Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for taking an intervention. Absolutely—I think we all in this Chamber want to celebrate what we have to offer in terms of tourism. The difference here is between celebration, making the most of, and exploitation, and I actually welcome the dividing lines that have been made clear today. Conservatives, in everything you have said, seem to be very keen to see tourism as something to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much. The Minister is aware that I've asked for a meeting with her for some time to discuss the need for investment in the seafood sector in Ynys Môn. I'm pleased that, since I tabled this question, a time has been agreed upon so that we can meet, and I look forward to meeting the Minister and her officials. There are numerous opportunities, I am clear on that, to develop this...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It's good to see some kind of loosening in terms of the budgets this year, but councils under the leadership of all parties will have faced major budgetary challenges over the past few years. But despite that, the situation in Anglesey has been transformed. In 2017-18 the Wales Audit Office criticised the council on Anglesey quite severely for how vulnerable its financial situation was and...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The Government has made a mess of the attempt to introduce bonus payments time after time, it has to be said, over the past few years. I said, a moment ago, that of course any additional payment is to be welcomed by those who receive it, but another major problem is that many aren't receiving it: kitchen workers and cleaners in care homes, as constituents of mine and the Unison union have...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Llywydd. In February, your Government announced that 53,000 care workers in Wales would receive a bonus payment of around £1,000. Now, any additional funding for workers in that sector is to be welcomed, of course, but one-off bonus payments aren't the answer. They don't get to grips with the real problem. What is needed is for workers in the care sector to be recognised...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 8. Will the Minister make a statement on Isle of Anglesey County Council's budget? OQ57935
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 9. Will the Minister make a statement on the seafood industry in Ynys Môn? OQ57936
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for the opportunity to respond. I just want to make it clear, as with the previous LCM, that we're not opposing the principle before us today; that's not what we're doing as Plaid Cymru in opposing these LCMs, but making a point once again that we can't ignore the fact that these motions are being made in the context of an increasing number of motions that undermine devolution, that...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much to the Minister. I only have very few comments. First of all, I welcome the fact that the advice that is given to the Government is still suggesting that we can move gradually towards lifting the safety measures that have been in place. We do need to consider that there are people who are very nervous still about the situation. So, one question: as the requirements in...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I've received some comments today from Cymru Versus Arthritis, worried about the targets that are in relation to cutting waiting times for most specialities, rather than all. Given how long orthopaedic waiting times are, this is one heck of a get-out clause for Welsh Government: 'We'll sort waiting times except those people who are waiting the longest'. I would appreciate an undertaking to...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Technology, very briefly—I was going to urge you to talk about technology and the use of technology. I'm pleased to see the commitments to develop the portal so that patients can know where they are within the system. Just a few questions arising as a result of that. When will this portal be ready? Will you be using front-line staff to help develop that proposal? And also, will it allow...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: the pandemic has simply exacerbated the problem that we were already facing.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: That's the reality of the situation, and that tells us so much about the failure of one Minister after another to put the health and care services of Wales on the sustainable foundations that we need. What the pandemic has done is to show just how unsustainable things were. If it is the Minister's intention to take us back to how things were prior to the pandemic, well, God help us. I will go...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd, and thank you to the Minister for her statement. The first thing I'll say is that I don't think it's possible for me to ask every question that I'd like to ask today, and to be fair, it's not possible for the Minister to provide all of the responses this afternoon. But today is the start of a process in holding the Government to account on the most...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It's good old-fashioned pork-barrel politics, isn't it? We heard recently that Ynys Môn would be getting some £16 million from the so-called shared prosperity funds. And whilst any funding is to be welcomed, of course—and I'll work with partners to make sure that projects on Anglesey will benefit as best as possible—there's no escaping the fact that this is a fraction of the funding...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I can see that time is up. It's good to see agreement on this today, but it's one thing to have that agreement on a set of principles, it's another to see the Government delivering on those things that are genuinely going to make pharmacy stronger and more sustainable for the years to come.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Of course.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I would certainly agree with that as a suggestion. I would like to think of all our health and care workers as paid apprentices in some way, learning a trade that they will be able to use, whether that is as a doctor or a care worker or pharmacist within our health and care services in Wales. We have to be innovative in the way that we look at strengthening our workforce.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for the opportunity to make a few comments in this debate, and no, we haven't put forward any amendments, because there is a set of principles here that I'm sure that we could all support. Pharmacy is at the heart of our health services. It has to be, but it hasn't always been the case. Too often, I think pharmacy, and community pharmacy in particular, have been seen as something on...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: It's okay.
