Rebecca Evans: I thank you for that question, and I agree that carers play an absolutely central role in the whole system of social care in Wales, and you’ll be aware that we’re refreshing our carers strategy at the moment. Part of that is looking at young carers, older carers, carers of older people—but also looking to ensure that carers can actually have a life outside caring as well, because we...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for the question. I understand that you had a very useful meeting with members of the board yesterday, and I think that the advent of Social Care Wales is a really exciting time for the provision of social services and social care more widely in Wales. When I was putting together the membership of the board—and I should say we had unprecedented interest in it, which, again, is...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. I formally move the motion and I’d just like to take this opportunity to thank the Finance Committee for its scrutiny of the Bill again. I’ll write formally to the committee to outline my response in detail, but I do intend to respond positively to the majority of those recommendations. And I will lay an amended explanatory memorandum and regulatory impact assessment ahead of...
Rebecca Evans: I do accept that, and the previous Minister for Health and Social Services did make a commitment that if the Bill did succeed in becoming law, he intended to consult on the principle of adding additional procedures to the list covered by the Bill shortly after the Bill’s enactment, and I’d be happy to stand by that commitment. I think it’s important, though, that we don’t regulate...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I’m very grateful to all Members who’ve contributed in this debate this afternoon, and also for the indication of the support for the general principles of the Bill. Obviously, I’ll be responding formally to each of the three committees and all of their recommendations, but I’ll take this opportunity to address what I think are some of the key...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I formally move the motion. I’m pleased to open this debate on the general principles of the Public Health (Wales) Bill. I’m grateful to Dai Lloyd, Huw Irranca-Davies and Simon Thomas and their respective committees for the scrutiny of the Bill so far. I’d also like to acknowledge the valuable contribution of stakeholders, who have engaged with the...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you very much to Caroline Jones for tabling this debate today and to all of the speakers for giving us the opportunity to explore how we can tackle the issue of loneliness and isolation in our Welsh communities, and I wholeheartedly agree that this is an issue that can only be properly addressed if we do work in partnership. Loneliness and...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to provide you with those reassurances that performance hasn’t been affected, and the day-to-day functions of Sport Wales have continued seamlessly throughout. Again, that’s due to the work of the staff who have been doing that. I’m very pleased that you recognise the role that Sport Wales has, and the potential...
Rebecca Evans: I thank the Member for those questions. With regard to the review, it was specifically a governance review, so we didn't ask the reviewers to explore those wider issues of the effectiveness of the organisation and so on. Those were issues that were being looked at by the review that the chair was leading on, and now we’ll be asking a member of the panel that was advising and helping in that...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions. We’ll start with the bit we can agree on, and that is that sport is very much an integral part of our life and our culture here in Wales. The role of Sport Wales is extremely important in that. A strong part of my statement today has been about the importance of the staff at Sport Wales and seeking to offer them some assurance, and to express my personal...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I’d like to update Members on the way forward in relation to the board and governance of Sport Wales. Members will recall, late last year, the decision was taken to suspend the board’s activities, following clear indications that relationships among some board members had become strained, and, as a result, it was not in a position to discharge its duties...
Rebecca Evans: Well, Deputy Presiding Officer, it’s 2017 now, and depending on local needs and circumstances, community hospitals can play an important role in delivering a range of facilities and services, including respite. However, quality care is about more than just buildings and bed numbers. A number of very old and outdated community hospitals have closed in recent years, and I do recognise that...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. In the few minutes I have to respond to the debate today, it would be impossible for me to put in the window everything I’ve got in the shop, to use Hannah’s phrase, because it has been such a wide-ranging debate and we are doing so much in this field. But, I’ll start by saying that the Welsh Government has prioritised social care as a sector of...
Rebecca Evans: Formally.
Rebecca Evans: Well, partnership working, as you describe, is absolutely essential, because there are so many parties involved in terms of helping people who already have an unhealthy relationship with alcohol stop drinking, but also to promote responsible drinking as well. The community alcohol partnership, which I’ve just described to Joyce Watson, is one example of how we’re doing that. In December,...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for the question. We do currently, under our existing settlement, have the power to legislate, but, unfortunately, despite numerous arguments made to the UK Government, this is one of the powers that they have sought to remove from the Assembly for the future—but we do still very much support the introduction of minimum unit pricing as an additional lever in order to reduce...
Rebecca Evans: We’re investing almost £50 million a year in our substance misuse agenda, which includes taking a range of actions to help reduce alcohol misuse in Wales. Details are set out in our latest substance misuse delivery plan for 2016 to 2018.
Rebecca Evans: Well, just to pick up on the comment you made on aids and adaptations, I think that we should be looking at whether people’s needs are being met, not whether or not there has been an increase or a decrease in the percentage of certain aids and adaptations that are being installed. If you have specific examples locally as to where people haven’t had their needs met through aids and...
Rebecca Evans: You’re absolutely right to say that we do take a very different approach to the one that we see in England in terms of our support for social services because, of course, the UK Government has abdicated its responsibility for social services in putting the burden on councils to raise council tax to pay for social care locally, which I think is an unfair approach and one that we wouldn’t...
Rebecca Evans: Yes, I absolutely agree that social care has a role to play in preventing unnecessary hospital admissions and ensuring that people can have a step-down service to return home as quickly as possible. We know that staying in hospital for too long is obviously bad for the individual in terms of their health and their well-being, which is exactly what the intermediate care fund is doing in terms...
