Darren Millar
Welsh Conservative Party Group Clwyd · Welsh Conservative · Wales
“First Minister—former First Minister, rather—when you first mooted the suggestion of a tourism levy, I was very angry, frankly, on behalf of the businesses in my own constituency that might be affected. And I'm afraid to say that I'm equally angry with this proposal today.”
“Trefnydd, can I call for two statements today? The first is from the Minister with responsibility for skills in relation to apprenticeships. ColegauCymru and the National Training Federation for Wales published a report yesterday to show the impact of the apprenticeship funding cuts in Wales in this financial year.”
“I do think that we need a response from the Welsh Government to this report, and I look to you to procure that for Members from the Minister responsible. Secondly, I've been contacted by many farmers in my constituency regarding the calendar-based approach to slurry spreading and the impact that that is having on their land management.”
“Diolch, Llywydd, and can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement today? I represent communities that have been flooded many times in the past.”
“I'm very concerned about that. I appreciate that you have taken some action, which will hopefully protect and reassure some people who holiday in my constituency. So, caravan owners, for example, are going to be exempt, which I appreciate. There are other areas where I think that you ought to look at exemptions.”
“People in the areas that have been affected by flooding this week need to know that they have a Government that's taking rapid action to be able to resolve the issues that have been identified, and I appreciate the challenges with rapid changes in river levels and things like that, and we don't want a system that is overly sensitive and c…”
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“Can I therefore ask, Cabinet Secretary, whether you will ensure that their roles and responsibilities are looked at to determine whether it is better to have an agency that is focused purely and specifically on flood risk, rather than the myriad of things that NRW is now responsible for in Wales?”
“People in the areas that have been affected by flooding this week need to know that they have a Government that's taking rapid action to be able to resolve the issues that have been identified, and I appreciate the challenges with rapid changes in river levels and things like that, and we don't want a system that is overly sensitive and cries wolf all the time, either. But we do need to make sure that NRW is fit for purpose, and I have concerns that it has far too wide-ranging responsibilities and that, as a result, is not able to focus on flood risk management in the way that it ought to be able to.”
“Diolch, Llywydd, and can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for his statement today? I represent communities that have been flooded many times in the past. Unfortunately, there's one community that was flooded five times in 12 years before appropriate action was taken, and the focus of my question is this: we know that investigations will take place; they always do after a flooding event. But, all too often, the action that flows from those investigations takes far, far too long, and people are not afforded the protection that they need as a result. We know, for example, that the report by Professor Elwen Evans, of the review into the incidents of February 2020 with storms Chiara, Dennis and George, wasn't published until three and a half years later. Well, that's far too long.”
“I will. We've talked a lot about the fact that many of these levies are charged elsewhere in the world, but there's also a significant differential in VAT in most of those places. That isn't the case here in Wales, and I am concerned that if we're not careful, we will completely outprice Wales out of the holiday market. We know that visitor numbers were down last year, 14 per cent on 2019 in Wales, compared to just 4 per cent over the border in England. I think that's because of the messages, frankly, the anti-tourism messages that have been coming from this Government.”
“I'm very concerned about that. I appreciate that you have taken some action, which will hopefully protect and reassure some people who holiday in my constituency. So, caravan owners, for example, are going to be exempt, which I appreciate. There are other areas where I think that you ought to look at exemptions. One of them is those places that people stay when they're on pilgrimages, very often informal accommodation in church halls. That at the moment doesn't appear to have been exempted, but I would appreciate if you could consider exempting those from these provisions. I think also we've talked a lot about the fact that these are—”
“First Minister—former First Minister, rather—when you first mooted the suggestion of a tourism levy, I was very angry, frankly, on behalf of the businesses in my own constituency that might be affected. And I'm afraid to say that I'm equally angry with this proposal today. One thing that we know is that visitors who come to places like Rhyl, Colwyn Bay, Llandudno, many of them are price-sensitive visitors. They are people who make a choice based on an extra £50 or £60. If someone comes on a holiday and it costs them an extra £84 for a fortnight for a family of four, that's quite a lot of money for those people who are just about able to go on holiday for that year, and people will choose to go to the coasts of the north-west of England rather than the north Wales coast, or they'll choose to go to the Lake district instead of Snowdonia.”
