Rhun ap Iorwerth: With respect, the uncoupling, seemingly, of the interrelationship between social care and health in England has led to disastrous consequences. We cannot ignore the fact that if you stop investing in social care, the health service is what will suffer at the end of the day. That’s why we need to work towards integration. It is not through undermining one part of that which we wish to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 4. Will the Minister make a statement on the impact of high street banking on businesses in Anglesey? OAQ(5)0090(EI)[W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The Minister will be aware, I’m sure, of the announcement of NatWest of its intention to close three branches on Anglesey next June in Holyhead, in Amlwch and Menai Bridge, leaving Amlwch with just one limited-opening-hours bank and no bank in the booming town of Menai Bridge. This follows a series of recent bank closures, leaving large parts of the island with no bank service. The Minister...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Presiding Officer. There will be a debate held in the Chamber this afternoon on obesity, and that underlines the threat that this poses to public health in Wales. How much does the Government spend and what resources is it investing in trying to tackle and prevent obesity in Wales?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Minister, rather than Cabinet Secretary. Considering the cost of tackling and treating people because of conditions caused by obesity, considering the cost to the health service, however much is spent by the Government isn’t enough, and I hope that the Minister would agree with that. If somebody wants to give up smoking, there is a wide range of support available:...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: With respect, even though I acknowledge the work that is being done in Wales to tackle smoking, when I’m talking about the successes that have happened over the past decades, I’m talking about successes that have happened on a worldwide basis as this problem has been recognised. It’s clear to me that we need to take a long-term approach, starting now, with regard to obesity too. I hope...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you to everyone who is participating in this important debate this afternoon. I’m very pleased to be one of the co-sponsors of this motion. It’s no overstatement to say that obesity is one of the greatest health challenges of our age. The statistics over the past 15 years have demonstrated a very clear increase in the number of adults and children who are overweight or obese. That...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Very often, people link arthritis with older people, but it is something that can affect people of all ages. Wales is the only nation in the UK that doesn’t have a paediatric rheumatology service, although patients from north Wales can be treated in Alder Hey hospital in Liverpool. Does the First Minister believe that Wales should be able to offer paediatric rheumatology services?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I want to draw your attention to the Friends Against Scams programme, which is a National Trading Standards scheme, and it is needed because figures show that there’s been an increase of 60 per cent in this kind of fraud over the past five years. Recently, constituents of mine received a phone call from someone who claimed to be from a well-known broadband company, asking for their computer...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: There’s no doubt that eviction and having to live in temporary accommodation, as 792 families are currently doing, is a traumatic experience for a child. The impact of homelessness on children begins at birth. Children who are born to mothers who have been in B&B accommodation for some time are more likely to have a low birth weight. They are also more likely to lose out on their...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: With emergency departments in our hospitals in crisis—the Royal College of Emergency Medicine’s words, rather than my words—would the First Minister agree that the erosion that there has been in the percentage of NHS funding provided to primary care and the stress that that places on our GP surgeries causes problems for our A&E departments? And does the First Minister agree, therefore,...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement regarding comments made by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine that ‘emergency care in Wales is in a state of crisis’? EAQ(5)0097(HWS)
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Cabinet Secretary, nobody wants to speak of a crisis in the NHS. It’s worrying for patients and it’s demoralising for our excellent staff. But you’ll be aware that the Red Cross described the situation in England’s A&E as a humanitarian crisis. You’ll also be aware that your party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has described that as a national scandal, and demanded the Prime Minister...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I’m very pleased that we now have a strategy that we can give due attention to through the consultation, to strengthen it and to build on what we have before us, by including the experiences of those people who genuinely know what needs to be done, namely the families of those who have dementia. I know that the majority of us here in the Chamber have heard plenty of heartbreaking stories of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I certainly welcome this development. I’m pleased that through both deliberations following the election leading to the compact and in more recent discussions on the budget we have been able, working with the Government, to make sure that we have this package that will, hopefully, make a difference to patients in Wales. I’ll make a note that it is important to await the result of the IPFR...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Nothing would give me more pleasure than being able to vote today for the implementation of a Wales Bill that would empower the people of Wales, that would enable this Assembly to mature further as a Parliament for our nation, and that would give the Welsh Government the necessary tools to stabilise and strengthen our economy, to create a healthier Wales, and to strengthen our education...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Yes.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I understand the question that you asked, but you are unfair in suggesting that we are dismissing the work that has been done on the fiscal framework. The question that has been asked today by Leanne Wood, amongst others, is: why on earth was that commendable work on the fiscal framework tied in to what is otherwise a set of powers that is a retraction in terms of the powers that we have? And...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thanks to the contributors so far. Anglesey and its representatives are unanimously against the National Grid’s plan to put a line of pylons across the island. I, the county council, the MP, the community councils and thousands of residents have been consistent in our opposition to the grid’s plans, and there have been hardly any positive responses from the grid to that chorus of voices....
Rhun ap Iorwerth: [Continues.]—the cost should— Fe wnaf mewn eiliad. [Continues.]—be borne by all energy users. I’ve seen estimates that the cost of undergrounding would be less than 1p a week for every electricity user in Britain over the lifespan of that link. That’s the truth. Fe ildiaf.
