Plaid Cymru

Speeches and questions

Speeches and questions in Plenary and in committees, newest first. The Llywydd's and deputies' chairing of Plenary is left out.

658 speeches and questions

7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
The problem is a fundamental one. We don't have enough social housing in Wales. We don't have enough to meet the demand, to meet the need that there is—absolutely, obviously, there is not enough there available. The queue is way too long for social housing…
7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
Why do we need to collect that data? I'm not quite sure. Because everybody in Wales deserves to have a safe, affordable home, and that includes social housing as well as other forms of housing. So, I really don't see why we need to collect information around…
7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
The priority of this Government is to ensure that people living here in Wales can access safe, affordable homes, and that goes for everybody living here in Wales. The allocations policy, the national allocations policy, is a framework set by the Welsh…
7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
Thank you very much for outlining more about your question. While some of the existing plans have brought some positive outcomes—we are all aware of some good examples of where energy efficiency plans and programmes have made a very real difference and have…
7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
Thank you for the question. We are supporting households across Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr to improve their home's performance in terms of energy, to improve living standards, to tackle fuel poverty and to reduce carbon emissions. I have allocated £17 million…
7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
Thank you very much for that question, and thank you very much to you for the work that you have done and continue to do in your constituency. I'm familiar, as a local Member, with this kind of scenario too, in terms of these developments not being…
7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
Thank you very much. I'm not familiar with that specific example, but 'Planning Policy Wales' does set out that local planning authorities should plan for the infrastructure needed to meet the needs of communities when new housing developments are considered…
7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
Thank you very much for highlighting this important issue. I would like to join you in praising the Swansea Point residents association. I had the pleasure of meeting one of their representatives a fortnight ago and I clearly remember his description of the…
7 October 2026Plenary
Questions to the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning
Good afternoon. We believe that homes should meet expected standards, be safe and of good quality on the day individuals or families move into their new home. Home owners must have access to effective and straightforward redress. When action is required to…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Thank you very much.
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
It's against the law.
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
But the main point is you're not supposed to use your vote twice.
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Well, the software is about the registration, isn't it? It's not about how people actually use their vote.
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
That's not right.
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
It is a balance, isn't it, of where do you put your resources. In our local authorities, some of the electoral teams have become very, very small because of cuts to public spending where councils have been protecting education and social services, quite…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Thanks. Thank you for the question. In terms of the advantages, I think that I've tried to convince you already that this is an incredibly important thing for us to be doing in Wales. It expands people's ability to use their vote if they wish to do so. I…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
That is something that we do encourage under these regulations. The schools will have data, for example—those that reach the age of 16, for example. I think that the ability to gather that data and then give young people the opportunity to register is…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Your general point regarding trying to simplify the way we collect data is one that's appropriate to be doing. In terms of these regulations, we have set which local data we're hoping that electoral officers will use, and I've written to them talking about…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
That's a really good point that you make there. It exists now, of course; it's not just related to automatic voter registration. Again, it's the mitigation that happens. There are checks and balances within the system now, aren't there? I have a similar…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
That's a very good question in terms of the data that we don't have in Wales. Certainly, our ambition would be to have access to full data sets that belong to the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency, for example. We're not quite there yet, are we, Michael?
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
There are—. Lots of those would be young people as well. And you know, we're ahead of the curve here in Wales in terms of bringing in automatic voter registration. I'm really proud that we're doing this, because it is enhancing our democracy, and countries…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Four hundred thousand people in Wales don't vote because they're not on the register. So, you know, they're missing out on a huge opportunity, aren't they? And many of those are young people. I think it's 48 per cent—?
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
So, the information that we, hopefully, will get now from the universities on their data, which is really up to date since September now, of all the students that they have, will make sure that we're capturing and giving them that opportunity to vote. Because…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
That's a wider point again, isn't it, that you're making, which is in the current system anyway. You know, there are checks and balances that the electoral officers do in the local authorities to try and mitigate against that. But they can't check every…
1 October 2026Local Government, Housing and Planning Committee
Scrutiny of the Cabinet Minister for Local Government, Housing and Planning on the Representation of the People (Electoral Registration without Applications) (Electoral Reform) (Wales) Regulations 2026
Again, that's a wider point, isn't it, about who is actually on the council tax roll and who should be on there. But we are using other data sources, and comparing other data sources, obviously with all the GDPR rules in place as well, so that we have a…