We recognise the intense pressure sometimes experienced by the NHS in Wales, which can result in long stays in emergency departments or assessment spaces. However, we do not support people being routinely treated in inappropriate environments, or incidences where people’s quality of care, privacy

We recognise the intense pressure sometimes experienced by the NHS in Wales, which can result in long stays in emergency departments or assessment spaces. However, we do not support people being routinely treated in inappropriate environments, or incidences where people’s quality of care, privacy

I was encouraged that WAST responded to the highest numbers of ‘Red’ category patients in 8 minutes on record in October 2023. However, there is much for Health Boards to do in reducing long ambulance patient handover delays to free up crews to provide timely responses.

I was encouraged that WAST responded to the highest numbers of ‘Red’ category patients in 8 minutes on record in October 2023. However, there is much for Health Boards to do in reducing long ambulance patient handover delays to free up crews to provide timely responses.

At the end of September 2024, the total number of open pathways waiting over 104 weeks was 66% lower than the high of March 2022. This month we have invested an additional £50m to support health boards to make further improvements by March 2025.

At the end of September 2024, the total number of open pathways waiting over 104 weeks was 66% lower than the high of March 2022. This month we have invested an additional £50m to support health boards to make further improvements by March 2025.

Diolch i Joyce Watson, Dirprwy Lywydd. Rwy'n cymryd yr hyn y mae hi yn ei ddweud am y Bil hwn o ddifrif, yn arbennig, o ystyried ei phrofiad uniongyrchol ei hun o weithio a byw mewn rhan o Gymru lle mae twristiaeth yn cael effaith fawr. Rwy'n credu iddi grisialu'n dda iawn yr ymdeimlad hwnnw o gymesuredd a fu'n absennol iawn mewn rhai cyfraniadau eraill yma y prynhawn yma. Wrth gwrs mae croeso i ymwelwyr i Gymru. Mae'r Bil wedi'i gynllunio i roi hyd yn oed mwy o groeso iddyn nhw yn y dyfodol. Beth mae'r ymwelwyr hynny'n ei ddisgwyl pan fyddan nhw'n dod i weld y wlad brydferth yr ydym mor ffodus i fyw ynddi? Maen nhw'n disgwyl i draethau fod yn lân, maen nhw'n disgwyl i lwybrau gael eu cynnal a'u cadw'n iawn, maen nhw eisiau gallu defnyddio'r ganolfan ymwelwyr, os yw'n bwrw glaw maen nhw eisiau gallu mynd i'r ganolfan hamdden yn lleol hefyd. Yr hyn y mae'r Bil hwn yn ei wneud yn ei ffordd wylaidd iawn yw caniatáu i awdurdodau lleol gasglu'r cyfraniad bach hwnnw—rhatach, fel y dywedodd Joyce Watson, na phaned o goffi—tuag at gynnal y pethau sydd wedi eu denu i'r ardal honno yn y lle cyntaf. Diolch i Joyce am y ffordd y gwnaeth hi grisialu hanfod y Bil hwn.

I thank Joyce Watson, Dirprwy Lywydd. I take what she says particularly seriously on this Bill, given her own direct experience of working and living in a high-impact tourism part of Wales. I thought she captured very well indeed that sense of proportion that has been very absent in some other contributions here this afternoon. Of course visitors are welcome to Wales. The Bill is designed to make them even more welcome in the future. What do those visitors expect when they come to see the beautiful country that we are so lucky to live in? They expect beaches to be clean, they expect footpaths and trails to be properly maintained, they want to be able to use the visitor centre, if it rains they want to be able to go to the leisure centre locally as well. What this Bill does in its very modest way is to allow local authorities to collect that small contribution—cheaper, as Joyce Watson said, than a cup of coffee—towards maintaining the things that have attracted them to that area in the first place. I thank Joyce for the way in which she captured the essence of this Bill.

Diolch yn fawr i Siân Gwenllian hefyd, Dirprwy Lywydd. Dwi'n cytuno, wrth gwrs, gyda hi: pwrpas y Bil yw gwella profiadau ymwelwyr, ond hefyd gwella bywydau pobl leol. Diolch iddi hi am beth ddywedodd hi am bwysigrwydd y rhestr. Mae'r rhestr yn angenrheidiol ar gyfer yr ail Fil, am y pwrpasau y mae Siân Gwenllian wedi cyfeirio atynt. Mae Gweinidogion a swyddogion yn gweithio'n galed ar yr ail Fil. Rydyn ni'n cwrdd â'n gilydd bron bob wythnos nawr i gytuno ar y manylion yn yr ail Fil. Dydy'r dyddiadur ddim o fy mlaen i y prynhawn yma, Dirprwy Lywydd, ond, yn y flwyddyn nesaf, bydd yr ail Fil yn dod o flaen y Senedd am y pwrpasau y mae Siân Gwenllian wedi eu hesbonio y prynhawn yma.

