13:341:13:39

in that case? The commitment is going to come one way or the other.

1:13:391:13:45

There has been a good cross-party Richard working almost. There are

1:13:451:13:55
1:13:551:13:59

some members of parliament but have gone down that track. -- cross-

1:13:591:14:08

party support working on that. I cannot give you an answer today. It

1:14:081:14:11

is a matter for the Government. It is for the Treasury to process it

1:14:111:14:16

out. I am determined to see it come to Swansea and they have been doing

1:14:161:14:21

my very best together with my other colleagues to do that. How much of

1:14:211:14:26

a difference will it make? It is very significant. It is not so much

1:14:261:14:30

the journey time, it is about connectivity and beyond Swansea as

1:14:301:14:34

well. It is what people in west Wales. Young people having an

1:14:341:14:38

opportunity to travel to Cardiff on a daily basis and become involved

1:14:381:14:42

with the insurance industry, perhaps, it is about being able to

1:14:421:14:51

do that on a daily basis. We do not have much longer to wait.

1:14:511:15:00

Thank you for joining us. Back to MPs on the Welsh Select Committee

1:15:001:15:03

are to hold an inquiry into the future of the Queen's Dragoon

1:15:031:15:07

Guards, the Welsh cavalry. There has been cross-party concern about

1:15:071:15:10

reports the Ministry of Defence cutbacks will be abolished or

1:15:111:15:16

Tamsin Hezzell merged with another regiment. Our reporter has been --

1:15:161:15:25

have has been talking to MPs. MPs don't agree on much but they

1:15:251:15:29

are united on one issue, the campaign to save a threatened Welsh

1:15:291:15:33

Regiment, and one MP that has been fighting the cause is Madeleine

1:15:331:15:41

Moon. So, why? This is a cause that hasn't just united MPs but that has

1:15:411:15:45

united people across Wales and you can tell that from every MP's

1:15:451:15:50

embarks. I am getting 35 postcards and about 40 miles a day on this

1:15:501:15:54

issue. What is happening we are reducing the size of the army and

1:15:551:15:59

the government wants to reduce the army to 82,000 with an additional

1:16:001:16:04

30,000 reservists. That means they want to reduce the regiments. Now,

1:16:041:16:09

England has got 30 regiments. Scotland has got eight. We have got

1:16:091:16:19
1:16:191:16:19

three. Our concern is that we have heard there is a message telling

1:16:191:16:22

theme Ministry of Defence not to touch the Scottish regiments

1:16:221:16:25

because they don't want to influence the vote taking place on

1:16:251:16:30

the issue of independence, so they are concerned that could affect the

1:16:301:16:34

vote. So, we are more vulnerable. We only have three regiments and

1:16:351:16:38

all of our regiments are fully recruited and one of them is the

1:16:381:16:43

Welsh cavalry, the first Queen's Dragoon Guards, they are seen to be

1:16:431:16:47

the most vulnerable. Scotland has got eight regiments, two of which

1:16:471:16:53

are heavy tank, the equivalent of the cavalry regiments. Seven of the

1:16:531:16:58

Scottish regiments are not fully recruited and, in fact, they rely

1:16:581:17:04

on out of area recruitment to keep them fully recruited. We are

1:17:041:17:10

concerned Wales is going to bear the brunt whereas it could be an

1:17:101:17:17

English regimental Tamas Fellegi is Scottish -- English regiment or a

1:17:171:17:26

Scottish regiment. We want to say we will not sit down and accept a

1:17:261:17:32

decision that is not a fair one. Our regiments are fully recruited,

1:17:321:17:36

they are important recruitment and jobs that young people want to take.

1:17:361:17:40

They want to serve in Welsh regiments and most of the three

1:17:401:17:45

Welsh regiments, they are 80% solidly recruited from Wales but

1:17:451:17:50

the Department of Defence must have done some analysis on these

1:17:501:17:55

regiments? Our concern is that we want, and I have a letter from the

1:17:551:17:57

Ministry of Defence, where they talk about the importance of

1:17:571:18:02

demographics. They talk about the importance of making sure there is

1:18:021:18:07

an opportunity for people across the UK to access their regiments.

1:18:071:18:12

Now, I am quite happy with that. What I am not happy about is their

1:18:121:18:16

political implications been taken into consideration in relation to

1:18:161:18:21

which regiment will go. And that is very clear and we heard about the

1:18:211:18:26

advice coming from Number Ten about don't touch the Scottish regiments.

