Rhun ap Iorwerth: Let's have a fresh start. And finally, on the Minister's role herself, I suggested yesterday that she should be considering her own position and her own role in all of this. She said this morning she'll remain health Minister as long as the First Minister has confidence in her. Well, I can tell you that confidence in this Government and Minister's ability to sort out Betsi has long gone.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I'm going to start with where I agree with the Minister—that's on the placing of Betsi Cadwaladr in special measures. But it's pretty clear, isn't it, that it shouldn't have been taken out in the first place, conveniently and prematurely. But the Minister wanted to apportion blame too. She says the recent Audit Wales report was the straw that broke the camel's back; it spoke of the...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you to Siân Gwenllian for bringing forward this very important subject at the Senedd today. I’d also like to thank and pay tribute to my former colleague and Member, Steffan Lewis, for the excellent work that he did in this field, shining a light on the need to ensure mental health support in the perinatal phase. Childbirth is an exciting time for many people, but it is a time that...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for that response. Budgets are tight in all authorities, of course, but sometimes issues arise that put huge strains on budgets. Anglesey council is facing that, given the announcement of the 2 Sisters Food Group company that they are consulting on closing the works in Llangefni, where over 700 are employed. The priority at the moment, of course, is to see whether we can change the...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 7. Will the Minister make a statement on the Isle of Anglesey County Council's budget? OQ59132
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much. And thank you for allowing me to speak for a few seconds to ask one question, truth be told. I speak as chair of the cross-party group on digital here in the Senedd. It's good to see additional investment going into providing more opportunities to learn digitally, but I wonder whether the Minister can give me an idea of how he sees this fitting into creating the kinds of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'The provider selection regime will therefore give NHS England more flexibility to procure and arrange health services.'
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I don't trust the motives of the Conservative Government for wanting to do that, and there will be issues of principle leading me through this process. The fundamental principle is that I don't want to see this as a means for the private sector to lay down deeper roots within the provision of health services in Wales, and to be able to set those roots far more easily than they would have been...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for the statement this afternoon, Minister, and for the briefing provided to us beforehand. It's a little unclear at this point some of the things that we will discover as this proceeds over the next weeks and months. I have listened to the Minister's rationale for her belief that this is necessary and that there needs to be a level of protection because of legislation being...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: —what that lack of resilience means. I'm appalled by this decision, the way that it has been made, and the inconsistencies in the way this Government has made this decision today.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: This is of huge importance to my constituents.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: There's mention of a site visit; I'd like to know when the site visit happened and whether that saw the chaos caused by the closing of the Menai bridge. It says it's to improve accessibility for pedestrians and cyclists, but another part of the review says that one opportunity for increasing modal shift is to dual the railway line on the Britannia bridge. Is that right? Well, the only place...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Minister, this has taken us back a good 15 years, undoing the good work of my predecessor, Ieuan Wyn Jones, when he was transport Minister, undoing the good work of your predecessors in mapping out why the case had been made for a third Menai crossing and which routes should be pursued and why. Can I also comment on the way that this announcement has been made? I have had a chance, in a short...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Diolch yn fawr iawn. I was discussing during a recent visit to Tŷ Gobaith the pressures on families who have very poorly children, or children with very significant needs. They face challenges that most of us don't have to face all of the time, but of course the cost-of-living crisis has added hugely to the pressures on them. I'm thinking of the Gleave family near Amlwch, three...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 11. What financial support is the Government offering to families that have children with severe health needs in light of the cost-of-living crisis? OQ59149
Rhun ap Iorwerth: May I thank Russell George for bringing forward this short debate at the Senedd today? I just want to echo the comments that have been made already about the benefit that can come to us in so many ways in developing medical trials in Wales. The benefits come to patients, clearly, because the closer patients are to where trials are taking place the greater the chance that they can become part...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take an intervention?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for taking an intervention. Hopefully, the Minister will acknowledge that this isn't a motion about increasing bands of taxation; this is about principle. She's acknowledged that this is an important debate to have, and that she wants to have it again, but will she give an undertaking to actually address why she as a Minister, and this Government, and Labour, cannot back the...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: So, on those new foundations, Anglesey council was free to team up with Stena to put a bid together. They had my full support. The bid itself is about bringing investment, job opportunities, encouraging entrepreneurship on the island and across the north, and it's important that councils across the north are all supporting it. So, across the region, across party lines too, this new...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much. It’s good to have the opportunity to talk again about the bid that has been prepared and put forward by Isle of Anglesey County Council and Stena Line to designate Holyhead and Anglesey a free port on behalf of the whole of north Wales. I’ll say as a supporter of that bid, and one that’s collaborated with the authors, that we need some honesty in terms of this...