“I do think that we need a response from the Welsh Government to this report, and I look to you to procure that for Members from the Minister responsible. Secondly, I've been contacted by many farmers in my constituency regarding the calendar-based approach to slurry spreading and the impact that that is having on their land management. We all know that a science-based approach to the spreading of slurry is more appropriate and that there are weather conditions outside the current period during which slurry is prohibited from being spread that are suitable for slurry spreading. So, I think we do need to have a further discussion on this issue in order to move the Welsh Government's policy agenda to one that is backed by science and frankly not by a simple calendar approach, which isn't working.”
“Trefnydd, can I call for two statements today? The first is from the Minister with responsibility for skills in relation to apprenticeships. ColegauCymru and the National Training Federation for Wales published a report yesterday to show the impact of the apprenticeship funding cuts in Wales in this financial year. Those cuts, according to the report, resulted in a hit to the Welsh economy of over £50 million. We saw a massive reduction, a 30 per cent reduction, in health and social care apprenticeships, and a 20 per cent reduction in construction apprenticeships—two very important pillars of our economy, and obviously, from a health and social care point of view, very important for our public services as well. What's worse is that those cuts in apprenticeships seem to have had a bigger impact in deprived communities than elsewhere.”
“So, can I ask what has the Welsh Government done, in conjunction with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, to assess the likely impact on mortality for those urgent cases of the many extra miles that people will now be required to travel in order to access these vital services?”
“Cabinet Secretary, people are concerned in north Wales. They're concerned about the fragility of a number of services, and this, I'm afraid, is just the latest issue that is flagging up in the media with our constituents, and is, understandably, going to cause some angst and alarm. The reality is that whilst it might affect only a small number of people, the impact or the potential safety implications for those individuals are very, very significant indeed, given the long distances, particularly for urgent cases that are not planned, which need this sort of surgery.”
“It's important that we continue to do that, and that's why I fully support the calls that have been made in this Chamber in recent months to make sure that there's a formal delegation from this Senedd that goes to Ukraine to show our solidarity as a Parliament with the Ukrainian Parliament and its people. Thank you.”
“One of the things that struck me when I visited Ukraine just a couple of months after the war had started was how important the physical presence of people from other nations going to show your care and appreciation of the situation was. It's one thing to pick up the phone or to send an e-mail or to say something in this Chamber about how much you care and support a nation that is in the midst of a terrible and devastating war, but it's another thing when you turn up and you embrace those people in your arms. I want to pay tribute to the fact that Mick Antoniw, Alun Davies and others have done just that.”
“We must do all that we can to send the message that Wales loves Ukraine, that we support its quest for freedom, that the people of Wales will continue to do all that they can to champion the Ukrainian people, that we will continue to host those who need safe refuge in our nation, and that we will support those charities and organisations that continue to work to make sure that we're the best hosts that we can possibly be. And if I may just say, in terms of the Senedd 4 Ukraine group, one of the things that struck me when I visited Ukraine—and I know I've gone beyond my time, Llywydd, but I appreciate your patience—”
“Some of the things that have been said on the campaign trail have, to me, been very worrying indeed. Because, of course, if any part of the territory of Ukraine is ceded in a deal with Putin, then we face the prospect of an even more unstable world, where any autocrat or nation can invade another, and on the basis of there being a stalemate or some difficulties or a war becoming bogged down, then people will be forced to subscribe to terms that they do not want to subscribe to and cede some of their land. That is not the sort of world that I want to live in and I very much hope that that's not a place that we get to in the next 12 months or so if there is a policy change.”
