Speeches by Davies.

“I have a company in my constituency, Thermal Earth, which uses water from a disused mine to heat its HQ in Capel Hendre. The technology is there. The opportunities are vast. Why are we not using this method to heat our homes along the whole of the deep mine coalfield? The whole Amman valley area—Ammanford, Garnant, Gla…”

“You mentioned 18% there. That is a phenomenal number of homes that could be heated by this.”

“Is the funding the barrier? The technology is there.”

“Llanerchindda—now that is a proper Welsh name, is it not?—farm guest house and self-catering cottages in Cynghordy, in the north of my constituency, recently contacted me with serious concerns about the digital switchover. It was one of many businesses to do so. Openreach has no plans to connect that area with commerci…”

“Some 172 of my constituents have been affected by the British Coal staff superannuation scheme scandal. In the autumn Budget, the UK Government released equivalent funds from the miners’ pension scheme, but did not do so for those in the BCSSS. The Government’s failure to release frozen funds is causing immense hardshi…”

“Almost a third of all unpaid carers in Wales live in poverty. That is over 100,000 people caring for the sick, the elderly and the disabled. The Labour First Minister in Wales, Eluned Morgan, has already asked for a Wales-specific impact assessment of welfare cuts. She has not even had the courtesy of a reply. Can the …”

“Very briefly, Mr Poole—I am sorry to ask you to be brief.”

“All I want to know is: what is brand Wales and how can we make the most of it?”

“Very briefly, Professor, do you think the Government should be prioritising skills, as Mr Poole mentioned?”

“Last week we discussed the barriers for inward investment. I will start with Ms Williams and then ask you all in turn, if you want to have a little think about your answers. How can we overcome the barriers, and which should the Government prioritise in order to have the quickest and most effective result?”

“Brilliant. Thank you.”

“The latest scenes coming out of Gaza are truly horrifying. UNICEF says that the reported killing earlier this week of more than 130 children would be the largest single-day child death toll in the past year. As a mam and a mamgu—and just as a human being, actually—I find that truly abhorrent. Is the Minister comfortabl…”

“I offer my condolences to the shadow Leader of the House. Plans to install electricity pylons across my constituency are causing huge concern to many of my constituents. We have a Pencader-based cable-ploughing company, ATP, which specialises in the innovative spider plough technique. It has a low impact on the environ…”

“Nan, from your experience what are the barriers that disincentivise investment into Wales?”

“Would the three of you agree? Professor, do you agree with that? What about other barriers?”

“Can I put the same question to Mr Poole?”

“Thank you. I would like to ask how we would overcome the barriers, but in fairness to Claire we had better move on so that we all get a question in. Perhaps we can follow that up with a written question.”

“Wales will be hit hard by these cuts, with the second-highest proportion of disabled people of working age in the UK. Stripping £5 billion from the system will only increase pressure on other services. Has the Secretary of State secured the approval of her Labour Welsh Government colleagues, as they will be the ones wh…”

“Diolch yn fawr. I am the MP for Caerfyrddin, which is south-west Wales. As you have already noted, reliability is a factor. Personally, I tend to catch the train east of Swansea because of the unreliability of west of Swansea, especially late at night. My part of Wales, south-west Wales, was not covered by either of Lo…”

“To either of you: do you share the Welsh Government’s ambition that GBR Cymru should have its own dedicated enhancement fund?”