Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. That future will see the generation of at least enough renewable energy to fully meet our own energy needs, while also retaining wealth and value here in Wales. Scaled-up renewable energy, together with actions to reduce energy demand, will secure greater energy resilience and support our net-zero targets.
Mark Drakeford: Fire and rehire is not consistent with Welsh social partnership values. Using the threat of dismissal to diminish employment terms and conditions is an abuse of employer power. We continue to call on the UK Government to legislate to end what the Prime Minister calls a 'completely unacceptable' practice.
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee, which is responsible for the service in Wales, met with Dr Cass in March. As a result, we have a commitment that the review team will work with the Welsh service and providers here, so that we can further define the clinical service model for the future that will be needed in Wales and any identified workforce implications. WHSSC intend to ask...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the Cass review was commissioned by NHS England for NHS England. It is one source of evidence, amongst others, which can be drawn upon in developing services for trans children and young people in Wales.
Mark Drakeford: I certainly do condemn the use of fire and rehire. We supported, as a Welsh Government, the Barry Gardiner private Members' Bill that would have outlawed the practice and made it impossible for it to happen. Unfortunately, the UK Government ordered its Conservative Members of Parliament to oppose the Bill and make sure that it was talked out. Where is the employment Bill in today's Queen's...
Mark Drakeford: It's an important point that the Member makes, Llywydd, and, when the path was in development, there were some challenging small parts of the path where those relationships had to be built up, and sometimes agreements reached. The Welsh Government recognises, of course, that the upkeep of the path is something that has to be constantly attended to. The work of wardens and volunteers in the...
Mark Drakeford: Oh dear. Oh dear. You know a hospital pass when it comes your way in Wales, don't you? [Laughter.] Well, first of all, let me say, Llywydd, I've had the advantage of seeing an advance copy of the group's report, so I know some of the things that it will be recommending: how we can build on the path, how we can extend its reach by making sure that there are circular paths that go inland. I was...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, in 2012, Wales became the first nation in the world to create a dedicated path around an entire coastline. A year-long programme of events and activities will now celebrate that achievement. I thank the Member for leading the independent review of the Wales coast path, and look forward to publication of his report tomorrow.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I'm very pleased that the Hepatitis C Trust has extended its programme to Wales and has appointed two workers to work in that peer-led way. Stigma is very much part of the barrier to people coming forward for treatment for hepatitis C, and person-to-person contact from someone who's been through the process and can demonstrate its success is a way in which we can erode that. Here in...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I'm familiar with the report of the committee, which was of course published in 2019, and its recommendations—I know the Member understands this—have been interrupted by the pandemic. Actually, we have had some very important national evidence as a result of the pandemic, because we've had over 1,000 people who were street homeless back in 2019, when that report was written,...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I can see the benefits of having a national strategy, but there is a national strategy and people working on the national level already. I don't want to see a national fund. If we start having a national fund for hepatitis C, then I can see where that would lead: every group with issues that are important to them—and we know why they're important to them—would want the same...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, while resources were necessarily redirected during the pandemic, the actions taken to address street homelessness brought in large numbers of new patients to receive effective treatment. Key initiatives are now restarting in blood-borne virus services.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, a Bill will come before the Senedd, and there'll be an opportunity for every Member here to try to take the opportunities in the Bill to do more to create a Senedd that reflects the people who live here in Wales. We've succeeded in doing some things over the years, particularly in the Labour Party, but there is more to do. The things that we have agreed today will put that into...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I too am not surprised at the opposition of the Welsh Conservatives to the further development of democracy here in Wales. All the arguments that I hear deployed are exactly the arguments that they deployed in opposing devolution in the first place. This is an entirely unreconstructed party when it comes to these matters. We don't need to pour salt in open wounds here, I'm sure, but...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I do think today is a very significant day in the development of this institution. I brought with me my copy of the Richard commission, and as I was thinking of coming down here this afternoon, I remembered vividly standing alongside the then First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, when he made a telephone call to Lord Richard asking him to chair that commission. And here we are, 20...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I'm happy to look at the issue that the Member raises. We publish a great deal of data on the Welsh workforce. If there are gaps in it that can sensibly be filled, then of course I'm happy to look at the point the Member has raised.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, there's little that I disagree with in what the leader of the opposition has said, and I certainly agree with him about the importance of pharmacists and the part that they play. They're playing a particularly significant part at the moment when there are, for a variety of reasons, shortages of a number of very important medicines that pharmacists have to manage. There are different...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for those important points. He is right to say that we have to train the GP workforce that we need for the future. We have a record number of GP trainees in Wales. We had a period not that long ago when we struggled to fill the number of training places that we had available. Now we're oversubscribed for training places, and that, of course, is being taken into account by...
Mark Drakeford: No, Llywydd, I don't intend to change that policy. It is a policy directly influenced by the voices of young people themselves. I commend to the Member the annual report of the children's commissioner, in which young people in the care system described what it is like to be put up for auction on a website so that their care can be provided by the cheapest bid. That is simply not acceptable...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Jack Sargeant for that additional question. And I think it illustrates the importance of the committee that he chairs and the way in which the Petitions Committee is able to bring the direct testimony of people in Wales to bear on the discussions that we have as a Government and in this Chamber. We are already committed to making sure that the voice of young people is heard...
