27/03/2012 am.pm

Welcome to the programme. It is the final First Minister's Questions

before the Easter break today and as usual we will bring you coverage

here on am.pm. If you would like to get in touch with us you can do so

Business in the Chamber is under way so we will take a look at

today's questions for the First Minister.

The first item on the agenda is questions for the First Minister.

What is the First Minister doing to develop science policy in Wales?

The signs for whales agenda sets out a programme of action to

improve Welsh science. -- the science for Wales. I welcome one of

the announcement by the Prime Minister, the doubling of money for

research into dementia. Considering that one of the world's outstanding

research teams in the Cardiff Medical School in my constituency

of Cardiff North is leading the way in the research, will he do what he

can to ensure that that team and other teams throughout Wales get

this fair share of the money? appears that the majority of the

money will be distributed in England but we are trying to

establish how much money will be available for research teams in

Wales. I welcomed the announcement yesterday. The Welsh Government

aims to increase our share of UK research and development funding to

5 % on the basis of the Welsh population. Scotland has 8 % of the

UK population but already receives nearly 15 % of UK research for --

research council funding, three times your current target. Do you

agree you should be more ambitious? It would mean a substantial

increase in the amount of money coming into Wales. It is absolutely

crucial that Welsh research teams can put forward the strongest

possible bids to make sure we get at least our fair share. I welcomed

the document that you published last week outlining how you intend

to develop signs in Wales. During the budget process another 100,000

was provided for science and technology. Do you know if there is

any consequential to that? What specific steps are you taking to

increase the put -- the percentage of council money coming to Wales?

Of course the member will be aware off the scheme and the

participation. It does not mean we will be receiving any additional

funding because research funding has not been devolved. As regards

the statement from the Chancellor last week, we know there will be no

additional funding, for example, as regards revenue. Well the First

Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's priorities for

local Government in Wales in the next six months? Our priorities are

clearly set out in the programme for Government. One of the

priorities of people in my area is the need to see councils being

transparent. On this side of the Chamber we have drawn attention to

the importance of encouraging councils to publish any expenditure

over �500. The Minister for local Government has ignored this, saying

it would be a burden. Can you tell us what the EU agree with this and,

if so, why you are not supporting something so sensible? This is for

local authorities themselves and there is no way of knowing that the

man at how much this will cost local authorities. If they want to

do it, they are accountable to their constituents. A designated

public place order has been put into effect which makes it an

offence to stop drinking -- to refuse to stop drinking when asked

to buy a police officer. It is intended to stamp out the

problematic behaviour that causes concern to many. Well the First

Minister joined me in congratulating our city council has

on their innovative action? I would. It is important to ensure that,

where drinking of alcohol takes place in the street, that is dealt

with, because we know it causes anti-social behaviour and puts fear

into the hearts of so many people, particularly the elderly. First

Minister, the Minister for Transport announced in January cuts

of 25 % in the grant for local transport services and 25 % in the

grant for bus provide us. He has now announced that he will be

deferring the cuts, as -- postpone in them. Is there any further logic

apart from the fact that the local Government elections are facing us?

Not at all. It has been very difficult in terms of the budget

negotiation but it is true to say that the amount provided to bus

companies per litre is higher than in England. It is of course a very

important that we ensure that those who do not have much money can

access the bus services and that is why we have the systems we have in

place to ensure that people can travel on buses free of charge if

they are disabled or over 60. demand for child protection

services within local authorities is still on the increase. A number

of charities called for early intervention services in order to

stop child neglect. Does your Government intend to do anything

about this over the next six months? There will be an

opportunity provided by the Social Services Bill to consider issues

such as this, and making sure there is and efficient way of dealing

with that within the bill. Will he agree that the most important thing

in local Government is having official at -- efficient services

and avoiding duplication and having parties collaborating to get the

best value for money for the people they represent? Absolutely. It is

critical that we see effective collaboration across local

authorities and indeed between local authorities and other public

sector bodies. Questions from the party leaders. First is the Leader

of the Opposition. Thank you. What has Cardiff have in common with

Bicester, Torbay and Hull? thing I do have -- I do know about

Cardiff is that it has four Labour Assembly Members. He does not seem

to know much else about it because ultimately those with three other

places that were discounted at the first bidding round of the Green

Investment Bank. The bid was put together by your Government and it

had the potential to be located in Cardiff, an organisation worth

about �3 billion worth of spend into green energy projects. Given

that Cardiff city centre is an enterprise zone for the financial

services centre -- sector, do you not see this as a critical failure

of your Government to get beyond the first stage in the bidding

process to attract this major investment? The reason we did not

get past the first stage is there is no direct planning for it. The

Prime Minister wanted to placate the Scots. He went to Scotland but

did not bother with Wales. I ask the Leader of the Opposition, which

is right? The Prime Minister holding Wales in low regard or the

Prime Minister holding him in low regard? I find it farcical that the

First Minister of Wales can lower the tone to petty... Order, order.