1:18:261:18:30

How shall argue about that? It is quite a plane. We are very clear

1:18:301:18:36

about the message that came out of Number Ten. That is out in the

1:18:361:18:41

public domain. I rested yesterday in an armed forces debate in

1:18:411:18:45

Westminster, and I was given an assurance by the minister that they

1:18:451:18:48

had not made the decision, that he didn't know what the decision would

1:18:481:18:53

be. But that they were aware of the strong feeling in Wales. And we

1:18:531:18:57

have to keep that strong feeling in Wales very high. The Scots have

1:18:571:19:02

been doing it very well and we have been very slow off the mark and now

1:19:021:19:06

we are making absolutely clear that we are solidly behind our three

1:19:061:19:11

regiments and we intend to keep them. We used to have 32 regiments.

1:19:111:19:15

We have now got three and we don't intend to lose another one. Thank

1:19:151:19:22

you very much. Peter, what do you make of what

1:19:221:19:26

Madeleine Moon said? The message coming from under 10 to the

1:19:261:19:29

Ministry of Defence to leave the Scottish regiments untouched ahead

1:19:291:19:34

of any referendum debate? I have to say that it is a shame the way that

1:19:341:19:38

Scotland and the interests of Scotland is dominating UK politics

1:19:381:19:45

on finance, and now on the regiment and the defence review. If that is

1:19:451:19:49

the case, that is an unacceptable way to carry out a defence review.

1:19:491:19:53

There is a clear criteria in terms of how defence reviews should be

1:19:531:19:58

carried out in terms of the age of the regiment and it is not the

1:19:581:20:02

Welsh Guards turn to be amalgamated but the Scottish regiments turn to

1:20:021:20:07

be amalgamated and that criteria should not be departed from. In

1:20:071:20:12

terms of the Welsh Guards, there are establish since the 17th

1:20:121:20:15

century, they are a good recruiter and largely of people in Wales,

1:20:161:20:19

whereas the Scottish regiments have a large quantity of Fijians in

1:20:191:20:27

there, a very poor recruiter as well. They are the ones that should

1:20:271:20:31

give. Your party has had an issue with the recruiting of soldiers in

1:20:311:20:36

Wales, hasn't it? Only in terms of recruitment in schools, which is

1:20:361:20:39

unfair. There are plenty of opportunities to recruit, but we

1:20:391:20:43

are not in favour of the armed forces going into schools to try to

1:20:431:20:48

recruit there. Staying on defence, you have got an emergency question

1:20:481:20:53

this afternoon on Trident and as a former of CND Cymru, that gives us

1:20:531:20:58

a hint as to which direction you will be coming from. What will you

1:20:581:21:02

ask a? I will not be welcoming the First Minister's statement, which

1:21:021:21:07

she made in the chamber yesterday, for some unknown reason, that he

1:21:071:21:12

wants to welcome Trident 2 South West Wales. The port is not suited

1:21:121:21:18

to it. I am not aware of any work that is the and done. This would be

1:21:181:21:22

ahead of any Scottish independence. Apparently, but it would be nice to

1:21:221:21:27

know what negotiations have gone on or whether this is an idea which

1:21:271:21:31

the First Minister has pulled out of the sky. There are implications.

1:21:311:21:36

When I was chair of CND Cumbria, we had a nuclear free Wales signed up

1:21:361:21:42

to buy local authorities in Wales, many supporters of cm deep in

1:21:431:21:46

Labour, and not many people in Labour will be welcome it. There

1:21:461:21:53

has been no mention of 6,000 jobs, but there is nowhere near that in

1:21:531:21:58

Scotland, it is just under 2000. It is an idea that has come out of the

1:21:581:22:01

blue and the First Minister has to justified because it has major

1:22:011:22:07

implications. Oil, gas and nuclear weapons do not go together. Forget

1:22:071:22:10

the euro 2012 Football Championships in Poland and the

1:22:101:22:15

Ukraine, can Wales has the 2020 championships? There is talk of a

1:22:151:22:21

drink bed with Scotland and the Republic of Ireland. This issue was

1:22:211:22:24

raised in First Minister's Questions yesterday.