“We know that Donetsk, Yuzovka—I think that's right in terms of the pronunciation—was founded by a Welsh industrialist using techniques that had been exported from Wales in order to industrialise that whole part and region of Ukraine. These are strong ties between the people of Ukraine and the people of Wales that, yes, we celebrate today and remember today, but in the context of what is a horrific situation, where the sovereignty of Ukraine has been breached by the Russians, who seem to continue to be taking ground. I have to say I'm very concerned about the prospects and the future, going forward, because we know that there's a possibility of a significant policy change by the United States, given the election of a new President, President Trump.”
“Of course, he paid with his own life in the end, when he was a victim of what is regarded as probably an assassination attempt in Japanese-occupied Inner Mongolia in 1935, by the Soviet regime. And all of us, no doubt, in this Chamber will want to pay tribute to his memory here in this Chamber today. I know that the Senedd 4 Ukraine group, so ably led by Mick Antoniw, with, of course, Alun Davies and others supporting, has already secured the permission for a plaque to be erected in Ukraine to mark the role of Gareth Jones and his work in exposing what was going on with the Holodomor. He isn't the only link, of course, to Ukraine and Wales.”
“The famine was just the culmination of all of these things being brought together as an assault on the Ukrainian nation and the nationhood that was being sparked there. Quite rightly, the motion today does refer to the role of Gareth Jones, a Welshman who, in the 1930s, played a crucial role in exposing the Holodomor and what was going on in Ukraine to the rest of the world. I first became aware of his work after watching the 2019 film Mr Jones. I had no idea that it was a Welshman that was involved in exposing what had happened until I saw that film, and that's a tragedy. That's a tragedy that people in Wales aren't taught about these things, aren't educated about the important role that Welsh journalists have played.”
“They were deliberately inflicted upon the people of Ukraine by a Soviet regime run by Stalin that ruthlessly pursued a goal of industrialisation no matter what the human cost and that drove the collectivisation of farmland and the mass seizure of grain. The result of that was this very fertile and extremely productive land in what is now known as the bread basket of Europe was subjected to one of the worst famines in history. Of course, it wasn't just the famine that was evidence of the genocidal attempts of the Soviet regime; there was the persecution of the intellectuals, the faith leaders, attacks on churches and others in that land as well, and any political opponents that spoke out against the Soviet regime.”
“Can I thank the Government, and, indeed, the other political parties, for the way in which they worked together to co-operate in co-tabling this debate some 12 months after the recognition by this Senedd, one of the first Parliaments in the world to recognise the Holodomor as a genocide? Of course, the Holodomor is a chapter of history that was for far too long in the west not known, and it was a story that was not told. Some 3 million to 4 million victims, at least, were casualties of that famine, one of the worst losses of life in human history, and, of course, understandably, because of that, it is a defining moment for the nation of Ukraine. But they were not accidental losses of life, they were absolutely deliberate.”
“Can I thank the Cabinet Secretary for the advance copy of her statement this afternoon? There's much that we agree on. We all, of course, in this Chamber, want to ensure that we have a strong and vibrant democracy, and that at all levels of society, represented in their town halls, county halls and, indeed, here in this Senedd too.”
“There is action that the Welsh Government could be taking to address the problem: we could deal with the prevalence of betting shops in some deprived communities, through changes in the planning system; we could do more to educate young people about the harms of problem gambling in our schools, through the curriculum; and, of course, we could develop a national gambling addiction service, which we don't currently have in Wales that other parts of the UK currently do. I think it would be good to have a debate or a statement in this Chamber, from the Government, so that we can discuss these things as a Senedd as a whole, and take forward some concrete actions to get to grips with this problem once and for all, given that gambling is a public health menace.”
“Minister, can I call for a statement from the Minister in the Welsh Government responsible for public health? We all know that problem gambling is an issue that is prevalent across Wales and the rest of the United Kingdom, but there doesn't seem to be a great deal of action forthcoming from the Welsh Government to address this problem, and yet we know that it's ruining lives, it's ruining people's relationships, it's causing many to lose their homes, businesses, and even some people, unfortunately, to go to the lengths of taking their own lives.”