Petty politics when your Government had its bid discounted in the first

round of bidding with such financial giants as Hull, Bicester

and Torbay. If you look at the bid document which was put together...

Order. If you look at the document put together by the Welsh

Government, it had grammatical mistakes, spelling mistakes and its

strongest... Would you lead the order of the -- the Leader of the

Opposition finish? If you think this is a laughing matter, the

branding of Wales is at fault. I pointed out to you that not only is

the financial services sector supposedly a priority for your

Government, green jobs are supposedly as well, yet you have

allowed... You have allowed this project to go under the radar. What

is your Government doing to improve the offering of Wales to ensure

more inward investment, better opportunities and better jobs so we

can start punching above our weight? I don't know if members

have seen the Conservative press release this morning. He accuses me

of playing petty politics after accusing me of being the Emperor

Nero of Wales. I apologise for the grammatical mistakes. When I listen

to the opposition, it is a bit like listening to General Custer. You

know he should not be there but at least he wasn't being attacked by

his own man. We talk about complete failure. He has completely failed.

I call on him now, in public, to say that he does not agree with

reductions in pay in Wales by 20 %. Let's hear him condemn regional pay,

let's hear him stand up for ordinary people. You have already

had more than three questions. Can we did -- give the leader of Plaid

Cymru the attention she deserves? First Minister, can you outline how

good Government will boost renewable energy generation in

Wales and clarified what additional powers you have requested to

achieve this? I have requested powers for renewable energy of 100

megawatts but I will not be bound by that figure. It was a reasonable

request but it has been rejected. We will continue to look to fund

projects such as the �6.4 million we have put into green energy in

Pembrokeshire. But we need powers over renewables and over planning

consent to maximise Wales' resources. Let's put to one side

the to-ing and fro-ing over the question of 100 megawatts. The

Crown Estate will benefit from a renewable energy production schemes

on land and more importantly at sea. Plaid Cymru believes that the

benefits should go to the people of Wales through the Welsh Government.

On numerous occasions you have been asked in this Chamber whether you

will pursue the devolution of the Crown Estates to Wales yet, to date,

we have received no clear answer. Can you tell us what is the boss

Government's position on the devolution of the Crown Estates?

