Andrew RT Davies: I'm grateful for that, Joyce. We are supporting the Government amendment tonight. I want to be crystal clear: the Welsh Conservatives want to see greater flexibility in the system to make sure that we can welcome as many refugees as possible to this country. It's incumbent on us as citizens of the United Kingdom to do that, and we want to pressure our colleagues in Westminster, along with...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I am very proud, to say the least, that it is the Welsh Conservatives that have tabled the motion today, and in particular of the 12 contributors who have put their names forward to speak, and spoken so powerfully and eloquently in today's debate. I've heard on several occasions over two days that words and actions aren't necessarily compatible; well, certainly...
Andrew RT Davies: And Jayne Bryant asked the question about visas. I do believe that there does need to be checks when people are applying to come here, but there is a model we can use; it's the model that was used when the Hong Kong situation was spiralling out of control, and it is supported by the Labour Party in London as well. Anyone who saw Yvette Cooper's comments, the shadow Home Secretary, on Sky News...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, it is with regret that I have to raise with you another report about service failure in Betsi Cadwaladr health board in north Wales. In the most recent report, which made for very distressing reading, we learnt of the failings in mental health services that led to the tragic deaths of two individuals. One patient took their own life, and the other...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, First Minister, for that report. You have been a Minister within the Government for nine years, and the First Minister now for several years, and things clearly are not improving fast enough when it comes to mental health services in north Wales. We are still receiving reports like this, very upsetting reports, and recommendations are not being implemented. Mixed cohorting of...
Andrew RT Davies: The upsetting thing about this, First Minister, is obviously that this was identified as a failure in 2013, and was still identified in 2021 as being a contributory factor to one of these deaths. Also, First Minister, the health Minister and the Government have commissioned Donna Ockenden to undertake several reports into mental health services in north Wales. Sadly, from these reports and...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, is it possible to have a statement from the economy Minister in relation to the Cardiff capital region? We all hope that the Cardiff capital region succeeds in its ambition to increase gross value added and increase the number of quality jobs within its catchment area. Recently, they announced the purchase of the old Aberthaw coal-fired power station site, with a...
Andrew RT Davies: But it is important to understand—. Well, it's in my declaration of interests. So, it is important to understand what the actual accountability thresholds and the scrutiny thresholds are. And importantly, I think, the Senedd needs to consider how it can scrutinise the expenditure that the capital region's making, and, importantly, the goals it set itself. But I want to try and understand...
Andrew RT Davies: 2. Will the Commission provide an update on biodiversity on the Senedd estate? OQ57786
Andrew RT Davies: I thank the Commissioner for that response. As someone who can remember coming down the bay here when it was being redeveloped in the late 1980s and it was a quagmire of black mud, basically, I'm pleased to see that there has been improvement, not just on the Senedd estate, but across the whole bay area. But there is much more we can do. I've raised with the Welsh Government about hedgehog...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, we often talk about the consequences of shutting down parts of the NHS to deal with coronavirus, which has left 20 per cent of the Welsh population on an NHS waiting list, and, of those 20 per cent, one in four people are waiting over a year. But none of those lists contain the waiting times for dentistry. The waits have become so chronic that we...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that answer, First Minister. You identified that there are challenges within the dental service across Wales, but there are in fact 83 fewer dentists working across Welsh health boards than there were in 2020. This is probably not helped by the Government's new NHS dental contract, which professionals—not myself—say reduces focus on regular check-ups, makes dentists choose...
Andrew RT Davies: Clearly, the chair of the dental profession in the Dyfed Powys health board area really does feel that there is a potential for the collapse of services, hence why he has written on behalf of his members to the health Minister on this particular issue. We cannot forget how difficult it has been to access NHS dentistry before the pandemic. The British Dental Association said last year that...
Andrew RT Davies: 2. What discussions has the Minister had with Cardiff capital region regarding its purchase of Aberthaw power station? OQ57832
Andrew RT Davies: 1. What is the Welsh Government doing to tackle mental health waiting lists in Wales? OQ57840
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Minister, for that answer. Obviously, this wasn't part of the original business plan, this purchase of Aberthaw power station, and the plans that have come forward are dynamic, in fairness, with the potential of 5,000 jobs to be created over the medium to long term. In your discussions, have you been assessing how much demand might be placed on Welsh Government...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Minister, for that response. Last year, I questioned you over the referral times in the Cardiff and Vale health board area, and in particular the woeful referral times of the 28-day assessment period, where Cardiff and Vale were only assessing a third of patients, as opposed to a Welsh average of two thirds of patients. Additional money has been made available by the Welsh...
Andrew RT Davies: Will the Member take an intervention?
Andrew RT Davies: I'm really grateful to you for taking the intervention. I could close my eyes now and be listening to a former regional Member from north Wales, the late Brynle Williams, who, some 14 years ago, was raising this very issue on a constant basis about rest stops for drivers and imploring the Welsh Government to actually do that audit and work with providers to uplift their services. Do you agree...
Andrew RT Davies: I'm grateful for that. Could you name me another country that isn't experiencing the cost pressures that we're experiencing in the UK that we could use as an example?
