Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I echo, of course, what the Member said about recognising the work that our very committed staff in the national health service do every single day, on this anniversary of the NHS. I agree with him that the time that assessments are taking under the local primary mental health service in Betsi Cadwaladr are not acceptable. There have been some signs of improvement in recent...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, we continue to provide significant and sustained funding to support mental health services. Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board will receive an additional £4.9 million in recurrent mental health funding, starting this year, to help improve access to mental health support.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, let me give the Member an assurance that no dentist in Wales is working for free. Dentists, on average, earn somewhere between £70,000 and £100,000 a year, depending on the nature of their contract. And while I agree very much with what Sarah Murphy said about the commitment that dentists in Wales have shown during the coronavirus period, they are remunerated, and fairly...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, part of the premise of that question is nonsensical, and the Member knew it when he said it, as well. The contract reform, as we have explained many, many times on the floor of the Senedd, was an optional matter. It was for practices to decide whether or not to opt into it. The vast majority of practices have done so; a small minority have decided to make other arrangements. That was...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, 99 per cent of NHS dental contract value in Swansea Bay University Health Board and 88 per cent in Cwm Taf Morgannwg University Health Board will now be undertaken by practices that have opted in to dental contract reform. Working under reform principles creates capacity for new patients to access NHS dental care.
Mark Drakeford: We have put in place the foundations for transformative rail, bus and active travel provision in north Wales. It is vital that UK Government discharges its responsibilities to invest in north Wales rail connectivity to help meet our net-zero targets.
Mark Drakeford: We know that our winter fuel support scheme offered vital support to families and we continue to look at how the scheme can reach more households when it runs again this autumn. The Minister for Social Justice will be making an announcement on the scheme before summer recess.
Mark Drakeford: Ensuring the vibrancy of our town centres is a priority within our programme for government and has been discussed at Cabinet. Both the Minister for Rural Affairs and North Wales and the Deputy Minister for Climate Change have visited Bangor to discuss regeneration plans for the city with key stakeholders.
Mark Drakeford: The St Brides practice gave notice a considerable time before this week, and the neighbouring GP practices, accepting patients who previously would have been looked after by St Brides, have all confirmed that they have the capacity and the workforce to deliver care safely to the agreed cohort of patients. We have 183 GPs in training in Wales this year, not 160, and the number has been...
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government’s policy is to improve access to primary care services by using, to the full, the talents and capabilities of all members of the clinical team. In this way, the time of GPs can be released to respond to the needs of more complex cases.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, thank you to Cefin Campbell for that question. I remember, back in 2015 when the scheme was being created, making those points at that time. Communities in England and communities in Scotland can use the rural fuel duty relief scheme, but nobody in Wales can use that same system. So, I can tell the Member, tomorrow, when we have the opportunity to raise those points—and other...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, thank you to Cefin Campbell for the question. Welsh Ministers take every opportunity to raise these matters with the UK Government. Cost-of-living measures, including fuel poverty, were discussed at last week's meeting of the Finance: Interministerial Standing Committee and they are on the agenda once again for tomorrow's meeting of the Interministerial Standing Committee.
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank the Member for that question. I wouldn't like to get into a contest with him on pub visiting, but I visited a pub in Burry Port recently, which had equally been taken over by two young people, and making an enormous success of it. So, I congratulate his constituents for the work that they are doing and all those young people in Wales who have that initiative and that drive to...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, last week, the Minister for Economy announced further investment to support 1,200 young people to start their own businesses. In addition to direct financial help, the scheme also provides one-to-one advice and guidance, for example, through the Achieve programme, available to young people in Denbighshire.
Mark Drakeford: I'm grateful for the opportunity to set out the facts in relation to the dental contract, because we rehearsed this significantly on the floor of the Senedd at the end of March, when the leader of the opposition told me that not a single practice in the Hywel Dda area was prepared to sign up for the new contract and that there would be a collapse of dental services within a few weeks. In...
Mark Drakeford: Additional investment, contract reform, progressive lifting of COVID restrictions and the opening of the north Wales dental academy are amongst the actions being taken to improve access to NHS dentistry in the Member’s region.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, all health boards—apart from Cardiff, which will begin later this year—now have rapid diagnostic centres. So, I'm not quite sure what problem the Member sees with pace, when they're already happening in six out of seven health boards in Wales. There are three of them operating in north Wales, where Rhun ap Iorwerth will have a direct interest; one in each of the three...
Mark Drakeford: Wel, Llywydd, it's important to give the Wales cancer network, who are working on this plan, the time that they have requested, and we're not talking about more than a matter of weeks before we reach the beginning of September, so I think we are trying to act with urgency, and that's important. I agree that the impact of the pandemic on cancer services has been very great, but people are...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, work to produce the action plan is being carried out by the Wales cancer network. That work will continue through the summer. The Minister expects to receive a draft of the plan in September.
Mark Drakeford: I thank Peter Fox for those points, Llywydd. He's right to say that the Act passed by the UK Parliament is an Act for England only. What it requires is for public authorities to take account of guidance—guidance that, as yet, has not been published. But of course—I certainly give him this commitment—when the guidance is published, we will look to see whether there is anything that we...
