Carwyn Jones: It’s not unworkable, but it is unsatisfactory. She and I are in exactly the same position on this. The current legislation was part of a package—there were parts of it we did not like and did not accept, but, nevertheless, it took this Assembly forward when it was viewed as a package. Does it mean there’s unfinished business? Of course. The issue of the jurisdiction is still unfinished;...
Carwyn Jones: It is for local authorities to review local air quality. We do assist them in terms of doing that. We are considering responses to the recent consultation that was held on this subject. It did recognise the immediate and long-term health benefits to be gained by reducing pollution exposure across Wales. One area, of course, that has a beneficial effect on air quality is to encourage more...
Carwyn Jones: Well, it would be a reduction in the amount of PM10s in the atmosphere, and potentially PM2.5s as well. If we look at reducing emissions—I mentioned the consultation earlier on and our response to that consultation is to be published shortly. What is our contribution? Looking at the south Wales metro, looking at the metro in the north-east of Wales to provide an alternative to car...
Carwyn Jones: One of the issues that’s increasingly a problem as well, of course, is cars idling in traffic jams—leaving their engines on—and that does create particular areas of particularly low air quality. There are several ways of dealing with that. One is making sure that the blockages are removed. It also means, of course, that we look at ways of promoting more hybrids and electric cars in the...
Carwyn Jones: We are taking a preventative approach to removing health barriers to work through the Healthy Working Wales programme and our new all-age employability plan will strengthen our approach to supporting low-activity groups, including support for those with longer-term health condition, to access employment opportunities.
Carwyn Jones: I’ve already mentioned, of course, the employability plan. I can say that, in terms of Healthy Working Wales, over 3,000 organisations employing around 460,000 people have engaged with Healthy Working Wales. It represents about 33 per cent of the working population with an investment of over £800,000 per year in the programme. We’re also supporting workplaces to tackle the stigma and...
Carwyn Jones: We do recognise, as far as mental health is concerned, that it can’t all be pharmaceutical intervention. Counselling is important, as is, of course, exercise. Exercise is available in most of Wales, I think, in terms of it being prescribed to people. Our delivery plan, ‘Together for Mental Health’, is there, of course, to help people in Wales become more resilient and to be able to...
Carwyn Jones: Through the Superfast Cymru project and ongoing, regular discussions with mobile network operators, Ofcom and the UK Government, we have facilitated access to fast fibre broadband to over 630,000 Welsh premises and secured confirmation of a 90 per cent mobile geographic coverage in Wales by the end of this year.
Carwyn Jones: We will look carefully at regional economic funding in the context of the forthcoming mobile action plan, and during the next phase of superfast broadband development, to see how best this could support the targeted delivery of communications infrastructure on a more regional or local basis. There are some parts of Wales where there is no coverage. We know there are some parts of Wales—the...
Carwyn Jones: This is all important. As one who has used that service many times, I have to say that the majority of the time. Of course, it’s one thing to have the service on the train, but it’s something else for the service to work effectively. We are in touch with First Great Western, of course, in order to ensure that the service will ultimately improve. I know it’s possible—I’ve seen it on...
Carwyn Jones: I will investigate the issue for the Member and will write to the Member with a response.
Carwyn Jones: Standing here, I can’t comment on behalf of the Assembly Member for Bridgend, but I’m sure that the Member’s words will find resonance with that Member.
Carwyn Jones: We will continue to work with our partners, including General Practitioners Committee Wales, to address the challenges faced by the GP workforce in Wales. That work will be supported by an additional investment of £27 million for general medical services during 2017-18, as was announced at the weekend.
Carwyn Jones: This is something that is under active discussion with the profession in order to move that forward. I can say that the package that was announced on the weekend is designed, amongst other things, to increase the contribution, as the Member says, towards the rising costs of professional indemnity, as well as, of course, dealing with things such as the increased costs of pensions...
Carwyn Jones: I must say—and I’m sure that he’s heard the same thing—that people have told me that they’ve seen examples of young people who have not received an offer to study in Cardiff, but have received an offer to study in England. Now, this is something that concerns me, because if they’re good enough to go to England, then they should be good enough to attend a Welsh university. What I...
Carwyn Jones: Well, this is something, of course, that’s hugely important, as the Member says. If we look, for example, at the Rhondda cluster in Cwm Taf, that’s been particularly active in terms of recruiting. It’s hugely important, of course, that a student goes somewhere and has a positive experience. That’s why it’s hugely important that we’re able to do that. If we look at the Rhondda...
Carwyn Jones: Midwives play a vital role in supporting women through their childbirth experience. Every woman has a named midwife to provide individualised care during pregnancy. The £95 million health education funding package recently announced includes a 40 per cent increase in midwifery training places, and that is the highest level of midwifery training places commissioned since devolution.
Carwyn Jones: Yes, absolutely. It’s why, of course, we have increased the number of midwife training places. We know that it’s hugely important to invest in the workforce of the future by making that investment now, rather than wait to a time when we find that we have a demographic problem with the workforce. We’re making that investment now on the part of the people of Wales.
Carwyn Jones: That’s right, and that’s why we’ve invested to ensure that there are more places available. As I said, we’ve seen a 40 per cent increase in the number of training places available. And now, as I said earlier, we are at the highest level since 1999.
Carwyn Jones: The Member is talking about the SuRNICC and the SuRNICC, of course, is a specialist unit. As Members will recall, the original proposal was to move those services to Arrowe Park Hospital. I took the view that we had to review that decision to see if it was possible and safe for that service to be delivered in Wales, and sure enough, the SuRNICC is the result of that. It’s progressing well...