Thank you very much to Siân Gwenllian too, Dirprwy Lywydd. I agree with her, of course: the purpose of the Bill is to improve the visitor experience, but also to improve the lives of local people. I thank her for her comments on the importance of the register. The register is necessary for the second Bill, for the reasons set out by Siân Gwenllian. Ministers and officials are working hard on that second Bill. We meet on an almost weekly basis now to agree on the details of that second Bill. I don't have the dates with me this afternoon, Dirprwy Lywydd, but, next year, the second Bill will come before the Senedd, for the purposes that Siân Gwenllian set out this afternoon.

Rwy'n hapus iawn i'w hadolygu nhw.

I'm very happy to review them.

Fe ddywedoch chi hynny'n union. Roeddech chi'n dweud na ddylai pobl sy'n ymweld ag ardaloedd fod yn cyfrannu at gost y gwasanaethau y maen nhw'n dibynnu arnyn nhw. Mae gwasanaethau achub mynydd, yn amlwg iawn, yn mynd allan i achub pobl sy'n ymweld â'r ardaloedd hynny'n aml iawn. A yw hi'n annheg, Dirprwy Lywydd, y dylai'r ymwelwyr hynny wneud cyfraniad rhesymol iawn wir at gostau darparu'r gwasanaeth, yr oedd Sam yn gwbl briodol i ddweud ei fod yn cael trafferthion o ran cael ei ariannu i wneud yr hyn y mae'n ei wneud?

You said exactly that. You said that people who visit areas should not make a contribution to the cost of the services that they rely on. Mountain rescue services, very clearly, very often go out to rescue people who are visiting those areas. Is it unfair, Dirprwy Lywydd, that those visitors should make a very modest contribution indeed to the costs of providing the service, which Sam quite rightly said was struggling to be funded for what they do?

Wel, Dirprwy Lywydd, ni fethodd yr Aelod erioed â gweld ei chyfle i fynd dros ben llestri. Ac, fel arfer, ni chawsom ein siomi ganddi hi'r prynhawn yma. Ni fyddai ei syniadau hi ynghylch y cydgynllwynio sydd wedi bod ar gyfer llunio'r ardoll ymwelwyr yn gwrthsefyll unrhyw archwiliad. A gadewch i mi roi sicrwydd iddi hi fod yna fesurau diogelu yn y Bil fel na fydd pobl sy'n cael eu rhoi mewn llety oherwydd cam-drin domestig yn talu ardoll ymwelwyr. Felly, gadewch i mi dawelu ei meddwl hi ynglŷn â hynny.

Mae'n sicr mai'r pwynt pwysicaf a wnaeth Janet Finch-Saunders oedd yr un cyntaf. Fe gawn ni ein hanfon i'r fan hon gan y rhai yr ydym ni'n eu cynrychioli, a chredwch chi fi, mae'r bobl sy'n byw mewn ardaloedd sydd â nifer fawr o dwristiaid yn ymweld â nhw yn amlwg iawn o blaid y Bil hwn. Pe byddech chi'n siarad ar ran eich preswylwyr chi, yn hytrach na'ch ymwelwyr chi, nid oes amheuaeth y byddech chi o blaid y Bil hwn.

Yn gynharach y prynhawn 'ma, fe wrandewais i'n astud ar gyfraniad pwysig oddi wrth Aelod arall o'r gogledd, Sam, pan oedd ef yn siarad am ddiogelwch awyr agored ac achub mynydd. Roedd ef yn tynnu sylw at y ffaith fod y sefydliadau hynny'n brin iawn o arian. Yn eich gweledigaeth chi o'r byd, Janet, fe ddylai costau achub mynydd a'r cyfleusterau eraill i gyd sy'n cael eu cynnig i dwristiaid gael eu talu gan bobl sy'n byw yn yr ardaloedd hynny, ond y bobl hynny sy'n ymwelwyr yno, y bobl hynny sydd ag angen—

Well, Dirprwy Lywydd, the Member can never see a top without wanting to go over it. And she, as usual, didn’t disappoint us this afternoon. Her conspiracy-minded ideas of how a visitor levy came about wouldn’t bear any examination. And let me give her an assurance that there are safeguards in the Bill so people who are placed in accommodation because of domestic abuse will not pay a visitor levy. So, let me set her mind at rest on that.

