, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Follow-up inquiry into Empty Properties: Evidence session 1
Sometimes people make houses uninhabitable. There is a house in Penllergaer that is a four-bedroomed detached house, which is very nice and it's on the main road, and the doors have been bricked up, the windows have been bricked up. It's uninhabitable…
, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Follow-up inquiry into Empty Properties: Evidence session 1
If you can give us the numbers—. Can I ask for them in writing after this meeting? But if you could let us know the reasons you've got in percentages, or approximate percentages, for why these properties are empty.
, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Follow-up inquiry into Empty Properties: Evidence session 1
Thank you, that's very useful. Can you give us the percentages for each reason for empty properties? You said that that was a very small number. Can you tell us what the bigger numbers are?
, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Follow-up inquiry into Empty Properties: Evidence session 1
I was going to say, finally from me, that one of the problems is that some of them are empty because of battles over probate, battles over wills, the fact that, even when probate is granted, people want to go to court to say that the will is not fair and that…
, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Follow-up inquiry into Empty Properties: Evidence session 1
I'll ask it in two parts. I think the first one is: how can you have a strategic approach when you don't know the reasons for empty properties? I won't go into detail, but there are about four or five major reasons why properties are empty. Until you know…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Flying Start is a brilliant initiative, despite its flaws. Too many children start nursery with a developmental age of two, while some of the more advanced start with a developmental age approaching four. Some start not toilet trained and with very limited…
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
Thank you for that response.
, Plenary
Questions to the Deputy First Minister and Cabinet Minister for Social Justice
2. How will the Welsh Government ensure that Flying Start and the new 20-hour childcare offer will together be flexible enough to support families' working lives? OQ64565
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Annual scrutiny session with Sport Wales
Women need different toilet facilities to men.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Annual scrutiny session with Sport Wales
Please will you start advocating?
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Annual scrutiny session with Sport Wales
I have two very brief points. I think that you probably both remember when 'Walk, wheel or cycle a mile a day' was the mantra for schools. That's disappeared. Some schools are still doing it, but it's certainly not something that either you, the Welsh…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Thank you. I'm happy.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
The last question I've got is, again, how are we going to get the staff able to speak Welsh competently. And I've been in places—I won't name them—where it's nominally a Welsh-medium institution but, certainly, a lot of staff there use English for most of…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
I'm not confident in Welsh, but happy to speak it to members of my family and friends. I'm not confident to speak Welsh in the Senedd.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
And I think you were talking about people living in Welsh-speaking households, people living in English-speaking households. Some people live in households where one parent speaks Welsh fluently, went all the way through the education system in Welsh, and the…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
And you didn't say anything about Ti a Fi, which is pre-Mudiad Meithrin.
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Ministerial scrutiny session: Cabinet Minister for Education and the Welsh Language
Yes. I believe languages are much easier to learn the younger you start learning them. And those of you who had the advantage, like my daughter, of starting off at Ti a Fi, going through Mudiad Meithrin before starting in school, it's hugely advantageous over…
, Culture, Communications, Cymraeg and Sport Committee
Introductions, apologies and substitutions
I won't run through all of them, but I hold lots of positions in sport organisations.
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning: Building Safety Programme Update
Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the update on the building safety programme and the steps the Government is taking to protect leaseholders and ensure that the homes covered by the programme are safe, and those living in them are treated with…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
Thank you very much for that answer. Let's see if I can keep being on a roll. Access to justice is a core component of the rule of law and yet many areas of Wales are facing a growing crisis in access to legal services. Described as legal deserts, these are…
, Plenary
Questions to the Counsel General
Diolch. What discussion has the Counsel General had with the Law Society regarding securing fully funded level 7 solicitor apprenticeships in Wales? Level 7 solicitor apprenticeships are a well-established route to qualifications in England, allowing aspiring…
, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
The Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026: Evidence session 2
My final question is about supported housing. Are you getting data on supported housing so you can contact the people who may be in the Wallich for three months and then move on to another organisation for six months, and then move into a HMO?
, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
The Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026: Evidence session 2
You will have a lot of students joining in the next couple of weeks. So, the matching system and the work with universities will, obviously, help you with that and you'd hope to get the halls of residence and other university accommodation picked up. So, this…
, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
The Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026: Evidence session 2
The first one is about areas with high turnover. These are areas with students, but also areas with lots of houses in multiple occupation. And Cathays in Cardiff, Treforest in Pontypridd, Uplands in Swansea meet those criteria. How are you going to make sure…
, Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
The Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026: Evidence session 1
Going on from that, would they—the EROs, for example—be able to distinguish between different areas? You could do it more often in areas with high levels of houses in multiple occupation and with high levels of students, rather than in areas that are fairly…
