Calling for a Welsh Government Statement on ‘multiparametric’ MRI scans from NHS Wales for suspected prostate cancer patients, I highlighted concern over the postcode lottery which is denying men in North Wales access to the scans which are available free in South Wales and England. It is unacceptable that men from North Wales who do not have the ability to pay are left wondering whether they have cancer.
I asked the First Minister to listen to the Save the Welsh Independent Living Grant (WILG) Campaign, led by Wrexham’s Nathan Lee Davies, which says that ‘independent living is a rights issue’ and that ‘closing the WILG is a betrayal of disabled people, their families, friends, staff and community’. After devolution of the Independent Living Fund (ILF) in 2015, the Scottish Government established ILF Scotland ‘to ensure our recipients have choice and control over how and when they are supported in all aspects of their daily lives’, and Northern Ireland appointed ILF Scotland to administer the ILF for Northern Ireland, but the Welsh Government is instead giving the money to local authorities for distribution through normal social care provision.
Speaking in the Debate to agree a Welsh Government ‘Emergency’ Bill, the ‘Law Derived from the European Union (Wales) Bill’, I said that “introducing major constitutional legislation under emergency procedure would make necessary and effective scrutiny impossible”. Noting that the Finance Secretary, Mark Drakeford AM, had stated that UK Cabinet Minister David Lidington MP’s speech at Airbus Broughton the previous week “did move a step forward in relation to our concerns”, I said “it is therefore apparent that there is a will in both the UK and Welsh Governments to conclude an agreement which will allow the EU Withdrawal Bill to go forward”.
I asked the Education Secretary to consider a more flexible approach to learning for people with Additional Learning Needs, after concerns were raised with me that a constituent with a 'spiky profile' had been offered a place on a BTEC course ‘on the proviso that he could cope with the Welsh Baccalaureate’.
Assembly engagements included a meeting with British Gas parent, Centrica, to discuss help for vulnerable customers with their energy bills, World Kidney Day event, Marie Curie Lecture, Solicitors Regulation Authority, and Cross Party Group on Small Shops.
I was honoured to be a Guest Judge at the regional heat held in Glyn Ceiriog, Llangollen, of the ‘Strictly Cymru’ dance competition organized by Leonard Cheshire Disability.
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