With events to mark Remembrance Sunday sadly cut back this year due to the pandemic, I paid tribute to the sacrifice and commitment of those who have served and continue to serve in our Armed forces by taking part in the national two minutes silence. We will remember them.
I attended a Welsh Conservative Shadow Cabinet meeting, where discussion with Local Authority Leaders included concern about the Labour Welsh Government’s handling of its Business Development Grant Fund, which closed just 24 hours after opening for applications, about whether the Welsh Government has provided enough funding to meet demand for the Business Grants it has asked Local Authorities to administer, and about the complexity of the Welsh Government’s Business Grant application forms.
Speaking in the Welsh Parliament, I called for an urgent Welsh Government Statement on ‘Covid-19 Restrictions on Visits to Care Homes in Wales’, after being contacted by North Wales families concerned that the restrictions are having a detrimental impact on their elderly relatives and calling for Covid safe visits to be allowed.
Following the First Minister’s Statement on ‘Health Protection Measures Post Firebreak’, I asked him to respond to calls by Epilepsy Wales, Asthma UK and British Lung Foundation Wales, and Macmillan Cancer Support for health services for people with serious life-threatening conditions, whose lives are being put at risk, to resume.
With the Welsh border to England closed until early December, I also asked him what assurance he can give to Welsh students at English Universities that they will be able to come home when term ends.
Speaking in the Debate on the teaching of Welsh history, I stated “History teaches us that Welsh means British. Wales is named after the term used by the invaders, meaning foreigner in their language, to describe the Britons across our Islands who referred to each other as fellow countrymen and women, Y Cymry”.
Online engagements included a briefing with the Deputy Israeli Ambassador, Cross Party Group on Diabetes, discussing a Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Programme for Wales, the nation with the UK’s highest incidence of Type 2 Diabetes, and the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, questioning witnesses for our inquiry into the impact of COVID-19 on the Voluntary Sector.
I also attended an online meeting hosted by FDF Centre for Independent Living (formerly Flintshire Disability Forum) on the pandemic’s impact on disabled people, and meetings on heritage projects, local economies, Planning issues and Local Government legislation.
Stay safe. If you need my help, email Mark.Isherwood@senedd.wales or call 0300 200 7219.