Carwyn Jones: Given the integrated nature of the internal control measures designed into systems and processes for the purpose of identifying potential fraud, it is not possible to measure what percentage our spend actually is, but there is, of course, a counter-fraud unit in the Welsh Government, headed up by a retired police officer.
Carwyn Jones: The Member is probably wise in not repeating those allegations outside of the Chamber, I expect. He has an unhappy history of libel trials, as we know. From our perspective, all we got—it was just a stream of consciousness as far as I can tell. In terms of appointments, they are done openly. He has criticised, for example, the appointment of the ombudsman; the ombudsman was appointed with a...
Carwyn Jones: That’s a perfectly fair question, and the answer I give is this: as I said, we have a counter-fraud unit headed by a retired police officer with experience of leading economic crime and proceeds of crime recovery units. He’s also a member of the organising committee for the Wales Fraud Forum. It’s also supported by administration staff. The unit is not a big unit, but it does play a...
Carwyn Jones: Diolch, Lywydd. Well, we’ve now published our detailed policy statement on the UK’s exit from the European Union. Our position has been drawn up jointly with Plaid Cymru, through our liaison arrangements, and, therefore, carries substantial support in this Assembly—and I hope that there is much in this document that will command the support of other Members too. The wider the consensus...
Carwyn Jones: I listened carefully to the comments of the leader of the Welsh Conservatives. Can I say that it didn’t strike me that there was much in terms of common ground between us? I don’t know what his view is in terms of the future of the UK, apart from the fact that he says that the UK should look outwards. We all agree with that, but beyond that, we’ve no idea what his view is on...
Carwyn Jones: Can I thank the leader of Plaid Cymru for her comments? Good work was done between our parties in terms of developing the Government White Paper. I can assure her that the next JMC plenary meets on Monday, 30 January. As part of what takes place around the JMC plenary, it’s quite normal to have bilaterals. I last spoke to the Scottish First Minister just before Christmas, but I fully expect...
Carwyn Jones: Well, the leader of—. Well, let me start at the end. I welcome his support for us ensuring that Wales does not lose out on a penny of funding. As I say, he did turn up yesterday at the press conference. I think he thought that I was going to have him thrown out; I did not do that. He tried to ask a question. I think he thought that I would ignore the question; I did not do that. I take the...
Carwyn Jones: Well, firstly, in terms of automotive, automotive is particularly dependent on the European market—particularly. So many automotive operations in the UK are part of a European operation: Ford is one, Toyota is one, Nissan is another one. It’s been said that we should look for alternative markets. The Ford engine plant doesn’t have an alternative market; it can only export to the EU....
Carwyn Jones: In terms of preferences given to EU citizens, if you look at medicine, for example, it’s the same regulatory environment, so people would be used to working in the UK environment, because they’re used to working in a common EU environment, so I suppose they would have an advantage in that sense. The fact that there’s common recognition of qualifications is important. Now, one of the...
Carwyn Jones: In terms of the White Paper, arrangements will be made to present the White Paper officially to the UK Government. That’s something we’re looking at at present. In terms of collaboration with other Governments—well, with Northern Ireland that isn’t possible at the moment because of the current situation there. With Scotland, historically the Scottish response has been, ‘Well,...
Carwyn Jones: How grateful we all are to Mark Reckless for coming to Wales and telling us all, we poor people, what we didn’t know before. How marvellous it is that we have his wonderful brain power to tell us that we are all wrong and he's absolutely right. It’s beyond parody, the position that he took. Let me just quote two things at him. First of all, the Norway model that he disparages: ‘The...
Carwyn Jones: I thank my colleague for those comments. At the heart of this is the issue that will face us over the next few years, and that is that Brexit must not be done in such a way that, as Britain leaves the EU, in future Britain no longer exists because the UK is fractured. We must make sure that those divisions are healed. There is no better way to make things worse than for Whitehall to try to...
Carwyn Jones: Our priorities for the health service in the north, and throughout Wales, are to continue to protect investment and deliver the range of commitments set out in ‘Taking Wales Forward’.
Carwyn Jones: Well, the majority of patients waiting in north Wales are waiting less than 26 weeks, but we do recognise that trauma and orthopaedics is a challenging area, where some of the waiting times are not acceptable. Extra money has been made available to Betsi Cadwaladr local health board in order to reduce waiting times. They are outsourcing some activity now to alternative providers, and we...
Carwyn Jones: Well, of course, we know that the board isn’t yet ready to come out of special measures at present, but, having said that, we also know, looking broadly at the performance of the health board, that things have improved, and we saw that in looking at the framework in November, which showed that very good work had been done. What’s important now is to ensure that every part of the service...
Carwyn Jones: Because we were elected on that basis. I can’t speak for her party, but we like to keep our promises.
Carwyn Jones: ‘Taking Wales Forward’ confirms our commitment to ensuring veterans continue to receive healthcare that meets their needs. We will maintain the valuable national Veterans’ NHS Wales service, which provides access to evidence-based treatments for veterans with mental health problems.
Carwyn Jones: Yes, I take the point that the Member makes. We know that there are high levels of satisfaction with the service that is provided to veterans. It may be, of course—or I think we can do this—we can raise the issue with the Royal British Legion, and, indeed, the armed forces, to see what more could be done to inform veterans of the availability of the service, and, of course, to encourage...
Carwyn Jones: It depends what the Bill says. At the moment, all I know is that there’s a suggestion, and we have to see what the detail might be. It may be that a lot of the issues that the Member raises have already been covered by the service as it stands. We do make £585,000 available each year to fund the service. It does provide therapeutic interventions from dedicated veteran therapists in each...
Carwyn Jones: Yes, that report was received in November 2014. It did show high satisfaction rates among veterans using the service. It did make a number of recommendations to improve service provision, and those recommendations have been accepted, and are being taken forward.
