Angela Burns: Thank you, acting Deputy Presiding Officer. Minister, in the previous—[Interruption.]
Angela Burns: I beg your pardon. [Laughter.]
Angela Burns: Please accept my apologies.
Angela Burns: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. My apologies. Minister, could you just confirm for us, in terms of the consultation that was undertaken by the previous Welsh Government on the additional learning needs Bill—? I know the previous education Minister did say he’d go back out consultation again. There was no element asking parents and carers what they thought about the transportation of their...
Angela Burns: First Minister, I’d like to join with you in saying what wonderful news it was last week. Not only did our Welsh team do as well as they did, but they actually managed to turn someone like me, for whom, I can honestly say, football was of absolutely zero interest, into a passionate supporter. I could probably even talk about the offside rule if I tried hard enough. But I was very proud of...
Angela Burns: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Minister, I’m delighted to see this report today. I called for an independent review of this case and was excoriated—not by the Minister, who gently let me down in this Chamber, but by members of Ceredigion and Pembrokeshire county councils—for calling for an independent review. My reason for calling for an independent review was because of...
Angela Burns: Minister, thank you for this statement. I’m very, very well aware that my colleague Darren Millar has called before for a review on both the independent patient fund and, of course, the Welsh Conservatives have been calling for some kind of treatment fund for many, many years. Going through your statement, I’ve just got a couple of questions. The first is that you referred to some of the...
Angela Burns: Minister, there’s a shortage of community paediatricians in the Hywel Dda health board. One of the areas that this severely impacts is the provision of support and diagnosis for young people and children with autism. Despite reducing waits, we still have some people waiting two to four years for an autistic diagnosis. I don’t need to tell you that the earlier these young people get that...
Angela Burns: Will the Minister provide an update on his priorities for legislation during the fifth Assembly?
Angela Burns: First Minister, given that we now have three health boards that have had targeted intervention, and one health board in special measures, this drive to recruit GPs has to talk about recruiting the whole family, because, otherwise, these GPs will not want to work in areas where they feel that there is not going to be substantial back-up, medically, for them in their practices. And we need to...
Angela Burns: Minister, I’m very grateful for your statement, and I’m very pleased, actually, to see you’ve taken this action, because I think it is time that we supported our health boards more thoroughly. Although, Minister, I do have to say that I lay it entirely at the feet of your Government, your predecessors, that they allowed the health boards to get into this state. I’d like to just talk...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Leader of the house, as you may well know, today is world sepsis day. I declare that this is a subject very close to my heart, and I want to ensure that this often unrecognised illness gains greater public understanding. This illness strikes quickly and kills a third of its targets. It maims another third in some way and leaves them with problems of various...
Angela Burns: 5. What steps is the Minister able to take in order to mitigate any consequential negative effects on the environment caused by business developments? OAQ(5)0020(ERA)
Angela Burns: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. I’m sure, like me, you are a great supporter of rural businesses. However, there is a lot of tension between some of the very large rural businesses, a number of which I have written to you about in the past, and the impact they have and, indeed, I would go so far as to say, the blight effect that they have on local residents in the areas that they are next to....
Angela Burns: 2. Will the Minister outline the Welsh Government’s priorities for ensuring effective community engagement? OAQ(5)0026(CC)
Angela Burns: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. I agree with the comment about local communities being engaged, and of course, throughout Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire I’ve encountered a number of voluntary groups. I admire their community spirit and they produce an enormous amount of work on behalf of the communities they represent. However—and there’s always a ‘however’—I am becoming...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m pleased to move the Welsh Conservative debate motion tabled in the name of my colleague, Paul Davies, in which we ask the National Assembly to note that the retention of the front-line workforce is a major challenge facing the NHS in Wales. We ask the Welsh Government to outline its response to the recent increases in the number of vacancies for...
Angela Burns: Of course.
Angela Burns: Some of it is, and as you listen to the rest of the debate, I think you may be slightly cheered. Granted, the headcount for GPs remains fairly stable. However, there is little recognition that many of those heads are not full time. Not only has the GP’s role changed, but the way patients wish to access their GP has also changed. Patients still wish to see a named GP, and to be able to see...
Angela Burns: Thank you.
