In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle gives his take on recent news.
Welsh Medium Education
The remarkable growth in demand for Welsh medium education was highlighted in a response to a question posed at Caerphilly council by my Plaid Cymru council colleague, Phil Bevan.
Back in 1996 after local government reorganisation there were seven Welsh medium primary schools with 1,397 primary school pupils on the roll and 897 children being educated in a single secondary.
Fast forward 20 years’ and the change has been remarkable. There are now an additional four Welsh medium schools with 2,470 children being educated. While the number on the roll at Ysgol Gyfun Cwm Rhymni has risen to 1,500 with capacity more than doubling and the school located on two sites.
Annual pupil projects based on births and projected demand, forecast primary numbers with rise further to 2,622 by 2021.
This evidence shows that many more parents are taking the opportunity for their children to be educated in the Welsh language and I fully expect that growth to continue in the years to come. It is a great success story.
Holocaust Memorial Day
I had the privilege to represent the Plaid Cymru Assembly Group at this week’s Welsh Holocaust Memorial Day service at Llandaff Cathedral in Cardiff.
It was very moving and I got the opportunity to chat with Ron Jones, a 98-year-old survivor of the concentration camps.
There were prayers, lessons and wonderful music from Cardiff County & Vale of Glamorgan Youth Choir and String Quartet.
The service was held on the anniversary of the liberation of the extermination camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland.
It is important to keep the memories and lessons of the holocaust alive and it was great to see the involvement of our young people as the survivor numbers fall.
Zero Hours
In questions to the Health Minister I spoke about zero hours contracts. I’m baffled that the Labour Welsh Government is planning to hold a consultation on the impact of these contracts on the retention of domiciliary care workers. The research the government has already commissioned shows it has a negative impact on the retention of these important workers. Zero hours contracts should be scrapped.
Zero hours contracts should be scrapped. says Lindsay Whittle
I,agree, and Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn agrees with him too, but Lindsay ,if you are as serious about this as you profess, why have you and your Plaid Cymru Assembly Members, allowed all sub contract firms at the Assembly to engage all staff on Zero hours contracts at the Assembly? they provide your subsidised meals and refreshements in the Assembly, they serve your subsidised drinks in the bar, and the wines and spirits Assembly members take home to consume in the comfort of thier homes with thier families, purchased on an `off licence` basis from the same heavily subsidised bar, they clean your litter and rubbish in the Assembly, in fact you rub shoulders with these same workers everyday, yet, I am not aware that when contracts are awarded you have objected or ensured sub contracts contain restrictive clauses ensuring all
those engaged to work in the place of the Seat of Welsh Government are assured the rights you seem to suggest should be the case. Actions speak louder than words, and of course there is an election looming, and, a scramble for those Assembly Seats offering secure hours of work and a generous traunch of subsidised drinks meals and transport, a hefty salary, a weighty packet of expenses every month, a gold bottomed pension scheme, and a handsome goodby cheque when they decide to take a rest before enoblement or taking further even more generous well paid, Quango positions
Your comments about contracting staff working at the Assembly being on zero hours contracts are completely inaccurate. Main contractors for maintenance, cleaning and catering all have core hours for their staff and none are on zero hours contacts. They are also paid the Living Wage.
Plaid Cymru Assembly Members do not have any role in employing contractors – all contracts are dealt with by staff of the Assembly Commission, not Assembly Members. For the record no staff of Lindsay Whittle are on zero hours contracts.
The Assembly does not have a bar on site, unlike the number of bars within the Houses of Parliament. There is a Members’ Tea Room but that does not serve alcohol until 6pm – and Lindsay Whittle has not been in there since he was elected in 2011.
Ah, so a ‘tea room’ that serves alcohol in the evening is not a bar? Is this bar subsidised? Triban Wales thinks so, is he right?
‘Main contractors’ have staff with core hours, does this apply to those sub contracted?
Contracts are the responsibility of ‘staff of the Assembly Commission’. A bit of a cop out here, the serving staff all work for the elected members. There area lot of questions to be asked of the way this Assembly is run. I would like our AMs to answer some of them.
You are totally incorrect in respect to the workers employed by sub contractors in the Assembly, The Welsh Assembly declare that they have no rights to interfere with the employment, contractual arrangements, with sub contractors, and have in fact refused to insist on minimum rights for those engaged by sub contractors.
The Contract may well involve `core hours ` with in them, but contains no employment demands in respect to those employed on such contracts. You are therefore Wrong!
And as for AM`s enjoying subsidised Off Licence facilities I rest my case.
I do however remeber the Speaker putting a block on AM`s getting Blotto during the day by taking avantage of cheap booze on site, as I recall, this was after a certain AM throwing his considerable weight around, cigar in hand, after taking too much advantage of the tax payers patronage in subsidising his habit.
Zero-hour contracts: They are a good idea. It is better to keep staff on a zero-hour contract (in some industries they are needed), than hire fewer member of staff on a permanent basis. People often ask the individuals on ZHCs if they support them, lots do.
Welsh medium education: Waste of money and irresponsible parents. Welsh is a language which provides no life opportunities for students. The language must be removed from society. Children taught in Welsh also do worse in GCSEs and A-levels compared to their English-speaking counterparts.