CALL FOR EVICTION BAN EXTENSION

Plaid Cymru calls for private tenants to be given security needed while coronavirus restrictions remain in place

 

Plaid Cymru has called for the Welsh Government to make a decision to extend the ban on evictions beyond 31 March 2021.

 

While a new law was passed in the Senedd on 23 February that provided more security to tenants, this doesn’t come into effect until ‘spring 2022.’ While the new law will ensure the minimum notice periods in the case of ‘no fault evictions’ must be extended from two to six months it is unclear what happens to private tenants in the interim – and indeed, what will happen after 31 March 2021 for all types of evictions.

 

Under current regulations (The Public Health (Protection from Eviction) (Wales) (Coronavirus) Regulations 2021), the ban on evictions, ban on bailiffs going to houses and the extended notice periods will all come to an end on 31 March 2021. These regulations were brought in on a temporary basis to prevent the risk of private tenants being made homeless during the pandemic.

 

The Welsh Government committed to review these regulations at least every three weeks, but at the last review point on Thursday 18 February, it was decided that no changes would be made. This means that these additional protections will draw to a close on 31 March 2021.

 

The next review point falls on Thursday 11 March, and with an announcement not expected until Friday 12 March, means that this will be the last review point before the end of March.

 

Welsh Government has previously indicated that coronavirus restrictions are unlikely to be lifted in any significant way until Easter at the earliest.

 

Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Housing, Delyth Jewell MS said,

 

“To delay announcing an extension to eviction protection is an assault on private tenants’ stability.

 

“In one breath, the Labour Welsh Government is at pains to tell us that restrictions are unlikely to be significantly changed until Easter, and yet in another, fails to extend security to private tenants, who fear being evicted in the middle of a pandemic.  

 

“Every incremental postponement in a landlord’s ability to evict serves to prolong tenants’ anxiety, since they don’t have a long period of time in which they can feel settled in their homes.

 

“With only one more regulation review period before the end of March, Welsh Government’s last minute approach only increases the cloud hanging over these tenants.”

 

ENDS

NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE

We have to heal the deeper wounds of our nation with a post-Covid programme for government designed to create an economy that works for everyone and deliver a fair deal for families. 

A Plaid Cymru Government if elected on May 6^th would put in place policies to tackle child poverty and the housing crisis and invest to build the best NHS and social care services with more staff on better pay, and free social care for everyone who needs it.

• Universal free childcare from 24 months
• A council tax cut for thousands of families
• 1,000 new doctors and 5,000 new nurses

The grim statistics tell the story. There are 70,000 children in poverty in Wales that don’t even receive free school meals. 67,000 families on housing waiting lists. Over half of our care workers are paid less than the Real Living Wage. 

Let this be the year when we say no more. No more child hunger. No more homelessness and housing crisis. No more poverty pay. 

Britain isn’t working for us anymore – the Britain of my parents’ generation, a brave and hopeful place, no longer exists, it has been erased and, in its place, we have the moral vacuum that is Westminster. 

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed the reality of modern Britain: a state defined by crushing poverty, ruled by a corrupt elite that gives contracts to its friends and denies furlough to its neighbours.

The future cannot be like the past, we cannot simply accept the fantasy island politics thats emanating from Westminster.  That is why we need to choose to decide our own future. 

The poverty we see around us as a nation is not our destiny. This is our moment of truth. Seize that moment and there is nothing that is impossible and nothing we cannot accomplish. 

LEARNING LESSONS?

“A year of education disruption – surely government has learnt some lessons by now?”

 

Siân Gwenllian MS calls for additional measures to keep our schools safe – and open

 

More can be done to help protect school staff and pupils, according to Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Education, Siân Gwenllian MS.

 

Ms Gwenllian says that the Welsh Government’s current approach – with community lockdown as the lever they seem able to pull – is limited in its approach, and more could be done to stop educational premises having to close. These measures include:

 

·       Vaccination: Within each vaccination priority group, move school staff and other key workers, including those that drive school transport, to the top of the list. Children are not currently on the list of those due to receive a vaccine, so school workers could face higher exposure to the virus.

·       Testing: Early identification through school-wide testing is key, particularly when children can often be asymptomatic and yet still transmit the virus.

·       Ventilation: Aerosols containing coronavirus can aggregate in the air in closed indoor spaces such as classrooms. Plaid Cymru is calling for dedicated funding to help educational settings monitor and ventilate their premises adequately. Learners and school staff shouldn’t be prevented from wearing appropriate warm clothing in addition to any uniform. If children are fully prepared for cooler temperatures, then outdoor learning also becomes a possibility.

·       Social distancing in classrooms: When community transmission is high, schools should be given all options to enable socially distanced face to face learning. Including a rota system where a proportion of the class is on-site and the rest off-site. For this to be truly effective, all learners need adequate access to remote learning. While Wales remains in lockdown, and there are unused public buildings, schools should be given the option of using these, if they provide bigger indoor spaces.

 

Ms Gwenllian has renewed calls for a clear catch up education plan, including better monitoring and measurement of digital poverty in Welsh learners.

 

Plaid Cymru’s Shadow Minister for Education, Siân Gwenllian MS said,

 

“It’s been a year of disrupted education but surely the Labour Welsh Government has learnt some lessons about how to open schools safely in the meantime?

 

“The only lever government seems to be able to pull is lockdown. When community transmission is high, they lock us down, and schools inevitably close again. Only when infection rates have dropped in the community, do schools re-open. This approach, while simple, is far too limited.

