Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I don't accept at all that those things went unnoticed, because the Minister and officials were in very regular dialogue with the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, including the board. The board has responsibilities. You don't discharge your responsibilities simply by telling somebody else that you've got a problem. You have an obligation, as a board, to address the...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I certainly agree about the importance of digital investment in the health service, and, here in Wales, we have a national digital service, there for many years. I don't accept what the Member said in one of his throwaway remarks about Wales 'lagging behind'. In fact, we have shown the way in Wales as to how a genuinely national service can tackle some of the very real issues...
Mark Drakeford: Wel, Llywydd, the Member's allegation is both offensive and absurd. Of course the efforts that are being made are not some conspiratorial effort to change the number of people who died from COVID here in Wales. What an utterly, utterly absurd allegation to make here on the floor of the Senedd. The efforts that are being made are led by clinicians—are they part of your conspiracy as well?...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Heledd Fychan for the question. Llywydd, the Welsh Government has been granted core participant status in modules 1, 2, 2B and module 3 of the public inquiry into COVID-19. Through our legal status as a material provider, the Welsh Government is supplying a significant volume of evidence to the inquiry to enable it to properly scrutinise action taken in Wales.
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank Natasha Asghar, Llywydd, because she makes an important point, and it's one that's been made a number of times on the floor of the Senedd, that the future of health services has to be based on increased use of those contemporary opportunities that developments in technology and artificial intelligence bring us. We learnt a great deal of this during the COVID pandemic, and, as...
Mark Drakeford: Well, Llywydd, I thank Jayne Bryant for that. And I've been fortunate enough to have a number of opportunities to visit Newport and to see the sorts of projects to which Jayne Bryant referred. In fact, I was with John Griffiths only on Saturday at the Maindee Triangle, where the Ffrind i Mi project operates, and not only was I lucky enough to be at Tredegar House for the Growing Space...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank Jayne Bryant for the question. There are many examples of social prescribing services in south-east Wales, including the Ffrind i Mi project, which supports those who are lonely or isolated. Recent research demonstrates a clear year-on-year increase in referrals and use of social prescribing in all parts of Wales.
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, I thank the Member for drawing attention to the work that is still going on in public consultation about the future of a new hospital for Hywel Dda University Health Board. There was a consultation meeting, I understand, in Haverfordwest last week, and there's one planned in Saundersfoot on Friday of this week. It is very important that those public consultation events—. I hope...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, the rural nature of the Member's constituency makes it all the more important that the health board maximises the clinical opportunities provided by today's technology to avoid unnecessary journeys, improve efficiency and provide flexible access to healthcare in Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much to Mabon ap Gwynfor for that question. I've heard about the issues that they face in Harlech, and, of course, we are open to any discussions that local individuals might want to have through the local council, and also through Sport Wales. Initially, it is a local issue, and in the first instance, it's important that they have those conversations with the local authority....
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank the Member for that final point. It's often difficult to disentangle where money that comes to Wales through a budget is derived, because money arrives through one funding line and disappears through cuts in another line. In the end, Llywydd, as we know, the decisions about money that comes to Wales are made not in Whitehall, they're made here, where they should be made. And...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, funding for swimming pools and leisure centres is provided to local authorities through the local government settlement. Despite the challenging financial situation, we have agreed significant additional investment for local government for the next financial year, and that will enable local authorities to continue to deliver the services that their communities need.
Mark Drakeford: Well, I thank the Member, of course, for her supplementary question. I think she'll find, actually, that, in the latest statistics, house completions in Wales in the last quarter were above pre-pandemic levels—[Interruption.] Well, actually, they were. No, they were. The Member asked me for a professional reply, and let me assure her that I will have done my homework; I have the figures in...
Mark Drakeford: Let me repeat something that Huw Irranca-Davies said in his supplementary questions—that independent analysis of the budget says that it will lead to the highest fall in living standards since records began. Is that what the Member means by ambition? Is that the ambition the Conservative Party has for this country—that it's presided over the largest fall in living standards since records...
Mark Drakeford: I thank the Member for the question. The Welsh Government continues to make record levels of capital investment available to support house building. The industry faces significant headwinds in construction cost inflation, labour shortages and global supply chain gaps. The Minister met with Welsh house builders last week to discuss issues facing the sector.
Mark Drakeford: One way or another, I have been involved in 23 years of UK Government budgets, and I agree with Huw Irranca-Davies—I have never seen a worse deal for Wales than we saw last week. It is absolutely unfathomable to me that a UK Government, looking at the stresses and strains that the health service is under in every part of the United Kingdom, could believe that this is a budget with no extra...
Mark Drakeford: The budget provided no extra funding for health, social services or public sector pay, and offered bare-minimum additional support for people and businesses. It prioritised petrol and potholes over people and pay. The dismal decade of Tory Government ends as it began, with comprehensive neglect of the needs of Wales.
Mark Drakeford: First of all, Llywydd, I definitely agree with Gareth Davies about the rich history of the North Wales Hospital site. A former colleague of mine who worked at Bangor University, Pamela Michael, published a really excellent book looking at the care and the treatment of the mentally ill in north Wales over two centuries, focusing very much on the Denbighshire hospital, because, Llywydd,...
Mark Drakeford: The long-term future of this site is the responsibility of Denbighshire County Council and their appointed developer. The council, as the owner of the site, along with their contractors, are making progress with significant help from the north Wales growth deal funds.
Mark Drakeford: I think the Member will find that the report was actually published on 7 March, rather than last week. The health board, under the rules that are agreed with HIW, have four weeks in which to provide assurance to HIW that the concerning issues, and I agree with the Member that the issues that were identified are of concern—. There will be four weeks for the health board to provide assurances...