1:22:241:22:30

Thank you for that response. Of course, we do have three stadiums

1:22:301:22:35

in Wales which could be developed for such a bid. The Millennium

1:22:351:22:38

Stadium, the City of Cardiff stadium and the Liberty Stadium in

1:22:381:22:47

my region. Do you know which criteria on the size of stadium was

1:22:471:22:50

that your way for use in considering bids of this sort? And

1:22:501:22:54

what kind of input would you have as a government jointly with the

1:22:541:23:01

FAW if there were to be such a bid submitted? TRANSLATION: I believe

1:23:011:23:07

the figure is 30,000. That is the minimum a bed. There would not be

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too much of the difficulty to insure the City of Cardiff and the

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Liberty Stadium came up to that standard for. Very few venues could

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do that. Looking at the other nations, and Ireland, there is only

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one stadium which can go up to that apps -- standard. There are a

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number of other stadiums that Dollard in the Republic -- that

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I'll large in the republic but there is work to be done to ensure

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that facilities are available in Wales so that Wales can assist to

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build a future bid. There is a 30,000 capacity minimum. How does

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the First Minister expect the ground improvements including the

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increase in capacity for at least one of the grounds for a European

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tournament to be funded by? Well, this is the question which has to

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be looked at carefully. Swansea City have 16,000 ticket-holders, so

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they would like to have that expanded. Same about Cardiff. A

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case for expanding the stadium there, but how this might be

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financed would have to be explored with the FAW.

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Well, let's explore it with our guests. Peter, as are those Wales

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would qualify for the European Championships of 2020 and that is a

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good enough reason? Yes, the best reason. I am going to support this

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bit and I think we need to think about how we prepared for it. We

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think the issue of the size of the stadiums is the one we need to

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overcome. 30,000 is the size much as the minimum but the Millennium

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Stadium is the only one which is above that. Liberty is about 20,000.

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With an option of extending the. And the Swans are looking to extend

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their own stadium, so hopefully we will have the stadiums in place,

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and it would be a massive boost to whale. You have had discussions

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with the FAW, and you seemed to suggest but doing anything like

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this will be very difficult. When I had those discussions in 2007, it

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was very complicated but there is no reason not to go for it. As

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Peter said, it would be a huge boost for Wales, not only in terms

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of sport, but in terms of the economy and tourism, and we should

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do everything we can to try to see whether this is possible and,

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certainly, I am sure it would get cross-party support in the chamber.

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And one thing in Wales' favour, even though there would be three

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host nations by 2020, we might yet see Wales qualifying. Yes, it might

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be nice to see Wales qualify! If that can't be, then qualifying by

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games, were disqualified by being a host country.

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Let's talk about something your party are raising this afternoon.

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Your party's debate on maternity services. One thing that marks

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suggested was a reduction in midwives. What do you want to

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raise? Harriet Harman raised this in Prime Minister's questions about

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the shortage of midwives that the situation is the same in Wales and

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that shortage of midwives is leading to patchy services around

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Wales in terms of maternity and there is a report which highlights

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that and shows that women who were going to give birth cannot expect a

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consistent service depending on which hospital they go to, and I

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have got a case word from my own hospital in Swansea of some

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horrendous stories of women going in there. It is not down to the

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staff, who are excellent, but there is a shortage of staff, they rushed

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off their feet, they do not have time to do the basics, and, as a

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result, there have been spates of infections, there is issues were

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women are being left for long Torrens, not getting the stuff they

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need in terms of their maternity plan. -- being left for long times.

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These are the issues we want to raise today. Lots of nods of

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agreement from you. One thing we see from opposition debates is

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there is hardly anybody in the chamber. Will there be anybody in

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this one? That is not fair. Maybe it is the ones I watch! I think

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there is a firm number of people but people have no other things to

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do as well. It is not always possible to be in the chamber. By

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and large, people do stay in for most of the debates. One of the Lib

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Dems, You Are What -- the Lib Dems, you are nodding. There have been

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problems. We need to insure the maternity service is consistent and

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of the highest standard. I was out in the Committee of regions in

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Finland last week, and their health service is totally different. All

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GPs family doctors are employed by the state and you have medical

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centres in all parts of Finland, but they have to travel a long way

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to the hospital, so maybe we need to rethink the services and good

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services which meet the needs of the present situation. OK, thank

1:28:271:28:31

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