“Thank you for that brief answer, Cabinet Secretary. One of the priorities that people in my constituency, and indeed the wider communities of Conwy and Denbighshire, want to see on your list is the delivery of a new community hospital for the people of north Denbighshire. It's long been promised, but thus far, unfortunately, there has been insufficient progress on the delivery of that promise. It's been 11 years since you made an announcement that there was going to be a new hospital with additional beds to take pressure off Glan Clwyd Hospital just down the road. When can people expect to see an announcement on the funding being available to deliver that project, so that once and for all we can deal with some of the acute pressures in our acute hospital site?”
“3. A wnaiff yr Ysgrifennydd Cabinet ddatganiad am flaenoriaethau gwariant Llywodraeth Cymru ar gyfer yr arian ychwanegol a ddyrannwyd iddi yng nghyllideb Llywodraeth y DU? OQ61848”
“But more than that, we need to make sure that our Veterans' Commissioner for Wales is a permanent feature and appointment in our country, so that we can ensure that that person makes sure that we all do our bit to uphold the armed forces covenant. We must continue to invest in Veterans NHS Wales and make sure that those peer mentors, that are not available in some parts of the country, are in the future. And we must also do everything that we can to work together collaboratively on these things on a cross-party basis in order to realise the very best for those that we represent.”
“By the time it got to Hamburg, only 5,000 of those troops had not fallen casualty in some way, shape or form. Just think about the impact that that must have had on each and every one of them under the leadership of Major General Robert Knox Ross, and some of his family members were there in 's-Hertogenbosch this year. These are some of the things that we must always make sure that we remember and we must always ensure that we are cognisant of the fact that there are always improvements that can be made to the services that we provide, absolutely. And I would firmly say on the record, Peredur, that I do believe that we do need to make more inroads in terms of veterans' housing solutions, which was something that you specifically referred to.”
“They etched them after liberating that town from the evils of the Nazi regime that had oppressed it for such a long time. I think it's difficult for us in this nation, having not been occupied by the evil of the Nazis, to understand or comprehend what it must have been like to live under that sort of oppression. So, we must always make sure that we remember the extremely difficult circumstances that our troops often go into. Some of the figures cited about the liberation of 's-Hertogenbosch were quite remarkable. Not only were there 146 soldiers, the youngest of whom was 19, the eldest of which was just 39, that were killed in that battle to liberate that town, but they were part of a 15,000-strong division that started in northern France and eventually made its way all the way to Hamburg.”
“And it was very appropriate, therefore, that Alun Davies was present with me at those commemorations, along with the Deputy First Minister, in order to just see how important it is for that particular city, which claims to be the most Welsh city in the Netherlands—and I can tell you, there were plenty of Welsh flags being flown around that city, and I know the former First Minister was there for the seventy-fifth anniversary of these events—but just how proud and how glad that city was to have been liberated by those troops from the fifty-third Welsh division all those years ago. We were guests of the mayor, Jack Mikkers, who told us that every single day, while he's in the town hall, he is reminded of that liberation, because the names of the soldiers that liberated that city are etched into the windows of the town hall.”
“Then, there's the eightieth anniversary of the battle of Kohima, which we've marked this year; the eightieth anniversary of the battle of Imphal that we've marked this year. And then more recent conflicts: the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Kosovo conflict and the tenth anniversary of Operation Herrick, which of course was the military operations in Afghanistan, which also affected people across these islands that we represent. The Cabinet Secretary made reference specifically to a commemoration event that took place recently in the Dutch city of 's-Hertogenbosch, where they marked the eightieth anniversary of Operation Alan.”
“It's important that we all do that and that we participate, and that we show our support and our respect for all of those who've fallen, for all of those who were casualties, all of those who've suffered as a result of war and, indeed, survived wars, too. We mustn't forget either that this is not just about the first world war and the second world war, but it really is about all of those other conflicts since, in which Welsh men and women have been, unfortunately, embroiled and involved. There were some key anniversaries this year that we were reminded of by our friends in the Royal British Legion, in a briefing, and I think it's correct for me just to list those, if I may. The first one is the eightieth anniversary of D-day, which we've marked this year.”
