Agenda and minutes

Venue: Committee Room 1 - Senedd. View directions

Contact: Graeme Francis 

Media

Senedd.TV: View the webcast

Transcript: Transcript for 07/01/2020 - Petitions Committee - Fifth Senedd

Items
Expected timing No. Item

1.

Introduction, apologies, substitutions and declarations of interest

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

Apologies were received from Michelle Brown and Neil McEvoy.

2.

New petitions

2.1

P-05-921 Earlier notification of council budgets by the Welsh Government #SaveOurServices

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition for the first time. Members agreed to thank the petitioners for raising this matter through the petitions process but to close the petition because there is little action that the Committee is able to take, given that delays this year were caused by the timing of the UK General Election and following the publication of the draft budget and provisional local government settlement on 16 December.

 

2.2

P-05-925 Don't leave Wales behind - teach menstrual wellbeing in schools

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition for the first time and agreed to write back to the Minister for Education to ask whether the Welsh Government would consider adding specific reference to menstrual wellbeing into the What Matters statement on physical health and well-being, as proposed by Endometriosis UK.

2.3

P-05-926 To Provide a Chronic Fatigue Department in Wales

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition for the first time and agreed to write back to the Minister for Health and Social Services to ask:

·                     for information about the membership, remit and programme of the steering group, including an overview of how service user representatives are identified; and

·                     for the Welsh Government’s response to criticisms made by Dr Charles Shepherd about the provision of services in the Welsh NHS.

2.4

P-05-927 Changing Places toilet facilities

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition for the first time and agreed to write back to the Minister for Housing and Local Government to ask her to provide timescales for consideration of advice over the options for increasing Changing Places toilet provision, and information about the opportunities and criteria for accessing funding to develop new facilities.

2.5

P-05-928 Remove the words which promote the recovery of oil and gas resource from the Welsh National Marine Plan

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition for the first time and agreed to close the petition on the basis that there appears to be little more that the petition could achieve in light of the revisions made to the oil and gas objective in the adopted version of the Welsh National Marine Plan, and the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs’ stated intention to avoid extraction of fossil fuels within the Welsh onshore licence area. The Committee also agreed to thank the petitioner for using the petitions process.

 

3.

Updates to previous petitions

3.1

P-05-839 Adopt WHO Guidelines and Introduce a Clean Air Act for Wales

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to write to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs to ask for more information about how she intends to put the World Health Organisation guidelines into Welsh law, as stated in the draft Clean Air Plan, and to ask about the potential for accelerating the timetable in order to introduce legislation on air pollution during this Assembly term.

3.2

P-05-842 Give young people a voice when commissioning local services in Wales

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed that there appears to be little further that it could achieve at this time, given that the Welsh Government has ruled out introducing new duties. The Committee therefore agreed to close the petition and thank the petitioners for bringing it forward.

3.3

P-05-856 Ban the sale of puppies by pet shops and all commercial 3rd party dealers in Wales

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition alongside P-05-915 Call for better enforcement of puppy farms in Wales and agreed to await a further announcement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs of actions to be taken following the review of dog breeding regulations, before considering whether to take any further actions on the petitions.

3.4

P-05-915 Call for better enforcement of puppy farms in Wales

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition alongside P-05-856 Ban the sale of puppies by pet shops and all commercial 3rd party dealers in Wales (Lucy’s Law) and agreed to await a further announcement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs of actions to be taken following the review of dog breeding regulations, before considering whether to take any further actions on the petitions.

 

3.5

P-05-869 Declare a Climate Emergency and fit all policies with zero-carbon targets

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to keep a watching brief on the Welsh Government’s response to the Climate Change, Environment and Rural Affairs Committee report on progress on climate change, before considering whether it can take any further action.

 

3.6

P-05-877 Children's used uniform scheme

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered further correspondence and agreed to await the views of the petitioner on the response provided by the Minister for Education and the actions taken by the Welsh Government.

 

4.

Paper to note

4.1

P-05-797 Ensure access to the cystic fibrosis medicine, Orkambi, as a matter of urgency

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The paper was noted.

9.45 - 10.30

5.

Evidence session

·         Kirsty Williams AM, Minister for Education

·         Claire Bennett, Deputy Director Curriculum, Welsh Government 

·         Megan Colley, Head of Supporting Achievement & Safeguarding, Welsh Government

 

5.1

Evidence Session: P-05-862 Tackling school bullying

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee heard evidence from the Minister for Education and agreed to accept her offer of an update on the implementation of the new anti-bullying guidance, Rights, Respect, Equality, following a monitoring exercise in the spring.

The Committee also agreed to seek further views from the Children’s Commissioner for Wales and the petitioner following the publication of the guidance.

5.2

Evidence Session: P-05-757 Remove the Obligation on Schools to Hold Acts of Religious Worship

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition alongside P-05-765 Keeping Current Guidelines for Religious Assemblies.

 

The Committee heard evidence from the Minister for Education and agreed, given the clarity provided by the Minister that the Welsh Government will not be taking forward further work on this issue during the current Assembly, that there is little more that can be achieved at this time. The Committee agreed to close the petition, thanking the petitioners for using the petitions process.

5.3

Evidence Session: P-05-765 Keeping Current Guidelines for Religious Assemblies

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the petition alongside P-05-757 Remove the Obligation on Schools to Hold Acts of Religious Worship.

 

The Committee heard evidence from the Minister for Education and agreed, given the clarity provided by the Minister that the Welsh Government will not be taking forward further work on this issue during the current Assembly, that there is little more that can be achieved at this time. The Committee agreed to close the petition, thanking the petitioners for using the petitions process.

 

6.

Motion under Standing Order 17.42 to resolve to exclude the public from the meeting for the following business:

Items 8, 9, 10 and 11.

Minutes:

The motion was agreed.

7.

Discussion of previous evidence session

8.

Consideration of Draft Report

8.1

Consideration of Draft Report: P-04-433 CCTV in Slaughterhouses

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee agreed the report and recommendations.

 

8.2

Welsh Government Correspondence - P-05-916 Adequate funding to protect the welfare of farm animals in Welsh slaughterhouses

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee agreed to incorporate this petition into a report on petition P-04-433 CCTV in Slaughterhouses.

9.

Consideration of Welsh Government response to report on P-05-736 To Make Mental Health Services More Accessible

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the Welsh Government’s response to the Committee’s report and agreed to await publication of the Welsh Government’s Together for Mental Health Delivery Plan 2019-2022 before deciding their next steps.

 

10.

Paper to note: Letter from the Committee on Assembly Electoral Reform

Supporting documents:

Minutes:

The Committee considered the correspondence from the Chair of the Committee on Assembly Electoral Reform and agreed to consider a draft response at it’s next meeting.