Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Could I, Presiding Officer, wish you and the First Minister and all Members a very merry Christmas and hopefully a peaceful and happy new year? Yesterday, First Minister, the health Minister met with the Royal College of Nursing and other unions in relation to the pending strike action that is proposed for Thursday of this week and next week. As I understand it,...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, you have the levers to actually generate more money if you choose to pull those levers. You have additional money coming in the announcement that the Chancellor made in his recent announcement of £1.2 billion coming forward over the next two years. You have taken a political choice not to resolve or at least enter meaningful discussions by not tabling any offer whatsoever...
Andrew RT Davies: What is shameless, First Minister, is that people across Wales are in the worst waiting situation of any NHS. Only this week, we had to hear about the issue in Cwmbran where a grandfather was put on a plank in the back of a van, because the ambulance service could not respond to the cry of help from that family to convey him to hospital. What is a serious Government is a serious Government...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. It is remarkable that the First Minister says that this country needs a Government to invest in the NHS when he and his colleagues voted to cut the NHS budget in 2011 and 2012. The record shows that you're the only politicians in this Chamber who have ever voted to cut the NHS budget, First Minister. The other point of difference to other parts of the United...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, I'm not misrepresenting anyone's advice. The British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners, the Royal College of Emergency Medicine, practitioners on the front line, week after week, day after day, last week, were coming out saying that this advice is bad advice, and ultimately it puts patients at harm. That's not me saying it. A quick Google on any...
Andrew RT Davies: I have merely taken the comments and quotes and observations of health professionals, First Minister. I haven't added any of my own words. As I said, the evidence is there for people to see. You say this evidence wasn't rushed out. Twenty-seventh of December to 30 December, that's 72 hours. A fundamental principle was changed in the discharge process, which was having care plans in place for...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, last week, regrettably, Wizz Air chose to leave Cardiff Airport. To date, the Welsh Government have invested or made available to the airport £225 million—nearly £0.25 billion. You are the owners of the airport, albeit you have set up an arm's-length company to operate the airport. Do you believe that £225 million is money well spent?
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, after £0.25 billion, the airport sadly has fewer passengers now than it has had for a very long time. Yes, COVID intervened to obviously affect all airports, but if you take Bristol Airport, it has seen a 22 per cent decline in its passenger numbers but still handles close to 7 million passengers. If you take Birmingham Airport, another competitor, they have seen a 33 per...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, it is our job, when £0.25 billion has been spent on a project by the Welsh Government, to ask the questions that deserve the answers. We have brought two blueprints forward for a successful airport: once when it was purchased back in 2013 and in 2019. Most people would say that £225 million deserves some sort of dividend back and some sort of profitable enterprise. To date,...
Andrew RT Davies: Will you take an intervention, Minister?
Andrew RT Davies: I'm grateful for you taking the intervention. Obviously, you're on a trail now to denigrate the actions of the UK Government. Why is it the case that the first, the second, the third and the fourth largest windfarms in the world are in the United Kingdom—in the world—if the UK Government has been slow to act?
Andrew RT Davies: Will you take another intervention?
Andrew RT Davies: I'm grateful to you, Minister, for being so generous with interventions. And I agree that it was a missed opportunity not to build Swansea tidal lagoon. I agree with that. But an important point that my colleague, Paul Davies, raised was the ability of NRW to license these schemes, and that was an unwritten agenda item to do on behalf of the Welsh Government. NRW would not issue the marine...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, many of us would have watched the tv programme last night and found it deeply uncomfortable, the revelations on BBC Wales about the culture, and the weekly and monthly difficulties that women in sport, in Welsh rugby face. These allegations, obviously, some are proven and some are unproven. I make no direct allegations against any individual, but...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that response, First Minister. I today have written to the Chair of the Culture, Communications, Welsh Language, Sport, and International Relations Committee here in the Senedd, inviting that committee to give consideration to what role it might be able to play in supporting those who've obviously found themselves on the receiving end of this treatment, but also working with the...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, the figures I have quoted you are directly out of the board papers from the Betsi Cadwaladr health board. They're not figures that I have made up. At Abergele hospital, only 15 per cent of that hospital is deemed operationally safe. As I said, across the Betsi Cadwaladr health board area, only 62 per cent of the health estate is deemed operationally safe. Across the whole of...
Andrew RT Davies: 1. What action is the Minister taking to improve economic resilience in South Wales Central? OQ59046
Andrew RT Davies: 2. Will the Minister make a statement on how the NHS in Wales deals with historical complaints? OQ59035
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Before I start, with your permission, Presiding Officer, I'd like to identify with the comments you and the Trefnydd put on the record in relation to the shattering news of the First Minister's loss of his wife over the weekend. Having met Clare on several occasions in my role as leader here and as an MS as well, I realise what a kind and compassionate individual...
Andrew RT Davies: Leader of the house, it has been some years now, obviously, since the Grenfell tragedy. The inquiry into the Grenfell tragedy has concluded its work, and we await its report. As I said, in the UK Parliament, the legislation has been passed to give comfort to residents who live in these orphan buildings—there is one literally just up the road from here—who find themselves in the horrendous...
