Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, as I know Russell George will be aware, the chief ambulance service commissioner is leading a review on behalf of the Emergency Ambulance Services Committee. That review is now in the period of formal engagement; no decision on the outcome has been made. And the points that the Member makes, and makes powerfully on behalf of his constituents, will of course be heard in that review,...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Rhun ap Iorwerth for that question. I've had a brief opportunity to have a look at the plan that Plaid Cymru published today. What the pressure on the ambulance service means is that demand for health services over the winter has been very great—greater than at any time in the history of the NHS. We have a plan already. Of course, we're willing to consider the points in the...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, the urgent call ambulance that was dispatched when Jane Dodds asked me her question has now been at the scene for the last three minutes. I say that just to give colleagues here some sense of the service that continues to be provided in every part of Wales. I give Rhianon Passmore an assurance, of course, that here in Wales there are no plans to use the pressures faced by the...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for that question, Llywydd. We recognise the importance of making public transport in Wales safe, welcoming and accessible to everyone. We will continue to work with Transport for Wales, local authorities and the public transport providers to ensure services are designed and delivered with the involvement of those with direct experience of visual impairment.
Mark Drakeford: I thank Joel James for that. It's never good to hear of the sort of experience that he has set out, but I am able to say to him and to the Chamber that this topic was absolutely at the forefront of a recent meeting of the ministerial disability equality forum, chaired by my colleague Jane Hutt, at the end of November—a meeting that focused on the experience of people with disabilities,...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Vikki Howells for that. The White Paper that we published in advance of the bus Bill set out plans to include passenger voices at the very top level of a new bus system, to make sure that direct feedback from people who use that service, and particularly those who need additional assistance to do so, are heard powerfully in the system we intend to create. The idea that Vikki...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I entirely agree with the sentiments with which the leader of the opposition ended his question. The meeting between Dawn Bowden and the Welsh Rugby Union took place yesterday afternoon. The Welsh Government, in that meeting, made it clear to the WRU that we need to see urgent and transparent action that helps restore confidence in the WRU itself, and that requires a public...
Mark Drakeford: Let me begin for a moment, Llywydd, by agreeing with what the leader of the opposition said in opening this second question, which is that I think that there is a potential role for a Senedd committee in helping to secure a path for the WRU to a better future by using the powers that a committee here has to look into the allegations and to assist in, as I say, finding a better way ahead. As...
Mark Drakeford: The capital budgets available to the Welsh Government go down every year; they are 8 per cent lower next year than they are this year. Where does the Member think the money comes from to do the things that he suggests? Not only that, but our capital borrowing limit has remained unchanged since 2016. These are not decisions of the Welsh Government; they are decisions of the Government that he...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I will have lost count of the number of times that I have said in this Chamber that the NHS in Wales is under enormous pressure and that it is not able to do all of the things that we would like it to do in the way that we would like it to do them. If the leader of Plaid Cymru thinks that attaching a label to that somehow, by itself, makes all of that any better, then that is...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, there were figures published last week of performance in the Welsh NHS. Here is the crisis service that the Member described: all waits in the health service in Wales fell in November. The total number of people waiting fell; the total number of people who were waiting over 26 weeks fell, over 52 weeks fell, over two years fell. The number of people waiting for a therapy...
Mark Drakeford: First of all, many people in the health service do work less than a five-day week. It's part of the changing nature of the way in which people who occupy those very pressurised roles choose to make their own future. It's part of the reason why we have more people working in the Welsh health service, in every single aspect of it, than ever before. We're always willing to look at ways in which...
Mark Drakeford: Last week’s awarding of a seabed lease to the Mona project is a milestone moment. Providing that conditions are right, major private sector investment can be mobilised to create a renewable energy future for Wales.
Mark Drakeford: The Government's policy is to have the Crown Estate devolved here to us in Wales. We have had more than one conversation with the Crown Estate and we've presented the same idea to the UK Government as well. As I know Llyr Gruffydd will know, with the current UK Government, there will be no opportunity, I don't think, to move ahead with that idea. But in the opinion of the Government, that's...
Mark Drakeford: We have a marine plan. The first Wales marine plan was published in November 2019 and the first three-year review of that plan was laid before the Senedd on 10 November. So, I'm not absolutely sure what the Member is asking for when that plan exists and it's been reported here to Senedd Members. On the specific issue of the budget, the Minister is in front of committee tomorrow and will no...
Mark Drakeford: I certainly agree about the importance of local community energy. In the statement that the Minister will make later this afternoon, I anticipate that she will have something to say about new and more ambitious targets in that part of what we do. The Welsh Government has significantly increased our support for Community Energy Wales. It's chaired these days by our former colleague Leanne...
Mark Drakeford: The Welsh Government continues to support people who experience problematic use of both drugs and alcohol. We are investing almost £64 million in our substance misuse agenda in this financial year, and that will increase to almost £67 million in 2023-24.
Mark Drakeford: I fundamentally disagree with the last point the Member made. He's right to say that drug-related deaths in the last year for which figures are available rose in Wales, as they did in every part of the United Kingdom, but they fell in Swansea. So, that's an important thing to recognise as well. I do accept that there are particular challenges in the Swansea Bay area, and we need a full...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I begin by paying tribute to the work that goes on at Brynawel—a project that unites people across this Chamber in the work that's been invested in making it a success. The approach we've taken in Wales is a harm-reduction approach, one that recognises the pressures that exist and that propel people into these difficulties, and thinks of substance misuse as a public health...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Siân Gwenllian for the question, Llywydd. Over the coming weeks, a number of reports will assist the board in the necessary work of improving vascular service for patients in Arfon. That will include a recent re-inspection of the service by Health Inspectorate Wales and the report commissioned through the board’s own vascular quality panel.
