Angela Burns: When you visit the school tomorrow, I’m sure that you’ll be very impressed with the new additional learning needs dedicated classrooms, which are an enormous step forward for the provision of services and support to children with additional learning needs in south Pembrokeshire. However, the school next door, the Welsh medium school, doesn’t have quite such up-to-date facilities, and I...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I wish to move the motion before us today, tabled by the Welsh Conservative group, and, by doing so, highlight the innovations that cross-border healthcare can offer in improving the outcomes for patients on both sides of the border. We would also wish the Assembly to note the very sound recommendations made by the Silk commission, which are reflected also...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health have highlighted that bronchiolitis in babies is a major winter pressure on the Welsh NHS. I’m sure you’re aware that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommends palivizumab and Synagis as vaccinations that should be offered to high-risk groups to help protect against the...
Angela Burns: I’m very pleased to hear you say that Cabinet Secretary because, in fact, in England, the NHS uses a centralised route of funding to pay for these injections, which ensures that at least the minimum guidelines are met. I’m sure you’re aware, but evidence is demonstrating that by considering small cohorts of at-risk babies, there’s a clear economic case for using Synagis due to the...
Angela Burns: I’m even more delighted to hear you say that. I just want to run past you one particular family, whose 12-month-old twin girls were 28 weeks premature. They’ve both suffered from bronchiolitis on four occasions this season alone, resulting in nine hospital admission days and six separate visits to A&E. These babies have been denied the vaccine as they do not fall within the strict...
Angela Burns: Thank you.
Angela Burns: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I would like to thank everyone who took part in this debate. I am sorry, I am not going to go through all your individual contributions because I don’t have a huge amount of time, but there are just a couple of points that I really wanted to make. This is, if you like, a game of two halves, so let’s look at the children first. I am very glad...
Angela Burns: Well done, Minister. I’m really pleased to see this Bill before us today. I truly didn’t think we would see it and, in fact, Huw Lewis, to his eternal credit, pulled the last one, because he was unable to make great inroads into the provision of the health element that we need here. You’ve done that and I am very pleased with it. It’s not 100 per cent right—there’s still a lot...
Angela Burns: Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government's plans for improving nursing training over the term of the fifth Assembly?
Angela Burns: 3. Will you provide an update on the guidance the Welsh Government has issued to planning authorities on slurry lagoons? OAQ(5)0078(ERA)
Angela Burns: Thank you for that answer. I listened very carefully to what you had to say to other Members around the Chamber, because, already, farmers are struggling to get permission for slurry lagoons. You talk about the 65 per cent who don’t comply—I would ask you, Minister, how many of those farm holdings have struggled to get planning permission and have faced incredibly fierce opposition from...
Angela Burns: Cabinet Secretary, this was an industrial accident, it was unforeseen, it was unintended, and I also look forward to the report. I would like to commend both Valero and NRW for the very speedy way in which they dealt with this. I would like us all to reserve judgment. Valero are a very strong company in my constituency who do have an environmental record that is worth noting is extremely...
Angela Burns: 4. Will the Minister outline the support the Welsh Government has provided to charities supporting families? OAQ(5)0083(CC)
Angela Burns: Thank you for that answer. But, Cabinet Secretary, could you explain why the Welsh Government have seen fit to reduce funding for the Family Fund charity from £2,508,950 in 2015-16 to a figure of £1.9 million for the next three years? That is in comparison to the Scottish, Northern Irish and Westminster Governments, who have all decided to retain the same level of funding they had...
Angela Burns: [Inaudible.]—Neil—
Angela Burns: Thank you, Presiding Officer. David Rees said that education is a gift, but I think that education is actually a fundamental right. Because without a good education how can the child grow into an adult with a good education and with the capability to contribute to their own lives, to the lives of the people they know and love, and to the lives of our country? And how will our country grow and...
Angela Burns: You make the absolutely fundamentally correct point that we need more of the allied healthcare professionals in place in general practices in order to help to maintain a good quality of service for staff. So, my question to you, First Minister, is that, last year, there was an absolutely right focus on getting more doctors into Wales, whether it was secondary or primary care. This year, will...
Angela Burns: You’re absolutely right, Cabinet Secretary, I think we must be very careful in the language that we all use. I think one of the first areas we have to be very clear about is that we are all entitled to challenge—challenge you, challenge the Welsh Government—about the performance of the health service. And by doing so, that does not impugn in any way the hard work of the people in that...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Cabinet Secretary, I welcome this statement immensely. I am very pleased to see that there’s a public consultation to inform the dementia strategic action plan. I do want to pick up on the paragraph where you start by saying: ‘People living longer is something to be celebrated.’ I think that, too often, the rhetoric around dementia, the rhetoric...
Angela Burns: Cabinet Secretary, I welcome your statement today, and of course the Welsh Conservatives are delighted to see £12 million going into the NHS—all additional moneys into the NHS are more than welcome. However, I am somewhat confused by the promise that you made to people in your manifesto, which was, and I will read it to you, if I may: ‘We will introduce a ground breaking New Treatment...
