Nick Ramsay: You answered that question without using 'project fear', or I could hear the phrase coming from the other side of the Chamber. I do welcome that commitment, Minister, and I know I've been going on about this now for some time, but I've asked you the question because it is very important to the public. I am starting to get people coming to me, who are concerned. I think it is dawning on people...
Nick Ramsay: Minister, this is the first time I've questioned you in your new role, so congratulations on your appointment. I think it's great that there is this renewed focus and emphasis on fostering international relations between the Assembly and other, sometimes troubled, parts of the world. I see from my diary that on Thursday you're hosting an event in the Senedd setting out your international...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you for the opportunity to speak today about the Public Accounts Committee inquiry into NHS Wales informatics systems. Members will recall that last November, the Public Accounts Committee published one of its most damning report to date. In fact, 'scathing' was used to describe our 23-page analysis of NHS Wales informatics systems—NWIS for short. In...
Nick Ramsay: We are particularly concerned at the apparent lack of openness and transparency across the whole system. Digital transformation requires an open culture, but the committee found that the culture at NWIS was the antithesis of this. The auditor general’s report identified a pattern of the organisation being 'overly positive' in reporting its progress. The committee’s evidence gathering...
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I thank all of the Members who've contributed to today's debate? It might have been a little shorter than some debates that we have in this Chamber, but I think that all of the points that Members made were well made and to be welcomed. There have been some recurrent themes that have been touched on by all Members, starting with Mohammad Asghar, who...
Nick Ramsay: Can I thank the finance Minister for today's statement? I think it was only last week that I asked the First Minister for an update on the mutual investment model—I think you were sitting in the Chamber at the same time, Minister—so that's certainly efficiency. Leaving aside the usual preamble that features in many Ministers' statements about austerity, there are some very important...
Nick Ramsay: [Inaudible.]—statistics at your fingertips.
Nick Ramsay: Will the First Minister provide an update on the Welsh Government's policies for promoting economic growth in south-east Wales?
Nick Ramsay: Minister, it does seem ironic that we spend a lot of time in this Chamber talking about listening more to young people, and, indeed, as you've just mentioned in your previous answer, the establishment of a Youth Parliament, which we all welcome and want to see developed to its fullest extent. You mentioned that you think the Youth Parliament would be a vehicle for greater involving pupils'...
Nick Ramsay: 7. Will the Minister make a statement on funding priorities in the education portfolio? OAQ53350
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Weinidog. Could you update us on the next phase of the twenty-first century schools programme? The new Monmouth Comprehensive School in my constituency is pretty much complete and being used and looks fantastic. You've probably had a visit there yourself. As part of the construction of that school, the constructors involved young people with an interest in engineering and...
Nick Ramsay: Well, Neil Hamilton is calling for us all to be more cheerful and we've got to that point of the evening when Mike Hedges is being urged to create a new political party. So, I think it's clearly time we all packed our bags and wound up this debate, which I will allow—[Interruption.]—which I will allow my colleague to do after the Minister has spoken. Look, I think, as Mohammed Asghar said...
Nick Ramsay: Will the Minister provide an update on the construction of new hospitals in south-east Wales?
Nick Ramsay: Will the Minister make a statement on winter pressures in the NHS in south-east Wales?
Nick Ramsay: 6. Will the First Minister make a statement on support for the families of deaf children? OAQ53397
Nick Ramsay: Thank you, First Minister. I'm sure you're aware of the recent news story that Ros and Josh Hannam from Monmouthshire are having to pay £6,000 for sign language classes to help communicate with their deaf daughter, Lola. The couple have received funding through the local authority's sensory and communication service, but are having to fundraise to make up the shortfall themselves—valuable...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. It is regrettable that, just over 18 months on from when I stood here in this Chamber relaying concerns regarding issues of irregularity within the administration and governance arrangements in NRW, following the qualification of Natural Resources Wales's 2015-16 accounts—well, here we go again, following a qualification of the 2017-18 accounts due to the same...
Nick Ramsay: Back in March 2017, the then Auditor General for Wales laid before the Assembly a report on the accounts of NRW, setting out his reasons for qualifying the 2015-16 regulatory opinion on NRW’s financial statements. The report referred to NRW’s decision to award eight high-value timber sales contracts to a sawmill operator in May 2014. As a committee, we conducted an inquiry into these...
Nick Ramsay: Now, we've listened to the chief executive and the chair of the board give assurances that the Grant Thornton review has really gotten to the core of the problems at NRW, and will provide a starting point for a fundamental rebuild. However, we remain concerned that the membership of the board lacks the timber sector knowledge—a point that was raised by Adam Price in questions...
Nick Ramsay: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Can I thank Members who have contributed to today's debate? I think, as has been made clear, there were two fundamental issues at the heart of this debate today: what's gone wrong with governance at NRW and how long it will take to put it right. The fact that NRW has had its accounts qualified for the third year running, and will possibly have them qualified again in...
