Angela Burns: I’m pleased that we are able to air our thoughts on the confidence and supply agreement between the Conservative majority in the House of Commons and the DUP, although I think that some of the commentary so far has been so predictable. This election proved a challenge for all of the main parties. Despite voting for Brexit, the electorate were not clear in giving the Conservatives the...
Angela Burns: Yes, indeed I will, Rhun.
Angela Burns: If you’d like to wait until the end of my speech, I might just answer your question for you. Across Europe and many other parts of the world, such deals are common. And let us be clear: you don’t like it, you can’t get over it, but with the most seats and the most votes, only the Conservative Party has the ability and the legitimacy to form the next Government. Do I agree with the DUP...
Angela Burns: No. And let me be clear, I am a Conservative, but above all, I am a Welsh Conservative, so I, for one, will be doing my level best to make sure that Wales gets its fair share. I do understand that Northern Ireland is a special case and does need extra investment. With no representation from the mainland political parties and only the Conservatives standing in some seats over there, it often...
Angela Burns: I am going to be but a pale imitation, I think, of the last contributor who gave it her usual amount of great gusto. I am very pleased to participate in this debate, because I think one of the mistakes that we sometimes make is that we think education is linear: children are born, they go to primary school, they skip along to secondary school, they go to FE, HE and pop put the other end and...
Angela Burns: Good afternoon, Cabinet Secretary, and thank you very much for your statement today. We’re delighted to read of the progress that has been made, because we do welcome the £80 million commitment by Welsh Government over the next five years, and we welcome the plan—or your intention for the proper plan to be put in place—for the implementation of NICE recommendations, and we think it...
Angela Burns: Cabinet Secretary, thank you very much for your statement today. This is still a service in its infancy, and I have questions in three specific areas. The first is about resources, both human and financial. I wondered if you can give us a bit more of an overview as to how the intended pulling together of NHS Direct Wales and GP out-of-hours will go, based on the experiences that you have in...
Angela Burns: I’m delighted to be able to speak to this statement and like you, Cabinet Secretary, I would like to add my thanks to Dr Ruth Hussey and to the members of the panel for their work on this. I’ve appreciated very much the open and transparent way in which the chair and the panel have engaged with me and, I know, with other Assembly Member colleagues and with the Health, Social Care and...
Angela Burns: Cabinet Secretary, I too would like to thank the campaigners and Julie Morgan and the cross-party group for their tenaciousness and determination in following this subject to this conclusion. ‘One of the biggest treatment disasters in the history of the NHS’, and that was the motion passed in the House of Commons in 2016, and I think it sums up the scale of this scandal exactly. What I...
Angela Burns: I’m very delighted to be able to speak in today’s debate. It must be very hard, Cabinet Secretary, because I know that money is not infinite, but, as David Melding says, this is not a marginal issue, and these young people have every right to access the quality of treatment that we would expect throughout the entire NHS. The long and the short of it is that Wales should have a...
Angela Burns: Will you take an intervention?
Angela Burns: I’m very grateful to you, Cabinet Secretary, for taking a quick intervention. I’m delighted to hear the strands of work that you’re bringing together. Could you just quickly touch upon the case of undiagnosed young people? Because this deals with those who we know have it, and about them getting the service. I think a number of people who took part in this debate raised the numbers of...
Angela Burns: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline the Welsh Government’s plans to promote economic development in west Wales during the fifth Assembly? OAQ(5)0201(EI)
Angela Burns: Thank you for that, Cabinet Secretary. As you will know, the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park covers vast swathes of my constituency, and the decisions taken by them can have major impacts on businesses operating either wholly within the park or partly park and partly the rest of Pembrokeshire. Whilst I understand the need for consideration to be offered to the park’s overriding...
Angela Burns: Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, the interim parliamentary review on health and social care has highlighted that there remain significant barriers for good ideas and policies to translate fully throughout the whole of the NHS due to cultural resistance and a fear of failure. There’s a recognition, evidence based, that a significant proportion of the public sector are often doing things...
Angela Burns: Business process re-engineering is never easy to deliver, but the tactics of nudge and leading and culture change are very well evidenced and have been used successfully in the private and public sectors. And I would urge the Cabinet Secretary to engage with organisations like that, because we can all learn, and there are good practices to learn from these kinds of organisations. Whilst the...
Angela Burns: I think that the parliamentary review interim report is very clear on the direction of travel, and my understanding is it has buy-in from not just the health and social care sectors, but also political buy-in in terms of that direction of travel. The question I actually asked you was: is there some kind of oversight going on to ensure that any structural reforms that are currently being...
Angela Burns: Indeed, Cabinet Secretary, you’re talking to one of the politicians who suffered so only last May. I had a very bad bite on my hand, thanks to a random dog, and had outstanding service at Withybush hospital A&E, who performed a lengthy but significant operation to repair my hand. But above all, I was able to return home and, for the rest of the week, I received treatment three times a day...
Angela Burns: Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on the use of radium 223 in the Welsh NHS?
Angela Burns: Minister, thank you for your statement today. I welcome the delivery plan. I’m pleased that it continues to set out a number of ambitious targets to cut smoking rates. I think it does remain shocking that up to two thirds of long-term smokers will die from smoking-related diseases, and I think it is worth reminding ourselves that the US Food and Drug Administration actually summed it up by...
