Caroline Jones: Minister, the invasion of non-indigenous plant species, particularly Japanese knotweed, has been a real problem for my region. Residents in South Wales West have seen their properties devastated by knotweed, and I welcome the work being done by Swansea University and Natural Resources Wales to eliminate this invasive species. Last summer we saw the rise of another threat, giant hogweed, which...
Caroline Jones: First Minister, a large number of out-patient appointments are for diagnostic tests, where we see massive waiting lists. In December, we saw over 20,000 patients waiting more than eight weeks, and over 1,000 patients waiting for more than 24 weeks. I hope you will agree with me that this is unacceptable and will get worse due to increased demand in the coming years. First Minister, how does...
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. Drug abuse is a massive issue in our prisons—the primary reason why prisoners offend in the first place and a reason why many reoffend. Despite efforts by prison staff, who work extremely hard to provide mandatory drug testing and help prisoners come off drugs, this work is sometimes undone because, upon release, prisoners are often abandoned at the prison...
Caroline Jones: Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. One of the recommendations of the Cancer Research UK report is to explore the use of artificial intelligence for diagnostic tests. In January, the Reform group published a report on AI in the NHS, which highlights the potential for AI to narrow gaps in health provision. Whilst the Reform report focuses on NHS England, there are lessons for us here in...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for that answer, Cabinet Secretary. Staying with the Cancer Research UK report, they highlight the patchy information available on the diagnostic workforce, which is making it difficult for local health boards to make well-informed decisions about workforce planning. We know that there is a 13 per cent vacancy rate in diagnostic radiotherapy and have now information about...
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. Cabinet Secretary, according to Cancer Research UK's position paper on the diagnostic workforce in Wales, shortages in the diagnostic workforce are, in part, responsible for Wales failing to achieve waiting time targets for cancer patients since 2008. Do you agree with this analysis, Cabinet Secretary, and do you have any plans to address shortages in the diagnostic...
Caroline Jones: 4. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on drug and alcohol rehabilitation services in Wales? OAQ51899
Caroline Jones: Will the Cabinet Secretary provide an update on how the Welsh Government is meeting the health needs of armed forces personnel and veterans?
Caroline Jones: Diolch, Llywydd. I formally move the amendment tabled in the name of my colleague Neil Hamilton. Following our report in committee, I have been written to by many organisations, along with constituents, all opposing the minimum unit pricing. Therefore, I cannot share the premise that introducing minimum unit pricing is the correct way to address alcohol-related harm. Making alcohol more...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary, and thank you to the individuals who have suffered and campaigned avidly on this topic. I welcome the appointment of Mr Justice Langstaff and the fact that he will be a full-time chair of the inquiry. The contaminated blood scandal is one of the darkest periods in the history of our NHS. The fact that people who sought help from the health...
Caroline Jones: I would like to thank the Petitions Committee for their work on this petition, everyone who signed it and RSPCA Cymru for leading on the petition. I fully support the petition, as do nearly three quarters of the Welsh public. The use of wild animals for human pleasure is barbaric and needs to be outlawed as soon as possible. Thankfully, just two circuses in the UK have wild animal licenses,...
Caroline Jones: Thank you. Cabinet Secretary, I want to congratulate you on the work you are doing with the pharmaceutical sector in Wales, and welcome the announcement you made earlier today at the BioWales 2018 conference. The future of the pharmaceutical sector in Wales is not in the manufacturing of drugs but in the researching of new medicines. What is your Government doing to support increased links...
Caroline Jones: Cabinet Secretary, the education improvement grant is there to assist the regional consortia to improve the outcomes for all learners. My region is home to the best comprehensive school in Wales, Pontarddulais, but it is also home to one of the worst-performing schools, just a few miles down the road. So, how does your Government plan to eliminate such huge disparity in attainment within...
Caroline Jones: 2. Will the Cabinet Secretary outline the action the Welsh Government is taking to develop the life sciences sector in Wales? OAQ51861
Caroline Jones: Thank you for your statement, Cabinet Secretary. The past weekend highlighted just what amazing people we have working in our NHS and the wider health and social care sector: doctors and nurses doing double shifts, GPs sleeping in their surgeries, staff walking miles in blizzard conditions, all to ensure that patients continued to receive world-class care, despite sub-zero temperatures and...
Caroline Jones: First Minister, many local authorities appear to be struggling to meet their obligations under the Social Services and Well-being Act (Wales) 2014. For example, many carers across the country have not received carer assessments. The end of the independent living grant places additional pressures on local authority social services. First Minister, can you guarantee that those in receipt of the...
Caroline Jones: I thank the Member for his positive response and I hope that we can progress from here. When we did the survey, there was only one person who had an electric vehicle, so we are now implementing two power points that will, hopefully, encourage us to lessen the carbon footprint and we can look further. When we see the response to having these points in place, we can then look forward to...
Caroline Jones: Thank you very much, Simon, for raising this important issue on electrical charging points on the Assembly estate. Following our previous commitment to install charging points, it’s my pleasure to confirm that this work is ongoing in order to put in place the charging points on the Assembly estate by the end of March 2018. There are currently a small number of EV users on the estate, and we...
Caroline Jones: Thank you for that answer, leader of the house. However, victims of domestic abuse in Wales are being turned away from some refuges due to lack of space, and funding changes imposed by the UK Government threaten the closure of many refuges across the country. What is your Government doing to protect refuges in Wales, and how will you increase the number of available spaces?
Caroline Jones: Thank you, once again, for those answers, leader of the house. Our digital infrastructure depends not only upon cables and radio transmitters, but also highly trained personnel, particularly in cyber security and data management. Cyber attacks and data centre outages have wreaked havoc on the NHS in recent times, highlighting the fact that computer scientists are as vital to our NHS as the...