This is a matter I believe should be dealt with locally and it is

important that we will come to an arrangement that will benefit the

people of Wales. We should go ahead with the creation of 600 jobs in

Anglesey. Will the Leader of Clyde, we join me in that? We need jobs in

the north-west of Wales but I would argue that jobs in the renewable

sector are ones we should be pursuing. Can you understand how

people from within the renewables industry, which is what this

question is about, who are crying out for more clarity and direction

and to, more importantly, will not commit to invest until they get

some clarity? What are you doing She asks the question about

renewable energy and we are very clear, the statement was published

two weeks ago but it is correct to say, I don't know whether she

agrees with this, we need to see further devolution of energy and

the devolution of the subsidy regime which is what Scotland has

and attracting it into it because the money available and then we

will be able to offer a fully comprehensive service to potential

investors and we will see maximum benefits in terms of income and

jobs for the people of Wales. Kirsty Williams. First Minister,

this morning a dentist from Merthyr Tydfil told good morning Wales that

he turns away between five and 30 people seeking NHS treatment every

day from his practice and he has patients travelling around four

hours to him. Only 37% of dentists accepting new NHS patients. When

Labour introduced the new dental contract in 2006, a Rhodri Morgan

tour the Assembly that everyone who needed access to an NHS dentist

would get it. Six years on, are you satisfied that so many people

cannot access NHS dental services? I am because I do not recognise the

figures that you have produced. It seems to be a self-selecting

audience. I know many dentists... The reality of the situation is

that in one place, there are 40,000 patients who regularly access NHS

dentistry than five years ago. There are some places in Wales

which I will look into, but on the existed industry is much improved

in Wales. The First Minister can say what he likes about the

research we have taken out but the BDA described it as a very valuable

piece of work and I am very glad to hear first and from dentist's. The

truth is that many people struggle to find an NHS dentist and even

though the dental practices are still accepting NHS patients, 65%

of waiting lists are for more than two months and in some cases,

waiting lists to get on the list exceeds one year. The First

Minister seems to think that is good enough, I do not. Your

programme says you will improve access to dentists and increase the

percentage of the population with an NHS dentist which seems to

suggest that he does think something should be done. Please

could you clarify the figures for the Chamber now. What percentage

increase do you expect to see by the end of this government and does

have 100% target set by your predecessor still apply? It does

and in the past five years, there has been a substantial increase in

the number of NHS dental places and the people able to access them. I

know of areas in Wales, my own home town, where there are NHS dentists

and people have not found it difficult to access them. There may

be other places where access is more difficult but I cannot accept

that the situation has got worse over the past five years when

clearly it has got much better. First Minister, the boss Liberal

Democrat have today revealed in these figures that anyone who is in

touch with the Welsh people know that some people cannot register

with a dentist and a very many more people are having to travel for

hours to see a dentist. And while one third of dentists are not

taking on NHS patients, over two thirds of them are taking on

private patients. So the well off go private what the poorest are

left waiting. Is this not another case of Labour's poor services

doing poor people down? As I have said many times, the situation has

vastly improved. I cannot take lectures from the Liberal Democrats

after supporting tax decreases for the rich in the Budget last week.

Failing to say that regional pay was wrong and this is the leader of

the Liberal Democrats accusing me of being out of touch, we will see

how out-of-touch she is in May. will move back to the paper and I

am sure the questioned will be concise and to the point. I shall

try to be concise and to the point. Will the First Minister what

progress is made in delivering the Government's policy into

legislation? Yes, we propose to meet on a weekly basis and with

delivery of the five-year programme. Thank you. In 2011, one of the

first questions I asked was about the 20 proposed White Papers and

bills of which no fewer than 13 did not have any year specified for

introduction. You told me at the time that that was the method of

setting out proposed bills and was in line with UK parliamentary

procedure. I have to say I was disappointed because I was hoping

we would not ape the UK Parliament but we seem to be doing that day by

day these days and that establishment is losing the

confidence of people. Do you think that the Liberal unit will help to

produce much more specific timescales on the intervention of

bills and buy papers and prompt your government to face criticism

over delays in taking any decisive action? I must remember to look at

the Plaid Cymru programme for government and its legislative

proposals in terms of the date he proposes because if we relied on

his, we would have nothing at all. Education, we have consulted on a

white paper. Will be introducing the Bill into the Assembly shortly

after the Easter recess. We are currently consulting on a draft

bill which will be introduced before the summer recess and

currently a consultation is running for the social services for Wales

bill. We will be launching consultations on a sustainable

development bill as well as white papers for bills for local

government, democracy and the tissue donation white paper that

has been released and also the draft food hygiene rating Bill.

This is a five-year programme, a tremendous amount has been done.

Andrew RT Davies. The delivery unit was supposed to speed up government

delivery and the legislature programme we have heard through the

course of this Assembly, only one bill has been presented before the

Assembly. Is this not a failure of the delivery unit to help the

Government to bring more things before the power of Wales? I think

it was a member for South Wales Apologies, what action... Have as

the Welsh Government response to the transparency International UK

report on corruption in the UK? Government operates a zero-

tolerance policy towards corruption, bribery and fraud. Two weeks ago,

there was an event hosted by transparency International in

Cardiff University presenting a report which found that politicians,

government and business institutions urgent need to add up

understand that corruption is a problem in key sectors and must be

tackled consistently and coherently. How therefore do you respond to

continuing concern that Wales has a higher proportion of whistleblowers

in the public sector and the publicly-funded sector in Wales who

frequently report harassment, intimidation and threats? And that

even a good friend of mine who represents... You have had two

questions already, can you draw to a conclusion, please? Highlighted

to me through his case work that this was a particularly growing

problem in his representation of employees in publicly-funded

organisations? And Les there's hard evidence of that it is hard to

comment but I do know that they transparency report is

significantly English competition - - and Les -- unless there is hard

Corruption and cash for access does reach your government because

you're civil servants have been involved in the chemistry club

which is an �1,800 per year networking event for senior civil

servants and politicians. This was previously banned by the Cabinet

Office and has now suddenly been allowed once again. This perception

that you pay for access to senior civil servants and ministers must

stop, whichever party you take part I know of no example of

professional lobbyists paying for access to senior civil servants or

indeed politicians. If the member has evidence, that is a serious

allegation and I suggest he produces it. Excuse me? Order.