Surely the most important point Janet Finch-Saunders made was the first one. We are sent here by those whom we represent, and, believe me, the people who live in areas that have large numbers of tourists visiting them are very clearly in support of this Bill. If you were speaking on behalf of your residents, rather than your visitors, then there is no doubt you would be in favour of this Bill.

I listened carefully earlier this afternoon to an important contribution from another north Wales Member, Sam, when he talked about outdoor safety and mountain rescue. He pointed out that those organisations are very short of funds. In your view of the world, Janet, all the costs of mountain rescue and other facilities that are offered to tourists should be borne by people who live in those areas, but those people who visit them, those people who need—

Rwy'n diolch i Alun Davies am y pwyntiau pwysig yna, Llywydd. Mae ef yn llygad ei le: diben y Bil yw y bydd hi'n rhaid i unrhyw arian sy'n cael ei godi drwy ardoll ymwelwyr gael ei gadw a'i fuddsoddi o'r newydd yn y cymunedau hynny, ac  mae'n rhaid ei ailfuddsoddi i greu'r amgylchiadau sy'n gwneud y lleoedd hynny'n ddeniadol. Er enghraifft, mae'r Bil yn cyfeirio yn uniongyrchol at gefnogi'r iaith Gymraeg. Fe wyddom ni fod rhai o'r crynoadau mwyaf o dwristiaeth yn digwydd mewn rhannau yng Nghymru lle mae'r iaith ar ei chryfaf. Un o'r rhesymau pam mae pobl yn dod i Gymru ac yn ymweld â'r cymunedau hynny yw oherwydd eu bod nhw'n dymuno bod yn rhywle sydd ag ymdeimlad diwylliannol arbennig o leoliad a phwrpas fel hyn. Fe fydd y Bil yn caniatáu i awdurdodau lleol ailfuddsoddi, yn union fel dywedodd Alun Davies, mewn amgylchiadau a chyfleusterau sy'n ddeniadol i ymwelwyr, ond sy'n caniatáu i'r cymunedau hynny barhau i fod yn lleoedd sydd â'u hynodrwydd eu hunain, a'r hynodrwydd hwnnw sy'n tynnu pobl eraill i ymweld â nhw hefyd.

I thank Alun Davies for those important points, Llywydd. He's absolutely right: the purpose of the Bill is that any funds raised through a visitor levy must be retained and reinvested in those communities, and they must be reinvested in creating the circumstances that make those places attractive. For example, the Bill makes reference directly to supporting the Welsh language. We know that some of the highest concentrations of tourism happen in the parts of Wales where the language is at its strongest. One of the reasons people come to Wales and visit those communities is because they want to be somewhere with that particular cultural sense of place and purpose. The Bill will allow local authorities to reinvest, exactly as Alun Davies said, in circumstances and facilities that are attractive to visitors, but that allow those communities to go on being places that have a character of their own, and it’s that character that brings other people to visit them.

Dirprwy Lywydd, diolch yn fawr i Cefin Campbell a diolch i Cefin am y gwaith roedd e wedi'i wneud o dan do'r gwaith a oedd yn mynd ymlaen rhwng y Llywodraeth a Phlaid Cymru, a diolch iddo am beth ddywedodd e am y gwaith caled mae swyddogion wedi'i wneud. Fel y dywedais i wrth Darren Millar, dwi'n agored i unrhyw ddadl resymol i wella'r Bil. Dwi ddim wedi gweld unrhyw Fil sydd wedi dod o flaen y Senedd sydd ddim wedi cael ei wella trwy'r broses o graffu. Dwi'n hollol hapus i edrych gyda'r pwyllgorau ar sut y gallwn ni fod yn glir y bydd llais busnesau yn cael ei glywed pan fydd yr awdurdodau lleol yn gwneud y penderfyniad am sut i wario'r arian maen nhw'n ei gasglu trwy'r ardoll. A dwi'n siŵr, trwy'r broses o graffu ar y Bil, y bydd syniadau fel yna yn gallu dod i wyneb y ddadl, a dwi'n hollol hapus i'w hystyried nhw pan fyddan nhw'n codi fel yna.

Dirprwy Lywydd, thank you very much to Cefin Campbell and thanks to Cefin for the work that he did under the auspices of the work undertaken by the Government and Plaid Cymru, and thanks to him for what he said about the hard work undertaken by officials on this. As I said to Darren Millar, I'm open to any reasonable proposal to improve the Bill. I haven't seen any Bill that has come before the Senedd that has not been improved through the scrutiny process. I'm entirely happy to look alongside the committees at how we can be clear that the voice of businesses will be heard when local authorities make the decisions on how to spend the funding that they receive through this levy. And I'm sure that, through the scrutiny process, those kinds of ideas will come to the fore in the debate, and I'm entirely happy to consider them when they arise in that way.