Angela Burns: Well, it wasn't supposed to end like this, was it? We were all supposed to be standing in some local hostelry where I could have been standing you all drinks and saying thank you—thank you so much for your companionship, for friendship, for cross-party relationships that we've forged over the years. I'm going to miss a great many of you, and I wish you all well, whatever it is you're going...
Angela Burns: Thank you very much, Minister. I do appreciate your words. That's very kind of you, and I would reciprocate by saying thank you for your transparency and honesty on some of the occasions that we've had to look at some of the very tough situations that are facing our health and social services. Of course, one of the very tough situations facing us is the provision of cancer treatments to...
Angela Burns: I'm afraid this is where I have a slight difference with you, because everybody talks about 'when the pandemic is over', and I actually think we've gone past that—we've gone past the crisis. We're now in a situation where this is endemic. We're going to have a situation where we're going to be in this position for a long, long time to come. We can't keep saying, 'Oh, we're just in a crisis;...
Angela Burns: You talk about the importance of operational plans, and I agree with you that it's very important to work with all the stakeholders to draft operational plans that are really deliverable. Of course, to make those operational plans really sound, you've got to have good data and really up-to-date coherent information and I'm really pleased that your COVID-19 forward plan does recognise that...
Angela Burns: Diolch, Presiding Officer. Thank you. Minister, your recently published COVID-19 forward plan, I think, is a very fair summary of the situation that we face in Wales today. I think it neatly outlines the challenges that are faced by health and social care. But I also feel it is very short on some key solutions that we need to be seeing. So, for example, could you please explain what specific...
Angela Burns: 4. What action is the Welsh Government taking to improve access to cancer treatments following the COVID-19 pandemic? OQ56492
Angela Burns: Thank you for that, First Minister. As you are very aware, the tourism and hospitality sectors are incredibly important in my constituency of Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire, and last week I held a virtual roundtable with representatives of the sector, from the most upmarket of hotels to pubs and clubs trying to survive this pandemic. I heard the gratitude that they offered for the UK...
Angela Burns: 5. What plans does the Welsh Government have to support businesses as lockdown restrictions are eased? OQ56508
Angela Burns: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I move amendments 1 and 3, tabled in the name of my colleague Mark Isherwood. The staff of our national health service, and those who provide social care to the people of Wales, have been at the forefront of the fight against the spread of COVID-19. They have kept vital services running, held hands that families could not reach, seen death and suffering on a...
Angela Burns: Well, thank you for that, but the reality in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire is, over the last decade and a bit, only one out of the five secondary schools in that constituency have not been in some form of special measures or targeted intervention or needing to improve significantly. Now, with education being hit by COVID over the last 12 months, it's inevitable that the schools that...
Angela Burns: I'd be interested to know, Minister, what steps you take to monitor the expenditure by individual Ministers when you are looking at specific sectors that you wish to develop within Wales. For example, if Wales was to decide to try to become a science superpower, which is where I think we should be heading, and you wanted to put far more investment into research and development, into...
Angela Burns: 11. What steps will you take to monitor the assessments undertaken by ministerial colleagues when allocating expenditure within their portfolios? OQ56442
Angela Burns: 7. What is the Welsh Government doing to improve school standards in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire? OQ56441
Angela Burns: Thank you, Minister, for your statement. Anybody would think there was an election brewing, because this statement very, very clearly puts your ideas of having a social care tax into the long grass, and I'm not surprised at all that you've kicked it there. However, looking back at the inter-ministerial group report, it has most certainly laid the foundations for a Labour social care tax...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Minister, for your statement. I'm very pleased to hear you say so unequivocally that people must go out and get their vaccine, whether it is a Pfizer vaccine or an AstraZeneca, and I join with you in saying that the risk of blood clots from any potential vaccine is far, far less than anything else. Given that, what public message—? And I've heard your message, and I've said it,...
Angela Burns: Nice try to the previous speaker for a general 'doing the evil Tory Government in Westminster down'. First Minister, I did hear your response about private versus public, but of course we all know it was privately employed Kate Bingham who actually very, very successfully protected the United Kingdom, including Wales, on the vaccines, by buying, investing and supporting all of those amazing...
Angela Burns: Before the pandemic, mental health services were struggling with a backlog of inquiries. Wales had the third highest rate out of English and Welsh regions for female suicide and the fourth highest rate for male suicide. And this is the problem, Minister; we have a health service in Wales that was already underfunded and struggling before COVID hit. During this Welsh Parliament term, five of...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. In moving this motion today, I wish to start by expressing how grateful we are to the staff of the NHS. From front-line medics to back-room managers, they've held the line and delivered care and support to many individuals and families during this dreadful time. Without doubt, the NHS has been put under immense pressure by COVID, but the truth is that the...
Angela Burns: Minister, thank you for that response. In my colleague Nick Ramsay's short debate on motor neurone disease last week, you were talking about the 40 weeks for large-scale home adaptations, and of course, it's not just for people with MND. With COVID, having listened to Long Covid Wales's evidence this morning in the health and social care committee, it's pretty obvious that there are going to...
Angela Burns: Minister, we all know that we do need to tackle the polluting of our countryside by outdated farming practices, and the best way of doing this is to ensure that the farming industry is on board with any regulations and changes that you introduce. And in my view, the NVZ regulations passed last week have managed to achieve the opposite, and they've been roundly condemned by farming unions,...