 

“Parents, learners and staff need reassurance that the school environment is safe, and there are certainly things that can be done to give them confidence, such as more extensive use of ventilation, school workers moved to the top of their vaccine priority group, and schools must be given all options to enable adequate social distancing in classrooms.

 

“With a year of hindsight, it pains me to think how much more face to face education our children and young-people could have had, if Welsh Government had used all the tools in their gift earlier.”

 

ENDS

QUESTIONS FOR WELSH GOVERNMENT

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price has called on the Welsh Government to reveal how much PPE it had in its stockpile prior to the Coronavirus crisis after an investigation by BBC Panorama revealed that the Westminster government failed to buy crucial protective equipment to cope with a pandemic.

According to the investigation, “vital items” including gowns, visors, swabs and body bags were left out of the stockpile when it was set up in 2009 – with “millions” of FFP3 respirator masks also “unaccounted for”.

The investigation also reported that the Westminster Government ignored warnings from its own advisers about the lack of equipment.

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said “the negligence” of the Westminster government had been “laid bare” and strongly criticised them for “utterly failing” to prepare for a pandemic.

However the Plaid Cymru Leader said that the Welsh Government should now reveal how much PPE they had in their pandemic stockpile prior the Coronavirus crisis and whether they were prepared or not.

Mr Price also pressed the Welsh Government to confirm whether they had enough PPE to meet the demand and to “protect” health and care staff.

The Plaid Cymru Leader said the priority should be ensuring that frontline workers were kept safe by having access to the “correct protective equipment” they need. Mr Price said not to do so would be a “dereliction of duty of the worst kind”.

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said,

“The negligence of the Westminster government has been laid bare for all to see. They failed to prepare properly for an inevitable pandemic and this failure has put the lives of front line health and care workers needlessly at risk.

“Morriston hospital in Swansea was included in the BBC’s Panorama investigation as one of the hospitals who suffered due to a lack of PPE. In light of these revelations, the Welsh Government must urgently tell us how much PPE they had in their pandemic stockpile prior to the Coronavirus crisis. Were they at all prepared for the pandemic?

“And do they have enough PPE now to meet the demand and to protect our health and care staff?

“The priority must be ensuring our front line workers are kept safe by having access to enough of the correct protective equipment they need. Not to do so would be a dereliction of duty of the worst kind.

ENDS

TEST! TEST! TEST!

5,000 tests a day by mid-April. That was the Welsh Government’s promise.

Tomorrow, we will reach the middle of the month with nobody expecting the government to achieve that aim. It is an absolute scandal that they have failed so spectacularly to increase testing to the levels we need.

Over the last few days, instead of approaching 5,000 tests per day, Wales has seen fewer than 1,000 daily tests.

Yesterday, without any logical explanation from the government, the new testing centre in Cardiff was closed for the bank holiday. Today, Vaughan Gething, the Health Minister seemed to blame Wales’ lack of testing on Local Authorities.

Two major problems with the Welsh Government’s response are abundantly clear:

1 Following the collapsed deal between the government and Roche, they have failed to increase capacity to the level needed

2 The government has totally failed to ensure that the tests they already have are being used – with an unbelievable amount of key workers having to go without tests despite those tests being available.

The WHO’s message is clear: Test. Test. Test.

Sadly, the Welsh Government’s response has been to Fail. Fail. Fail.

Plaid Cymru is continuing to challenge the government for the answers to why we are so far behind countries across Europe when it comes to testing.

You can read our latest work on our website.

EMERGENCY BASIC INCOME

Welsh and UK Government “must do right thing” as discontent grows amongst self-employed

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price has called upon the Welsh Government to introduce a temporary universal basic income for the next month amid increasing calls for adequate support for the self-employed during the Coronavirus crisis.

The proposed emergency payment would give the self-employed security for a limited period ahead of any further announcement of support from the UK Government.

The Plaid Cymru Leader said the health and economic crisis would leave millions of self-employed, freelance, sole traders and those on zero hours contracts facing “a catastrophic loss of income”.

He said that “certainty” was now urgently needed in the face of the new restrictions on daily life and that the “quickest, simplest, and surest way” of providing that certainty would be an emergency Universal Basic Income for a limited period – introduced on top of other payments including statutory six pay or universal credit.

Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price said,

“The Coronavirus isn’t just a health crisis – it’s an economic crisis.

“Millions of people – particularly the self-employed, freelancers, sole traders, and those working in the gig economy or on zero hours contracts are facing a catastrophic loss of income due to the crisis which will now be exacerbated by the lockdown.

“What’s lacking is what people urgently need - certainty. Certainty that they can pay their bills, certainty that they will be able to put food on the table and certainty that they will get through this.

“That’s why we’re calling on the Welsh Government to provide an emergency Universal Basic Income for a month as the quickest, simplest, and surest way of providing much needed certainty for the self-employed, freelancers and those on zero hours contracts until the UK Government finally step up to the plate.

Shadow Economy Minister Helen Mary Jones added,

“In times such as this, what we need now more than ever is an ambitious and innovative plan that gets to the heart of the issue rather than introducing a patchwork plan.

“Here is an opportunity for the Welsh and UK Government to prove that they can adequately respond to the biggest crisis facing us in recent memory.

ENDS

Editor’s Notes:

A Universal Basic Income at median income would cost £247m for a whole month for the Welsh Government (with backdated payments to the 1^st of March 2020)

• 100% matching of Welsh monthly median income for all 210k self-employed (£295 x 4) £1180 and giving it to all self-employed.

• Total cost = 210k self-employed x £1180. Cost: £247m a month.