Julie James: It's true that using the same data source as previous years does give a fall of 83. However, statisticians have found quality issues with the data, which may mean it's considerably lower. And a more complete measure of GP capacity in Wales is to include all GP practitioners, locums, retainers and registrars. Using that method shows that there's a 0.3 per cent drop of about eight since...
Julie James: Yes, it's true that the introduction of IR35 in the medical profession has probably led locum GPs to consider their taxation affairs. Taxation policy is not devolved to the Welsh Government, but it does affect, obviously, our GP workforce in the same way as it does across the rest of the UK. It's not absolutely clear how it's affecting individual career decisions by GPs, but there are many...
Julie James: Well, again, I just disagree with the take that Rhun ap Iorwerth puts on this, because, as I said earlier, there are a number of ways of looking at how many people work as GPs, as locum GPs, as retained GPs, as GP registrars, in Wales. Many of Wales's medical centres are training practices, which are responsible for training the next generation of GPs. And, as I said in response to the...
Julie James: I'm not quite sure what you mean by that, but social care plays a critical role in helping people live independently, working in partnership with health, the independent and third sectors, to manage demand and improve outcomes for people both in north Wales and nationally. This is why 'Prosperity for All' places social care as a sector of national importance.
Julie James: Yes. We already have several trials in place. It's a matter of great interest to us how we can use medical technologies of all sorts to assist with both social care and, actually, medical care. We have active pilots in place looking at exactly how we can exploit those technologies.
Julie James: I always find it very difficult when the Conservative Party go on about spending, in view of the money—[Interruption.]
Julie James: It's very handy to be able to have a divided brain on this subject, but I am happy to be able to tell the Member that, here in Wales, public spending on personal social services for families and children has gone up by 22 per cent between 2010-11 and 2016-17, which is a considerable difference to the spending rise in England, which is only 5 per cent.
Julie James: Yes, in terms of Allied Healthcare, we are aware of the contractor's requests to go into some kind of administration, and we are working very hard to ensure that we have a good plan in place. I know the Minister has been working very hard to ensure that we have continuity of care practices in place for anybody who could be affected by that, though I hasten to say, so as not to set any hares...
Julie James: If the leader of Plaid Cymru is referring to the European Union (Withdrawal) Bill, then we would prefer to have done the very best for Wales, which we have done.
Julie James: No. I think, again, the hyperbole that's being demonstrated by Plaid Cymru here is really not helpful at all. Just to be absolutely clear, the Welsh Government has secured significant changes to the UK Government's EU withdrawal Bill that protect the devolution settlement, which this party agrees with. Welsh Ministers have come to an agreement with the UK Government that many areas already...
Julie James: I'm afraid the leader of Plaid Cymru has fundamentally misunderstood the powers in the Bill. The UK Government cannot act in place of the Welsh Government, and my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, when he took us through in great detail the Bill only very recently on the floor of the Senedd, explained the way that the freezing of the powers would work, the way that we have got...
Julie James: I think the chances of young people here in Wales are very good indeed, but we could do more and, again, as I emphasise, without the austerity policies of the UK Government, we could do a great deal better.
Julie James: Of course, that was the whole point of the additional learning needs Bill—to give support to those who are most vulnerable in our system. But I do think that it's quite extraordinary to say that it's not money, but it's policy, because, of course, the policies for additional learning needs always involve additional support for the pupil. It's an absolute fact that the more additional...
Julie James: We do teach phonics in Welsh schools. I've personally visited schools and watched their phonics tuition, so I'm absolutely well aware that we teach phonics already. I'm sure that more could be done to teach more children phonics. But I do think the statistics that you're quoting are a little misleading because most dyslexic children have additional time and take different exams. So, I'm...
Julie James: First of all, on his remarks about the First Minister, which I think were particularly ill-judged, the First Minister is, of course, on an extremely important mission to Doha, coming in on the first Qatar Airways flight to Cardiff Airport, something which we're all immensely proud of. And, Llywydd, I feel obliged to say at this point that when I returned to Wales as part of my professional...
Julie James: Of course, the minimum alcohol pricing policy isn't the only policy that we have in place to assist people who suffer from alcohol abuse and substance misuse problems. The leader of UKIP is quite right to say that it can be an issue with austerity that people attempt self-medication and so on, but we're very wedded to making sure that those people have the correct support that they need to be...
Julie James: Well, of course, this party has a very different idea of the state's role in people's lives than UKIP does. I'm not entirely certain that it's consistent in UKIP. But, of course, we have a number of things at our disposal that the Government does indeed do. We have done a very large number of things in public health. So, for example, adult smoking prevalence rates fell to 19 per cent ahead of...
Julie James: Our national transport finance plan sets out our commitments for trunk road improvements across Wales, including the south-east.
Julie James: Yes, I understand, as you just said, Lynne Neagle, that transport officials are meeting with you after this session to discuss the issue in more detail, and we have received a number of concerns about the new road layout and are working with the local authority and the developer responsible for carrying out the work and its design to address the situation as a matter of urgency. I understand...
Julie James: Yes. The Cabinet Secretary is indicating to me that he's more than happy to update Members by way of a statement.
