Latest news with #HeleddFychan
South Wales Argus
3 days ago
- Politics
- South Wales Argus
Plaid Cymru's Urdd Eisteddfod 'free entry' pledge
The promise supports continued free access to the annual youth festival - which is coming to Newport in 2027 - for families who might otherwise be unable to attend. Heledd Fychan MS, Plaid Cymru's spokesperson on the Welsh language and culture, said: "The importance of Eisteddfod yr Urdd to the Welsh language and culture cannot be understated. "The festival supports young people from across Wales to immerse themselves in the Welsh language and develop their language skills. "Eisteddfod yr Urdd has always, and continues to, play a prominent role in increasing not only the numbers of Welsh speakers but increasing the daily use of Welsh. "That is why a Plaid Cymru Government will ensure that the Eisteddfod can be enjoyed by all, by supporting free access to families from low-income backgrounds." Eisteddfod yr Urdd 2025 has already seen a record 119,593 registrations and a 42 per cent increase in competitors who are Welsh learners. Ms Fychan said the figures highlight the festival's vital role in supporting the use of Welsh beyond the classroom and building confidence among new speakers. She said a Plaid Cymru government would prioritise continued backing for Urdd Gobaith Cymru and its work. Ms Fychan said: "Plaid Cymru remains steadfast in our commitment to supporting and growing the Welsh language, and the work undertaken by the Urdd is central to that vision. "Free entry for low-income families to Eisteddfod yr Urdd is something we have long campaigned for and would be funded by a future Plaid Cymru government."
BBC News
24-05-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Huge opportunity for more family-friendly Senedd, campaigners say
The next Senedd election is a "huge opportunity" to make the Welsh Parliament a more family-friendly place to work, according to equality comments follow calls from a Senedd committee for more "predictable" sitting hours and a creche service to be provided in Cardiff report said the moves would encourage more people with caring responsibilities to stand for a Conservative Member of the Senedd (MS) with three young daughters said the current arrangements were "perfectly fine". The Future Senedd Committee has been looking at how the Welsh Parliament should operate after next May's vote, when the number of MSs will increase from 60 to its report the committee said "every effort should be made to make finish times and the pattern of business as predictable as possible".It said the "uncertainty" that currently exists "creates a barrier for some members, or prospective members, due to its impact on their ability to fulfil caring, or other, responsibilities".The cross-party group said the Senedd should also consider deleting the rule that business in the chamber must begin at 13:30 to allow MSs to set a new working pattern after the next election. Plaid Cymru MS for South Wales Central and committee member Heledd Fychan has a 12-year-old son."Like anyone who works full-time as a parent, it's always a juggle, and definitely being a politician isn't a family-friendly role," she said."You're expected to be available 24 hours a day. If something arises people expect you to be there and it's your job to be there."Fychan said the introduction of hybrid working since Covid had made a "huge difference" but that the Senedd was not family-friendly "to the degrees it could be"."We have to have a creche here. If we say that we're a modern parliament that's the bare minimum."Both the UK and Scottish parliaments provide a creche. However, the Conservative MS for north Wales Sam Rowlands said "the way things are is perfectly fine".The father-of-three commutes to Cardiff Bay every week."We're not a special case as MSs. Lots of people have roles which require them to, at times, have pressure on them and sometimes it makes things difficult with their family."He said MSs were in the Senedd for "36 weeks of the year"."There's a significant amount of time when we're back in our home areas and seeing our families on a far more regular basis," he said. 'Marriages did break down' The calls for the Senedd to introduce more family-friendly measures are not committee heard evidence from former members including ex-Labour politician Christine Chapman who represented Cynon Valley between 1999 and 2016."During the course of that time marriages did break down, relationships suffered, and I think a lot of it was to do with the impact of the sort of lifestyle that members had to undertake," she told Politics Wales."I think things may have been different if the Senedd had continued to really try to promote a better form of family-friendly culture." Nerys Evans, a Plaid Cymru AM between 2007 and 2011, also gave evidence to the a mother of two young children, the former member for Mid and West Wales is hoping to return to Cardiff Bay after next year's said her responsibilities as a mother of two young boys were a "major concern" and had initially held her back from standing again."I had to have a word with myself," she said."Would I ever give this advice to young women not to go for opportunities because they are mothers of children? You've got to be in it to change it." Director of Women's Equality Network Wales, Victoria Vasey, described the election as a "huge opportunity"."The increase in the number of people in the next Senedd means that we are setting the next generation of our elected leaders, and we need to get that right."I think it's absolutely imperative that we see, at the bare minimum, a creche in the Senedd."It's important the Senedd becomes a better place in which to work, an easier place in which to work, where people can really focus on what they need to be doing for their constituents and on the very serious business of running our country."In 2003 the National Assembly for Wales, as the Senedd was then called, became the first parliament in the world to achieve an equal balance of male and female 26 of the 60 MSs are to force political parties to ensure at least 50% of their candidates were women were dropped last year. You can catch Politics Wales on BBC One Wales, 10:00 BST on 25 May on BBC iPlayer
Pembrokeshire Herald
18-05-2025
- Business
- Pembrokeshire Herald
Senedd rejects Conservative calls for £660m tax cuts