“Can I declare an interest as a member of the board of the Reserve Forces and Cadets Association for Wales? I want to echo much of what has been said in the Chamber already this afternoon about the need for us as a nation to continue to be committed to our veterans and to ensure that Wales is an armed forces-friendly nation. I believe that we truly are. We've made huge improvements over the 17 years that I've been a Member of the Senedd at engaging with our veteran community and our armed forces family, and we've realised real improvements in the services that are available for them all. Like many people in this Chamber, I was present at a cenotaph, in Colwyn Bay, as it happens, in my own constituency, this year, but I know that many other people will have been at events in theirs in order to participate in acts of remembrance.”
“I think the pilot has been a success, although we need to do more to raise awareness about the availability of that fund to assist people in overcoming barriers to becoming candidates for election. We must also make sure that it's broader in the future so that it includes the opportunity to overcome some of those other barriers to addressing the diversity challenge that we all face. So, I'd be very pleased if you could confirm that that is something that you will consider—the widening of that particular fund—in the future in your response to me. Thank you.”
“I know that there has been some attempt to reach out, at least, to Cytûn and the Interfaith Council for Wales; you referenced those in our discussions last night. But I do think that some more serious engagement with groups like that, with some of the age-related groups and with some of the groups that are working hard to address other disadvantages that we also need to take into account, and barriers that we need to address, is something that I'd like to assist the Welsh Government in taking forward. Just finally, if I may, I was very pleased to hear the reference to the continuation of an access to elected office fund for those with disabilities.”
“But I will want to assure you of this, Minister: that I will do everything that I can to encourage my political party to engage in adopting some of the ideas and suggestions that are in this draft guidance. We will, of course, respond to the consultation. We will listen, as well, to the voices of other stakeholders as they participate in the ongoing consultation now, which will be completed in January too. We very much hope that when the final guidance is published, it will be more reflective of that broader range of characteristics that I have referred to you about. One of the things that I would like to invite you to do, Minister, is to join me at a future meeting of the cross-party group on faith in order to have some engagement with the faith groups that attend those meetings; I think it's a very useful forum.”
“You gave me some references that you'd made last night, but, again, it seemed to be overly heavy on groups that were interested in gender diversity, and there seemed to be very limited engagement with others, such as faith groups, disability groups, although you'd had some engagement with Disability Wales, the older people's commissioner, young people's groups. All, again, seemed to be devoid of serious engagement—the sort of serious engagement that I would have hoped that the Welsh Government would try to take forward. I know that the status of this guidance is going to be voluntary. Whilst there, obviously, is an obligation on you as a Minister to publish this guidance, and that is a statutory obligation, this, obviously, is going to be voluntary.”
“Now, that's not to say that other protected characteristics are not referenced in the guidance, because, of course, as you've just said, and as is patently clear for anybody who reads the guidance, there are references to other aspects of diversity, but they're not sufficiently well emphasised, in my view. You've said that you've had some engagement with stakeholders in the development of the guidance. As I say, I'm a political stakeholder—you've had no engagement with me prior to, literally, last night, and then today in this Chamber. Could you outline a little more the engagement that you've had with stakeholders?”
“Now, as you know, I've long been calling for guidance as a tool in the armoury to be able to assist political parties in Wales in helping to ensure that they put up a slate of diverse candidates at the next Senedd election, and, indeed, at local elections and at UK parliamentary elections in the future. And having read the draft guidance, I think there's some very important work that has been done in its development, but I am a little bit disappointed that it does seem, once again, to overemphasise in particular gender diversity over and above other protected characteristics.”
“Thank you, Minister, for your statement and, indeed, the briefing that you provided to me prior to today. I have to say, as I expressed to you during the briefing that we had, that I'm rather disappointed at the lack of engagement that there has been since your statement that you made that you were withdrawing the gender quota legislation. You told us at that time that you wanted to engage positively with political parties to bring forward some guidance, and yet the only contact I received from your office prior to today's publication of the guidance was a request to attend a briefing with you, which was held yesterday. That isn't the sort of engagement that I wanted to see. I wanted it to be far more collaborative. But, nevertheless, that is where we currently are.”
