speech on silk part 2

Firstly can I congratulate Paul Silk and his colleagues for the clarity and consistency of this report. Unlike some other commission reports I have read the conclusions and recommendations arise from the report and discussion rather than it  appearing to be the other way around.

I believe the most important recommendation is that we move to a reserved powers model. Whilst this does not solve all the problems, Wayne David MP at a discussion held in the House of Commons identified the problem experience regarding Antarctica expeditions including Scottish citizens. If that was the only problems faced with the current model in Wales. I am sure most people would be pleased.

What we have seen in Wales but not in Scotland and Northern Ireland is the referring of legislation to court by the Westminster government including the By laws bill that was unanimously passed here and was in the eyes of most people non contentious.

This emphasis on clarity is all the more prescient when one considers the now almost routine referrals of Welsh Bills to the Supreme Court. Since 2011, Bills affecting fields as diverse as Agricultural Payments, local government by-laws and asbestos compensation have been referred to the Supreme Court, a process which has only highlighted the confusion over the boundaries of the Welsh devolution settlement

Just to reiterate something I have said several times before the reserved powers model is not about additional powers it is about clarity over the devolution settlement.

Wales has a conferred powers devolution model. This makes the Welsh settlement different from Scotland, Northern Ireland and other major European countries which enjoy the reserved powers model.

Welsh devolution urgently needs changing to the reserved powers model which gives greater clarity over what is and is not devolved. It is a telling point that this is the method used not just in Northern Ireland and Scotland, but across mainland Europe.

However, the main lesson from continental Europe’s experience of devolution is that while there are many different ways of creating a devolved structure, all have the reserved powers model in common.

This leads to the big question of what powers should be reserved.

Starting with the obvious ones such as defence, foreign policy, criminal law, citizenship, currency and money, the unity of the custom and trading area, benefits including the state pension, and overseas aid.

This leads on to the question of pay rates and policing

We have agreed we do not want regional pay so devolving teachers pay will lead to one of two outcomes

1)          Just follow the English pay rates

2)          Have variable pay so that 2 teachers living in Wrexham will be paid different rates if one works in Wrexham and the other in Chester

I do not believe either is the right solution and I am someone who believes in a National pay scheme

On Policing devolution of most policing is the preferred model across Europe and the USA but with national security, Terrorism and cross border issues dealt with centrally

In conclusion

I welcome the Silk commission part 2 report and hope that the reserved powers model can be implemented as soon as is practicable but the next stage is to organize the further devolution of appropriate powers possibly following the northern Ireland model where they have been agreed to be devolved but get devolved when the northern Ireland assembly votes by 2/3 or more to do so.

 

 

scottish independence

This is purely a matter for those living in Scotland but we know a number of things from the  previous splittng of countries including the amicable split of Czecoslovakia and the less amicable split of Sudan

1) Each country has its own currency
2) Each country has its own central bank
3) Each country has its own defence force
4)Each countries defence force stays within its own boundaries (Crimea has shown what can happen when a major defence force is in a different Country)
5) Each country can agree the share of the national debt or as in the case of Sudan go to arbitration
6) Each country becomes reponsible for its own tax rates, benefit rates including pensions
7) Each country will issue its own passport
8) The Country breaking away will have to renegotiate, if it wants to, all treaties and membership of all organisations as it is  a new country
9) Each country will have its own embassies
10) Free movement will depend on both being EU members

Does anyone outside the SNP believe that either Italy or Spain would not object to Scotland joining the EU to deter separatists in the Venice region and Catalonia

