Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, let me give the Member just two examples of the actions we can take in the immediate term. One—and there'll be a statement on this next week by the Minister for Health and Social Services—will be to increase the bed capacity of the NHS over this winter, and that's both bed spaces in hospitals, but community services as well, so that people who are in hospital today can be back...
Mark Drakeford: Well, I don't agree with the final point that the leader of Plaid Cymru raised. I don't think that people in Wales will be willing to support the point that he made, and I think that the most important thing about the Welsh language is to maintain the support of people in Wales for everything that we're trying to do. We've succeeded in doing that. There is a strong feeling for the Welsh...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I'm more of an optimist than the leader of Plaid Cymru, but I'm always more of an optimist about Wales than Plaid Cymru is on almost every point. [Interruption.] Yes, I know. They hate it when you point out to them that every time they get to their feet, it's always to give us the most pessimistic view possible of what Wales can achieve. Llywydd, I'm well enough aware of the...
Mark Drakeford: I powerfully welcome the Gordon Brown report, and I powerfully welcome its very specific commitment that the devolution of criminal justice will begin with the next Labour Government. And let's be clear, Llywydd: only a Labour Government will ever be able to set off on that journey and complete it. The Tories won't do it, Plaid Cymru can't do it, only Labour. Only Labour is able to deliver...
Mark Drakeford: Well—[Laughter.]—I thank Hefin David for raising the standard of debate here in the Senedd this afternoon. By working together, we have made real progress on a range of joint commitments that have a direct impact on people's ability to manage during this cost-of-living crisis. These include free school meals, the expansion of free childcare, and measures that help people to live in their...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Hefin David for that, Llywydd. The expert group that was established as part of the co-operation agreement has carried out its work. Its report has been received; we published it on 10 November. We're very grateful to the members of that group for the very detailed consideration they gave to the challenging circumstances of social care. It's undebatable, I think, Llywydd, that the...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, where to start? If I was the Member, I would have crossed out the line she was given about coalition, having heard the discussion on the floor of the Senedd this afternoon. What you've seen is the co-operation agreement work as it was always intended to do—that, where we are able to agree on things, and there are 47 very important things that we were able to agree on, we work...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Llyr Gruffydd for the question. I want to see an NHS that can respond to need in a clinically timely way and that is available to all who choose to use it. The NHS provides almost all of the primary and emergency care provided in Wales. Where patients choose to use the independent sector, they are, of course, free to do so.
Mark Drakeford: The Member knows that it's impossible for me to respond to a case when I'm hearing the details for the first time in the Chamber. As I said in the original answer, I want to see an NHS in Wales that can provide services to people in a timely way, in every regard and in every part of the service.
Mark Drakeford: And while it's very difficult to hear the sort of case that the Member has outlined this afternoon, it's still important to say that, even if you take the figures that are published by the private sector themselves—and, of course, they are there to make the case for their sector—but if you take their own figures on the use of the private sector in Wales, then, in planned care, 5 per cent...
Mark Drakeford: Well, my advice to them is to seek advice from their clinician and then to make an assessment that only they can make. There's no possible advice that either the Member or I can give to people standing here. They should get clinical advice, and then they should make their minds up.
Mark Drakeford: Well, thank you for the question, of course.
Mark Drakeford: In many ways, the core of the problem was set out in the question, which is that dentists are private businesses; they are contractors. They cannot be made to work for the NHS. And we have seen, to a very small extent, in fact, some dentists in Wales move out of the NHS and into private practice. What is the Welsh Government doing about it? Well, I've set this out on the floor a number of...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, we're committed to delivering 20,000 new low-carbon homes for rent in the social sector and have allocated record levels of funding, including more than doubling Swansea's funding since 2020-21. The first statistical release demonstrating progress towards this target is expected early next year.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, Mike Hedges reminds us of some important ways in which council house building was possible in the past on a bipartisan basis. People forget that Aneurin Bevan was the Minister for housing as well as the Minister for health, and he put more housing legislation on the statute book than he passed health legislation. And the housing Minister who presided over the largest number of...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, as I explained on the floor of the Senedd last week, responsibility for financial services, including banking, is not devolved to the Senedd. While the Welsh Government cannot, therefore, ensure banking availability, we are working with those who are able to do so. This includes provision of innovative services, such as shared banking hubs and our own plans for a community bank.
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, can I first of all agree with what Luke Fletcher said about the very disappointing announcement last week? I've long argued myself that we need something akin to the United States Community Reinvestment Act 1977, which would oblige banks, when they remove from communities that have supported them for decades and decades, that would oblige them to invest in those communities to...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the health, social and economic value of sport is widely recognised, which is why we are investing more than £75 million over the next three years, through Sport Wales, to deliver on our shared aims and objectives.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, just to be clear, for accuracy, the loan of the Welsh Government was £18 million, and it was with the Welsh Rugby Union, not with the regions. The way that the money is used is for the Welsh Rugby Union to determine, and they are responsible for making sure that the loan repayments are made. It was a matter of serious debate within the Welsh Government as to whether or not it was...
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government’s policy objective is to avoid the continued extraction and consumption of all fossil fuels, bring to a managed end the extraction and use of coal, and ensure a just transition for those employees and communities affected by this change.
