Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much for that response. We know that we are facing serious problems of poverty across Wales. In 2017, the Office for National Statistics announced that Ynys Môn was the area with the lowest gross value added in Britain. Last year, Holyhead was named as the place with the lowest net income in north Wales. And we know that, when we're facing a crisis, a cost-of-living crisis as...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Here we are again—another damning report. We are talking about an inspection that had placed the emergency department at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd in May of last year under the designation of a service that needs substantial improvement. Let's be clear that this is the highest tier of concern that can be expressed, and nothing could be more of an incentive for the Government to act to ensure that...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'Many of the issues have not been fully resolved'.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Well, it's not that they haven't been fully resolved; there have only been minor improvements. There is one sentence that really struck me, namely that, 'Inspectors from Healthcare Inspectorate Wales had to assist one patient who needed help but no member of staff was to be seen'. How appalling is that—that inspectors are not only seeing those deficiencies, but they actually have to step in...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I'm happy to support this legislative proposal, although I should explain that I'm approaching it from a slightly different angle to the Member that moved the motion. I will talk of my experience as a journalist back 20 years ago. I recall during that time, early in my career, in the 1990s, perhaps, there was a great deal of coverage in the Welsh media, in news and so on, as to what was...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention? I know the time is tight, but would the Member agree with me that it can't just be about empowering tourism businesses, but about devising tourism in a way that works, yes, for those businesses, but for the communities in which they operate?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for bringing this motion forward today, Mark Isherwood. I'm very pleased to be able to take part in this debate, and very grateful for the work that was done by the cross-party group on palliative and hospice care in creating the report that forms the basis of this motion before us today. And, of course, we need to remember all of the individuals who are part of the consultation...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It was very, very disappointing to see the announcement that children's hospices are not to receive an increase in financial support for provision of end-of-life care as part of the phase 2 funding and, with no timeline in sight for the commencement of phase 3, the hospices are growing increasingly frustrated and concerned about the future. I appeal to Welsh Government again today to remember...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: To close, as I said, this debate is another opportunity to look at the specific problems that we had in Wales during the pandemic period. But we can't understand those problems properly and we can't learn the lessons stemming from those experiences unless the decisions that were made in Wales are scrutinised properly here in Wales, and that's why we on these benches are still calling for a...