Order. Can we have no more chit chat from the backbenches,

including you, Simon Thomas. First Minister, would you like me Hale

the move towards transparency from the party over there and perhaps

they could ask and they urge their Prime Minister for an inquiry into

a cash for access matters which have been raised? Yesterday I

watched the unfolding events and the U-turns that happened pretty

much every single hour of the day and clearly there are questions

which must be answered by the Prime Minister. Transparency in

government must apply equally to Whitehall as to every other level

of government. Question 5 has been withdrawn, question number six.

Will the First Minister make a statement on his priorities for

Aberconwy in the next five months? Yes, they are outlined in the

programme for government. As a result of last week's budget, the

UK Government announced the reduction of Bat of some 5% which

will now apply to small cable operated transport systems and I am

delighted that this now applies to the landed no cable-car. Will the

First Minister join it in paying tribute to the UK Government for

announcing this positive initial initiative and for their main

support for small businesses and our tourism industry here in Wales?

Yes, that is an enormous help I am sure to the plan -- to the area. I

hope that the plans for regional play do not mean that they will not

be able to afford the right on it. TRANSLATION: In creating enterprise

zones in the north-west and north- east, what measurements are being

taken to make sure that investment are not suck to those two polls,

particularly in the context of regenerating key strategic sites?

Of course, what we did was ensure that enterprise zones are in every

part of Wales including Pembrokeshire, the valleys and

Anglesey. This perception is important that there is investment

opportunity everywhere in Wales and that is why we ensure that every

enterprise park as a theme in order to ensure that investors are coming

back to an area where skills are already available in order to

ensure that those areas are considered as good places for

investment. If question seven, Jenny rough blow. What action is

the Welsh Government taking to the staff of the challenge of reshaping

health service to meet the needs of patients? The framework has been

developed to support the implementation for health and that

is produced in partnership with staff and representatives. As we

are asking staff to support the reconfiguration of services to

better meet the needs of patients, some of them obviously become

anxious about delivering services in the community where there is

less, so specifically have come it takes staff with us in the

reconfiguration that is desirable and outlined to care for health?

The representatives of staff have a important role to play. They

understand how working differently will bring about a better quality

focused care and I expect that everybody to support this. The NHS

in Wales is facing unprecedented cuts in its budget, �500 million

over the next three years. Record breaking cuts and as a result of

that, services are being reshaped but of course many times service

change is being introduced without any consultation with members of

staff within the NHS. Only last week when I was visiting the

Wrexham hospital, I was told by members of staff on the wards there

that some of the beds were being axed, not being reopened, no

explanation been given to staff about why those service changes had

been introduced until they were actually imposed. What are you

doing to ensure that staff at all levels are being fully engaged in

discussions before changes are implemented in hospitals and not

I congratulate the member for the transparent she shown by his office

with the response to the Cancer charity's mailing that was sent to

all members. -- transparency. We were not able to agree with what

was said by his office. I don't agree that there are record-

breaking cuts. There are �20 billion worth of cuts in the

English NHS. The changes proposed in the NHS will be enormously

expensive. Another figure that has been kept from and members of the

public. Whenever I hear the party opposite talk about the NHS, they

talk about NHS professionals having a role but what they don't do is

talk about what role there is for other people working in the NHS.

They don't seem to count. As far as I'm concerned, we will have an NHS

in Wales that delivers for the people of Wales and fight any

suggestion that nurses in his constituency should be paid less

than nurses in Cheshire. I look forward to his voice, as well as

David Jones, who suggested that teachers in Denby would be more

than happy to be paid less than teachers in England. Last week a

number of health boards published all announced their intention to

reopen minor injuries unit and other services at the start of the

next financial year. Is this the pattern that we can now expect in

our health service, namely that some services are closed in the

last three months in the last financial year and then we opened

in April? For no. We expect health boards to ensure that health

services are available throughout the year and there will be

occasions when it is not possible to retain staff in some members of

the health service but I am very pleased to see that the problems

that existed in some parts of Wales have been resolved. Alcohol Concern

recently reported on the fact that children as young as 10 are more

readily identified with the brands of alcoholic drink than ice-creams.

Drink costs the NHS an extraordinary amount of money every

year. Can I welcome the Welsh Government's campaign aimed at

improving people's alcohol awareness and urge you to do all we

can to tackle the problem of excessive alcohol drinking. Indeed,

it is a priority for the Government and I welcome your support.

Question eight. What steps has he taken to developer the programme

for Government in South Wales Central? We have taken steps to

deliver that in all parts of Wales. We both disagree on how individual

patient funding for beds should be pursued but I take it that the

Government had ordered a review which will be concluded shortly.