SENEDD members voted down Conservative calls to cut taxes for 1.7 million people in Wales. Sam Rowlands said his party would use devolved tax powers to put more money back into people's pockets, saying the average working family would be £450 a year better off as a result. The shadow finance secretary explained the Conservatives would cut the basic rate of income tax by 1p, with people paying 19% in the £12,571 to £50,270 band. The Tory motion also called on the Welsh Government to restore tax relief for the hospitality sector to 75% and abolish business rates altogether for small companies. Mr Rowlands told the Senedd: 'We believe people up and down Wales know how to spend their money better than the government does.' Plaid Cymru MS Heledd Fychan But Heledd Fychan, Plaid Cymru's shadow finance secretary, warned deep cuts to public services would be needed to find almost £300m for such an income tax cut. She said: 'Unfortunately, although we have bidden farewell to the Tories from 10 Downing Street, any hope for change with the arrival of a Labour government has also been dashed. 'The pledges of no additional taxes on working people and no more austerity have been utterly demolished by their actions.' Labour's Mike Hedges argued: 'Taxation is the price we pay for being part of a civilised society. We cannot have Scandinavian-quality public services and American levels of taxes.' He added: 'It's not by random chance or serendipity that those countries with the highest tax levels have the best public services, and those with the lowest tax levels are the poorest.' Finance secretary Mark Drakeford began by referencing Winston Churchill's response when asked about the message voters had given the Conservatives by booting them out in 1945. 'He replied by saying he thought the electorate had said to the Conservative Party it needed to be a very long time before they heard from them again,' the finance secretary said. Finance secretary Mark Drakeford 'That was good advice in 1945 and it's very good advice 80 years later. 'If there's any topic on which the Welsh public was entitled to a period of silence from the Conservative Party, then surely it was the economy. Because here is a party that gave the people of Wales austerity, … Brexit, the party that raised taxes to a 70-year high.' Prof Drakeford told the Senedd the Tory motion would cost the public purse £660m in total. 'We heard the pretence that all that money… can be found from waste,' he said. 'The last refuge of any economic scoundrel, it seems to me, that idea.' The former first minister rejected the notion of closing overseas offices as he made a case for inward investment and economic growth. He said: 'The other idea I heard was that it was to come from the Heads of the Valleys road… there is no saving at all to be made from that bright idea.' 'Instead, the money will have to come from social services for older people, services for children in care, support for bus services, cuts to childcare and to colleges, cuts to support for businesses, cuts to housing support and homelessness services. 'There is no way at all – in the real world of government – that the budget consequences of this motion could be accommodated without harm.' Prof Drakeford urged members to 'vote to put the original motion out of its misery'. Conservative MS Darren Millar Darren Millar, leader of the Tory opposition, hit back, saying: 'Well, as entertaining as they are, I will take no lectures from Professor Drakeford.' Replying to the debate on May 14, he accused Labour of trashing the economy: 'We've got taxes going up, unemployment going up, growth going down, new jobs tax, new inheritance taxes for people to pay, new tourism taxes on the way and massive hikes in council tax.' Mr Millar warned taxpayers are getting increasingly less in return, with cuts to bin collections, libraries and public toilets as well as more potholes and litter on the streets. 'It is totally unacceptable and that's why we need to see a change,' he said. 'I am proud to say I'm a Conservative because I believe in low taxation, unlike the parties on the left whose instinct is to tax anything that moves or anything that thrives and to choke the life out of it.' Senedd members voted 33-12 against the Tory motion before the Welsh Government's 'delete all' amended version was agreed, 23-13 with nine abstaining.
BBC News
05-02-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
National Museum Cardiff contents safe, minister tells Senedd
Collections at a major Welsh museum that closed suddenly on Sunday are safe, Wales' minister for culture has Sargeant says he has been reassured by officials responsible for National Museum Cardiff, which closed because of safety said he looked forward to the museum's doors being open to the public "very soon". The closure has been blamed on a mechanical issue in an isolated area of the opposition Plaid Cymru politician said it was a matter of "grave concern". Plaid's Heledd Fychan, who forced the Welsh government to address the Senedd through a topical question on the issue, said: "I hope you can appreicate why this is of such grave concern."She said the national museum organisation, known as Amgueddfa Cymru, and the National Library of Wales had warned "for a number of years that the state of the buildings, because of chronic under investment by this Welsh Labour government and previous ones, is putting the national collections at risk".She warned that most of the national museum of Brazil's collections were destroyed by fire in 2018. "Repeated warnings fell on deaf ears," she said: "Let me be clear, the museum is closed because of a mechanical issue, not a structural issue."Both the chair and the chief executive of Amgueddfa Cymru have assured me that the national collections in their care are safe."He said the repair team was working "diligently to address this issue.""The museum decided to close the building to ensure that the repairs could be undertaken as quickly as possible with fewer people on site," he MS Rhys ab Owen said the museum was "one of a number of institutions which secured Wales' status as a nation".Its establishment in 1912, he said, was an "important milestone in the history" of the memorial service for the late Welsh Liberal Democrat politician Baroness Randerson is due to be held there, ab Owen asked why it was shut so suddenly. Sargeant replied: "Mechanical issues do happen, and they happen suddenly on certain occasions."
