David Melding: Indeed, the health system cannot be relied upon to identify promptly adverse outcomes arising from a particular medication or device. The yellow card scheme in which doctors can report adverse reactions to treatments is not fit for purpose. As Cumberlege notes, there is gross underreporting and our complaint systems are both too complex and too diffuse to allow early signal detection, and I...
David Melding: Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. I have agreed to give some of my time to Hefin David and to Angela Burns. The subject of my short debate is the Cumberlege review—lessons for informed consent in the NHS. I want to start by commending the authority and insight of the review undertaken by Baroness Cumberlege, aptly entitled 'First Do No Harm'. That is the oldest principle of ethical...
David Melding: Well, thank you for that answer, Minister. I do think there will be a lot of work to do in various training and back-to-work programmes in the future, because many people have suffered real trauma in the way they have been forced to leave the workplace or their traditional work has been taken away from them. My final question, however, is that COVID has changed also the patterns of work,...
David Melding: Well, Minister, I commend the change in attitude that's taken. I speak as someone who has for many years—in fact, throughout my service here—worked with a mental health condition. And would you commend, as I do, charities like Mind, and in particular Mind's workplace well-being index? That's a key tool, it seems to me, for healthy workplaces. I do want to shift focus now. As many people...
David Melding: Diolch yn fawr, Cadeirydd. Minister, you'd have heard in our joint session with the Youth Parliament the emphasis they place on well-being and good mental health. Many of them will soon be entering the workforce, so I'd like to ask what plans are in place, as we move towards the end of the lockdown, to support workplaces that promote well-being and good mental health.
David Melding: First Minister, do you agree with me that priority needs to be given to capital investment in modern acute facilities? It's still the case that some are old fashioned, inappropriate, too large, with adolescents, for instance, in adult facilities, and anyone suffering acute mental distress and/or psychosis can find their trauma is increased by grossly inappropriate facilities sometimes,...
David Melding: Thank you, Minister, and I commend that priority. I wonder if you could also advise us whether the Welsh Government contributed to the UK Government's response to UNESCO's seventh consultation on education for international understanding? I realise this is very specific, so if you would be prepared to write to me with that information, and perhaps give some details of the response, because I...
David Melding: Minister, can you reassure us that the assessment of qualifications will take into account the different opportunities students have had to effectively learn from home?
David Melding: 9. Will the Minister outline the opportunities provided by the new national curriculum for the teaching of international understanding, co-operation and peace and human rights in schools? OQ56277
David Melding: Thank you for that reply. And I do welcome the efforts that have been made, which I think are quite considerable. And do you agree with me that good quality legal literature is really important, not only for the informed citizen, but for the many high street solicitors out there that will be the initial point of contact for people having a query on Welsh law in key public service areas, and...
David Melding: Thank you for that reply, and, whilst I welcome the Welsh Government's ambition in this area, I do feel it would have been better if we'd taken an area of really important public policy and seen some significant advance during the fifth Senedd, and housing law is a key area where we could have done that. I think we've passed four housing Bills or four housing Acts. And do you share my...
David Melding: First Minister, do you agree with me that, for the future of the union, the best resource is our citizens, and that it's time for citizens throughout the United Kingdom to be involved in citizens' assemblies to help develop proposals that will lead to a new Act of union that will see a United Kingdom coherent constitutionally, I hope, for another 300 years?
David Melding: 5. Will the Counsel General make a statement on Welsh Government efforts to consolidate Welsh law in the fifth Senedd? OQ56271
David Melding: 6. Will the Counsel General make a statement on efforts to improve the quality and scope of commentary on Welsh law during the fifth Senedd? OQ56272
David Melding: What discussions has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government to ensure that the Turing scheme promotes objectives similar to those of the EU's Erasmus programme?
David Melding: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I so move. I speak as a user and a supporter of the National Library of Wales. And can I also remind everyone here that the Conservative group in the Senedd has deposited its archive in the national library? I do hope the other political parties will do this as well, because the preservation of our political memories is as important as the preservation of...
David Melding: I think you'll be relieved to hear I'm not going to speak to all 31 of the recommendations. Can I just highlight a few that I particularly want to pick out? The first one I want to start with is that we should celebrate our bilingual nationhood more, in terms of what we do in the artistic world, and that there is too sharp a binary divide between English and Welsh language events, and...
David Melding: Thank you for that answer, Minister. I'm deeply concerned about the SME sector, which is reliant on the sort of housing improvement that can often be easily postponed, especially in a time of great instability. So, I wonder what you're doing in terms of providing assistance. And also how are specific schemes, like the Self Build Wales scheme, which is looking to encourage people to build...
David Melding: Thank you for that answer, Minister. This is an area, I think, that has cross-party support and is also very popular with community groups. Small-scale hydro and solar, in particular, are popular, and evermore viable with better storage through improved batteries. I just wonder if, therefore, for our targets of 2030, we should be even more ambitious in setting that proportion of energy we...
David Melding: 1. What measures are in place to promote small-scale renewable energy generation in Wales? OQ56225
