Angela Burns: Diolch, Lywydd. I’m pleased to have the opportunity to open this debate today. Of course, since tabling this motion, the issue of winter pressures has hit the headlines in both Wales and England. And, to be truthful, I would expect there are concerns across all home nations. We are seeking an update report from you, Cabinet Secretary, on how you think the Welsh health service is coping and...
Angela Burns: I’m also interested, Cabinet Secretary, in the way that GPs are being consulted and when, when it comes to planning for peaks in demand for services. Do you encourage health boards to bring senior GPs onside at the planning stage, as they will have very different views on what constitutes pressure than hospital staff, because we need to ensure that all parts of our NHS are pulling in the...
Angela Burns: Thank you very much indeed for your response, Cabinet Secretary. I have to tell you that I was expecting something a little bit more forensic, given that we were asking for a status report—an update report. In fact, in your amendment, which you tabled to this motion, you said that you’d be providing a status report. What you’ve done is given us a whole series of opinions and also...
Angela Burns: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I’m pleased to have the opportunity to bring this debate to the Assembly today, during what is National Obesity Week. Whilst many of us—and I’m one of them, definitely—are worried about the extra pounds they may have put on after a bit of over-indulgence during the festive period, obesity is becoming an ever-increasing problem within the UK as a...
Angela Burns: Of course, Bethan.
Angela Burns: And I think that’s a point absolutely well made. I think that what we can do is use schools to ensure that young people, by the time they leave schools, are actually at an appropriate body weight, understand all the nutritional values, and understand the importance of exercise and the joy in exercise, because so many young people actually find exercise utterly, utterly joyless at school,...
Angela Burns: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline what discussions he has had with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance and Local Government in relation to the growth of business in Wales? OAQ(5)0111(EI)
Angela Burns: Thank you for that, because, as you will recognise, developing and growing a business in today’s climate is harder than ever and there are a number of issues that business owners cite as barriers to growth for their businesses—lack of structured borrowing and capital from the banking sector is one. However, many talk about the barriers from local authorities and other public sector...
Angela Burns: Minister, more policy development is recognising that we cannot work in silos and that many people will have co-morbidities, which will exercise the knowledge and skills of all allied healthcare professionals. What discussions have you had with professional bodies representing allied healthcare professionals, in order to determine that the training requirements for these bodies reflect not...
Angela Burns: Diolch, Lywydd. With some trepidation I’m going to try and pour some oil upon these troubled waters, because we support entirely your motion. No-one can dispute how incredibly important general practice is to sustaining and delivering national health services. We also support the amendments by Plaid Cymru, because you actually detail facts, although I do think that you are very naughty,...
Angela Burns: What plans does the Welsh Government have to control letting costs in Wales?
Angela Burns: One of the logjams that happen in this area, though, Minister, is within local councils that have to grant the applications of the various schemes that come forward. Do you believe that local councils are adequately knowledgeable of the benefits of local community schemes and, in fact, adequately knowledgeable of the best way of promoting them, whether it’s wind power, whether it’s river...
Angela Burns: I very much enjoyed being part of this committee and I’d like to thank everyone who came as witnesses before it. They were very detailed, they were very knowledgeable and, in the main, they were incredibly passionate about the different areas that they represented. I’d also like to thank the clerking team and the staff for turning around and marshalling us all so well. The report, I...
Angela Burns: Thank you. I think this report was quite clear, though. We understand the financial constraints that we live within, but if I could just bring us back to recommendation 6, one of our real concerns is that those financial constraints are having an adverse effect on the care home sector, which is why we believe it is so important for the Welsh Government to have a really good, clear...
Angela Burns: Good afternoon, First Minister. May I, first of all, reinforce Julie Morgan’s calls for that national public inquiry? I think that’s very important. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development recently reported on the quality of the UK health services, which recommended the need to establish a set of key health data and quality indicators for all of the UK health systems,...
Angela Burns: Will the Cabinet Secretary inform Members whether he intends to grant the University of Wales Trinity St David’s application for between £4 – 6 million to fund the development of S4C’s new headquarters in Carmarthen? EAQ(5)0119(EI)
Angela Burns: I’m very pleased to hear that, Cabinet Secretary, because what we need, above all else, is clarification over this situation, hopefully followed by a Welsh Government commitment to Yr Egin. This is so important for Carmarthenshire. We have talked about this project now for, it must be well over 18 months, in and out of this Chamber. It’s always enjoyed enormous amounts of support, not...
Angela Burns: Thank you very much for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. Yes, I do join you in thanking our hard-working NHS staff. It is amazing and very satisfying to see the improvements in cardiac care, and I absolutely welcome these improvements and I thank the staff who’ve made all this possible by their very hard work. I was delighted to read both the statement and the plan. You have laid out in...
Angela Burns: Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government's plans to improve the health of children across Wales?
Angela Burns: Good afternoon.