knotweed speech

To my constituents, the term ‘non-native invasive species’ means only one thing: Japanese knotweed, or, as it is known locally, Sally rhubarb, due to a similarity in shape and colour to rhubarb, though unfortunately not in height. I heard the Minister at the weekend describe how, when he was growing up in Tredegar, he thought all rivers were multi-coloured; when I grew up in Plasmarl in the Swansea East constituency, I thought that everywhere was covered in knotweed.		Senedd.tv FideoVideo
	Japanese knotweed is a plant native to Japan, Taiwan and northern China. It was first introduced to the UK in the early 1800s as an ornamental plant, unfortunately. The plant can grow in excess of 3m in height and is commonly seen on river banks, alongside train lines and on waste ground. In Swansea, we have at least five train lines running through the constituency: the London main line, the Swansea to Fishguard line, the Port Talbot to Felindre and Trostre line, the Swansea Valley to the docks line and the LMS line. With the exception of the LMS line, all of these lines run along steep banks. Knotweed was used to protect the banks from collapse and to protect the railway line in its journey along the Valley floor. Unfortunately, it has not stayed there; due to a whole range of things happening, it has spread throughout the whole of the constituency.
	Each year, public authorities in the UK spend about £1.6 billion in treating and removing Japanese knotweed. A recent estimate put the cost to the British economy at £165 million. In the UK, Japanese knotweed has no natural predators or controls. Consequently, it has been able to colonise areas throughout the country with, I believe, the exception of only the Orkney isles. The plant is extremely invasive and thrives on disturbance. The tiniest piece of stem can regrow, and can be spread both by natural means and by human activity—often on the soles of shoes, or attached to coats or jackets. It threatens the survival of native plant species and insects and native animal species.
	Other problems include the accumulation of litter among the stems; riverside erosion when knotweed dies back; and damage to buildings, pavements and car parks. Knotweed is able to grow through both asphalt and concrete. Concreting over will not solve the problem.
	There are few lenders who will finance the purchase of property if knotweed is present in the garden, in a neighbouring property or, more likely, in the area, often on land of unknown ownership. This is causing difficulty for those looking to sell and get a mortgage. The presence of knotweed devalues a property massively and causes huge problems to the people concerned.
	Linking to yesterday’s debate on the housing Bill, there are now a number of reluctant landlords unable to sell their houses due to knotweed, often on adjoining land that has no known owner. They are unable to sell their property so they become landlords and rent out their property because it is the only thing that they can do with it.
	There are two main types of treatment for knotweed: physical control and chemical methods. In July 2009 the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs announced a plan to release a native—I hope I get this right—psyllid bug aphalara itadori into the wild. It is a natural enemy of the knotweed. It is the first time that biocontrols have been used in the European Union to fight a weed. Initially it would be deployed at a limited number of test sites before wider release in England and Wales. The Centre for Agricultural Bioscience International is currently halfway through a study and has reported that the insect is coping well in the UK.
	The sites, I understand, are meant to be secret, but there is a general belief locally that one of them is in Swansea East. Recent estimates put Swansea alone at having 62,000 tonnes of knotweed, equivalent to the weight of 400 blue whales. The overall infestation has been estimated to cost about £9.5 million in chemical treatment, and will take approximately 50 years to eradicate using conventional methods and current treatment rates, and that is without taking into consideration its spread to new areas. Over the past 10 years, Swansea council alone has spent over £200,000 on controlling knotweed.
	I end with three questions to the Minister. If Natural Resources Wales becomes the lead organisation for addressing invasive, non-native species, does it mean that extra funding will be given to its annual budget to deal with this substantial knotweed problem? Will areas with a high concentration of knotweed, like Swansea, have additional support? Finally, although studies are ongoing, can the Welsh Government give any positive, meaningful news on combating knotweed using biologically controlled test sites in Wales using the Aphalara itadori insect native to Japan? In many respects, knotweed is one of the biggest issues in the whole of my constituency, dwarfing a range of other issues that people treat as the big issues of the day.

housing bill

	As most people are aware, there has been a substantial growth in private rented properties across Wales. As the number of council houses and flats are reduced, the private rented sector has filled some of the gap. There is currently a voluntary landlord accreditation scheme run by Cardiff Council on behalf of the 22 local authorities, and a key element of the new legislation is to establish a comprehensive online database of all private landlords and letting management agents in the private rented sector. After a private landlord or agent registers, they will then have to become accredited following attendance of an approved training scheme. Agents will have to join an approved body, and at least two thirds of their staff must be trained. We have some people who are bad landlords by default. They do not mean to be bad landlords; they just do not know enough to not be, and I think that this is an opportunity to solve that problem. It should improve standards in the private rented sector and provide more information on a landlord to local authorities.
	In Swansea, many landlords live far away from Swansea and have bought houses as investments. I do not think that it is asking too much for houses to be checked for gas, carbon monoxide, fire and electrical safety prior to being rented out. We need to raise the awareness of landlords and tenants of their respective rights and responsibilities. The Bill also sets out to allow councils to charge a higher rate of council tax on empty properties and allows housing associations to give assured tenancies and deals with the abolition of the housing revenue account subsidy, so a portion of the rent paid by council tenants will no longer be returned to the Treasury. The Bill seeks to prevent people from becoming homeless and builds on the work currently being done by local authorities on homelessness prevention, where Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council was identified as an example of best practice. The legislation aims to ensure greater emphasis on preventing homelessness, extending the help available and improving the services to those not considered to be in priority need, and to improve the ability of local authorities to offer secure accommodation via the private rented sector, which is becoming more and more important as the amount of council housing continues to reduce.
	The two major changes are that, from 2019, a local authority will be expected to secure accommodation for households with children even if they have been found to be intentionally homeless, but only for the first time in the past five years.
	In the committee, the most contentious part of the proposed legislation was the removal of the automatic right of all former prisoners to be given housing priority. If the legislation is successful, they will be assessed in the same way as all other applicants. This is a policy that I believe is fair and just. I do not believe that, just because someone is an ex-prisoner, they should have greater rights than anyone else. Everyone’s housing requirements should be assessed on their needs equally, and not on anything else. I also correct the false rumours circulating that applicants who are subject to immigration control are not eligible for assistance under the Housing Act 1996. The intended effect is that fewer households will suffer homelessness, that there will be better prevention work and increased help for those who currently receive limited assistance, and, more importantly, choices for those facing homelessness. Unless there is an increase in the quantity of rental accommodation, then all that is happening is a different way of sharing out rental accommodation. The third major part of the legislation proposes to place a new statutory duty on local authorities to provide new Gypsy and Traveller sites where need has been identified. As we know in Swansea, if official sites are not provided, unofficial sites will be created. The legislation aims to improve the standard of accommodation and to reduce illegal sites and unauthorised encampments. The fourth major part of the legislation sets standards for rent and service charges for local authority housing, ensuring that they are clearly and separately identified. The legislation intends to further facilitate the development of co-operative housing by allowing fully mutual housing co-operatives to grant assured tenancies, protecting the interests of lenders. Housing co-operatives, which, in some European countries, comprise up to 20% of all housing, provide around 1.1% in Britain. The housing co-operative model also provides a substantial amount of accommodation in north America. With a shortage of housing in Wales, I do not believe that we can allow this potential for providing accommodation not to be used. So, I hope that everybody will support this this afternoon.