Carwyn Jones: They must improve, there's no question about that, but, if we see performances elsewhere in the NHS, we see that A&E provision is improving. Clearly, there is a challenge that Betsi Cadwaladr must meet in order to reduce the waiting times at those hospitals.
Carwyn Jones: Well, again, I come back to the point I made, which she didn't seem to have picked up on, which is this: when it comes to free school meals, the offer we put on the table means £10 million more a year and 3,000 more children will receive free school meals. I don't see how that's slashing free school meals. Let's make that absolutely clear now. Secondly, there is the pay scheme, of course,...
Carwyn Jones: Well, two things: let's kill this myth first of all that somehow the free-school-meal provision in Wales is worse than in England. It isn't. There are 3,000 more children who will receive free school meals as a result of what we're doing as a Government. An extra £10 million has been put into the budget in order for that to happen. So, this idea that, somehow, school meal provision is being...
Carwyn Jones: We have a very firm manifesto commitment, which we'll be taking forward.
Carwyn Jones: Well, I believe it’s true to say that there has been an impact as regards changing the system of support for students. It’s quite natural that we should see that. It’s impossible to know whether that’s true or not until we’ve had this system for a few years and can therefore see whether this is a blip or whether it's a trend. First, of course, it is the universities’ duty to...
Carwyn Jones: Well, there is an issue, of course, which affects all of the UK, and that's the issue of what's being done with migration. Students feel unwelcome. Certainly, that's something I've picked up many, many times in terms of students from India—they feel unwelcome in the UK. It's also hugely important that we're able to access the academic staff that are needed in order for our universities to...
Carwyn Jones: Well, we recognise the importance of a thriving, world-class higher education sector to the economic and social well-being of Wales. We'll continue to provide support, of course, to the sector through the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales, which, together with our student support reforms, will create a stronger and more sustainable sector in Wales.
Carwyn Jones: Well, I can say that the Cabinet Secretary for Education has announced several additional elements of funding for HEFCW over the next few years, including £6 million in 2017-18 to deal with the short-term implications of demographic change and in preparation for the implications of Brexit. We've also allocated £3.5 million to Global Wales too from the European transition fund to boost...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I'd be very disappointed if calls took over half an hour to respond to on a red call. As far as red calls are concerned, we are well above target. It's not 100 per cent—I understand that—but we're well above target in terms of ambulances reaching people when they are needed. There has been an issue that's been raised in terms of amber calls, of course. There are some patients who...
Carwyn Jones: It's an interesting idea. We have focused on child and adolescent mental health services—and that doesn't, of course, include adults. But, when a person is in a mental health crisis, they don't tend to think of ambulances or hospitals as the first port of call. But that is an interesting concept that is worth looking at, and I will ask the Cabinet Secretary to respond in writing to the Member.
Carwyn Jones: Well, there are obviously issues in the English hospitals as well, and there will be times when demand is particularly acute. What I can tell him, though, is that, in terms of Powys, in August, 71.2 per cent of red calls received the response within eight minutes—that's above the national target of 65 per cent for the fourth consecutive month. The typical response time for that type of call...
Carwyn Jones: The Welsh ambulance service continues to exceed the national target to respond to immediately life-threatening or red calls within eight minutes. In August, 74.4 per cent of red calls received a response within eight minutes, with a median response time of just over five minutes.
Carwyn Jones: Well, firstly, can I suggest to the Member that he has a budding career as a private investigator—[Laughter.]—if this doesn't work out for him, but I'm sure it will. And secondly, he raises an important issue. Where students get the money from, I don't know, but plagiarism has been an issue in higher education for as long as higher education has been there, but it's got worse, there's no...
Carwyn Jones: I'm concerned about the findings of the study by Swansea University that shows an increase in the use of essay mills. New guidelines have been issued by the Quality Assurance Agency and we'll continue to work with partners to consider what further steps can be taken.
Carwyn Jones: Well, the farming budget is in effect ring-fenced, so money can't be taken out of farming subsidies and put elsewhere anyway. The £260 million that comes into farming subsidies in Wales is not spent anywhere else, it has to be spent on farming, and, to my mind, that would be a good system for the future. I don't think farmers want to find themselves in a situation where they're competing...
Carwyn Jones: No, I don’t accept that there’s a lack of consistency. I know that the scanners are available—there’s one in Cardiff and there’s one in Wrexham. We know that the system is not subject to the amount of capacity available. So, there is capacity in the system. It’s very difficult, of course, to know the reason, and why the individual was given that response, but there is no evidence...
Carwyn Jones: Well, the first thing we'd like is a commitment from the UK Government to provide the money post 2022, because that's not been done yet. We've made a suggestion that the UK Treasury should make that money available—that a pot of money equivalent to the pot of money available for the UK from the EU at the moment should be set to one side and the money distributed in the same way as it is...
Carwyn Jones: Well, all I can say is that we have the highest survival rates yet reported, and that surely is something that we should welcome—72.7 per cent of those diagnosed between 2005-09 and 2010-14 survived at least one year, 57.1 per cent are expected to survive at least five years, and premature death caused by cancer has fallen by around 10 per cent in the past decade. Those figures speak for...
Carwyn Jones: Well, I'm reluctant to step into the place of an oncologist in terms of what that oncologist might think. I would assume that it would be good practice anyway for a GP to be informed of progress with regard to a patient. Now, people have different tumours; they react in different ways with different cancers. We know that, which is why, in the future, it's gene therapy that carries the spark...
Carwyn Jones: Our approach to improving cancer survival is set out in the cancer delivery plan for Wales. That includes a specific focus on detecting cancer early, timely access to treatment and the delivery of high-quality care.