That review have -- has not been conclusive and has been very

bureaucratic. Can he give us an assurance that the review has

looked at the entire picture for individual patient medicine

requests, because this is a very contentious issue and I hope that

we are approaching this from a sincere position of trying to get

the best outcome. If it there is any evidence that the opposition

has to support what he says, would be happy to look into it. -- I

would. We know that carers in Wales do excellent work that often goes

unrecognised and but welcome the strong commitment in the programme

for Government to ensure that Welsh carers are provided with a strong

voice. Will you join with me in welcoming the measures taken by a

bond at have counselled to support carers within the county borough? -

- by the Rhondda Council. Will you consider promoting this as an

example of best practice? programme for Government commits us

to refresh and the terror strategy by 2013 and that provides us with

an opportunity to look at this. Supporting inward investment in

Wales must surely be a priority of the programme for Government. Can

you take -- say what programmes -- can you say what steps you have

said to help this? Have we spent a two-years working on getting a

improvement -- getting approval for the airport. We provide an update

on the boss Government's strategy to reduce the number of people in

Wales who smoke? Yes, our action plan drives -- aims to drive down

smoking prevalence levels to 16 % by 2020. The latest figures reveal

that although adult smoking levels have been falling they are still as

high as 23 %. A high a number of boys and girls are smoking at least

weekly. -- high number. Action has already been taken to prevent

children being exposed to second- hand smoke but what progress has

been made in discouraging young people from smoking a tour?

delivery board has been established to drive forward the implementation

of the action plan. Part of that will concentrate on discouraging

young people from smoking in the first place. Our aim is to reduce

the harm caused by smoking tobacco and that of course involves

ensuring that young people are educated about the risks as well as

removing the availability of tobacco products by, for example,

Banningham the sale of cigarettes in certain areas. -- ban him. --

banning. Has your Government taken any steps to dealing with those who

sell cigarettes to children? This is a matter for the police to

enforce that we support any measures to crack down on the

illegal sale of cigarettes to those on the rage and of course the

illegal distribution of cigarettes. Question 10. Will he outline how

the Welsh Government is supporting local businesses in taught fine?

Yes, the details are to be found in the programme for Government.

pool has been hit hard by the downturn and the loss of her iconic

high street names. On top of the �13.5 million of regeneration

funding announced last year, I am pleased that the Welsh Government

has decided to accept most of the recommendations regarding town

centre regeneration. Would you agree that we must do everything we

can to support and improve town centres in places like pointy ball

that are vital to local communities? I agree, town centres

are in difficulties and they have been to many years. The future of

town centres lies in regeneration, yes, but also in examining what

businesses and retail outlets can be sustainable. There are good

examples of businesses that are prospering in town centres do we

need to ensure that we look at the secret of their success to make

sure they can be replicated across Wales. You will be aware of the

great disappointed -- disappointment after the reject

meant -- the rejection of a virtual enterprise zone. This would have

been based around a new digital economy and would have provided a

huge boost. The business Minister said she would support any

proposals that would make a significant economic impact. And

will he direct the boss Government to look again at these proposals

and ask what more can be done to support business in our region?

will be happy to look at any fresh proposals. Question 11. What is the

worst Government doing to deliver disability age? -- a EDF. We are

looking to see what more can be provided. This week I attended a

disability conference and one of the key issues for them was access

to transport. In light of that I welcomed the announcement that new

plastic blue badges with extra security features are going to be

rid -- introduced in Wales. Can I ask you if you will provide us with

updates on the implementation of that scheme? Of course I am happy

to do that. We leave for First Minister's

Questions today. For a couple of weeks you can see more of what is

going on and in our online coverage. Before you do that, why don't you

listen to what our Welsh affairs editor has to say? Let's focus on

the leader's questions. The liveliest was between Carwyn Jones

and Andrew Davies. It was likely, but how much substance was there? I

know that a number of Conservatives feel that Carwyn Jones is succeeded

-- succeeding in swatting him aside. There are struck short reasons to

do with the way that Davies constructs his questions. --

structural reasons. His first question was one that Carwyn Jones

did not need to answer and then he ran out of questions. He gives

these multiple caused questions, meaning that Carwyn Jones can just

pick out the easy bits. -- cause. My feeling is that Andrew Davies

needs to strip down his questions, be more direct and precise, because

Carwyn Jones is sailing through at the moment. Somebody once told me,

when you ask a question, only ask one. What can he do to improve the

situation? It is that. Only ask one question. It is these lengthy

questions with different options allowing Carwyn Jones to pick and

choose from this menu of questions. He needs to be scripted more

tightly and he doesn't want to do the kind of trick question where he

says, what does Cardiff have in common with the other places? What

did he expect? There will be no waffle on this quest -- this