“They're getting on with this in other parts of the United Kingdom, but Wales seems to be dragging its feet, and there's no sign of any particular campaign taking place in the near future. So can we have an update on that and what the Welsh Government is going to do to address it? Thank you.”
“It's a board that is in special measures under the control of the Welsh Government, and frankly, that you should be allowing this is totally unacceptable. So can we have a statement this week from the Minister responsible for the special measures arrangements so that we can hold the Welsh Government to account for its failure to act on this matter? Can I also call for a further statement from the Cabinet Secretary in relation to the need for a frequent Act FAST campaign in relation to the symptoms of stroke? The Stroke Association was promised by the Welsh Government last October that you would be running a campaign in order to promote awareness of the face, arms, speech and time issues associated with stroke so that we could prevent people from coming to harm.”
“Can I call for a number of statements today? The first is a statement that's required from the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services in relation to the departure of the director of finance at the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board. Many people in my constituency are absolutely outraged, frankly, that the director of finance is going to leave on favourable terms towards the end of the year, despite the fact that there were shocking things identified in the Ernst & Young report, which found that there was false accounting, irregularities and deliberate errors that were being made by individuals in the finance team. Frankly, it is shocking that people are allowed to depart when they should have been sacked. This is over two years since this report was made available to the board.”
“Will you take an intervention? Don't you find it astonishing that Members for north Wales in this Chamber aren't united on all sides of the Chamber about the need for investment in north Wales, in things like the electrification of the north Wales railway line, which I didn't hear the Member opposite refer to, or the investment in hospitals in north Wales, which we're not seeing to the same extent as in the south?”
“Thank you very much indeed. I seem to remember the current Cabinet Secretary for finance making a clear commitment over a decade ago to spend money on a brand-new hospital in Rhyl, which has completely been abandoned and not budgeted for in the Welsh Government's own budget. Will you agree that that's a shocking hypocrisy on his part, not to be making that money available at a time when he's sneering about the previous UK Government and the billions it wanted to invest in Wales, including in high-speed rail services in the north?”
“When it comes to Google searches very few people are searching out Wales and its dark skies opportunities, and that presents an opportunity, I believe, for us. So, can I have an update on the ability of the Welsh Government to look at the feasibility of establishing a new national observatory for Wales in collaboration with our Welsh universities and our national park?”
“Trefnydd, can I ask you for a statement from the Minister with responsibility for science on the opportunity that there is to establish a national observatory here in Wales. It is an issue that I've raised in the Chamber in the past, in particular with your predecessor as Trefnydd in her capacity as the then Minister for north Wales, and she was as keen as I was to explore the opportunity for a national observatory for Wales, particularly in the dark skies around north-east Wales in what will be the new national park covering the Clwydian range and Dee valley. It struck me that there was an article in the news very recently about the quality of the dark skies in Wales. They are amongst the best, the very best, in the world, but unfortunately very few people are aware of them.”
“From speaking with Dr Neil Kitchener, who of course is responsible for leading that service, he reckons that just £0.5 million would be sufficient to make sure that that gold-standard service, with peer mentors, could be available in every part of Wales. And given the fact that next year marks the eightieth anniversary of the end of the second world war, I feel that it would be an appropriate time to place that investment within this service. Is that something that the Welsh Government will consider?”
“Thank you for that answer, First Minister. I would also like to associate myself with the comments and calls made by Hannah Blythyn. Can I return, though, if I may, to Veterans' NHS Wales, a service that we're very proud to have here in Wales? But, as a cross-party group on the armed forces and cadets, we've been looking at the service and whether there's anything that can be done to improve it. One of the improvements that's been suggested to us is the need to embed peer mentors within those services across the whole of Wales. At the moment, there's an inconsistent approach to the use of peer mentors directly by the NHS, and that, I believe, means that some people get a better service than others in some parts of the country, which obviously none of us want to be the case.”