Adam Price: I have to say to the Minister—maybe we have different values, but I think that the priority for the First Minister is to be here to answer questions from the elected representatives of Wales. Surely, that's the purpose of having this Parliament in the first case. Now, across the UK, the monthly target for people waiting more than four hours for treatment in A&E is 5 per cent. Again, the...
Adam Price: In Scotland last December, just 10 per cent had to wait more than four hours. In England, it was significantly worse, with 24 per cent waiting more than four hours, but in Wales it was worse still. Our figure was 28 per cent. It is significant that colleagues of yours—Labour MPs at Westminster—consider the waiting times statistics for England in A&E so bad they have called for an...
Adam Price: I know the First Minister has said he doesn't look forward to First Minister's questions, and he once reportedly stood up the Prime Minister to attend a party, but do you think it's in order for him to prioritise a reception in Buckingham Palace over answering questions here in the Senedd? What I would have asked him, and now we'll ask you instead, is if you are running out of excuses for the...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Your Government's targets for people waiting more than 12 hours for treatment in accident and emergency is zero. In Scotland, they have the same target and have managed to come within touching point of it. With a larger population, they achieved a figure of fewer than 200 with unacceptably long waits in the latest figures. But, in Wales, that same statistic has to be counted...
Adam Price: I'm grateful to the First Minister for seeing his statement in advance. You state in the statement that the proposals set out in 'Securing Wales' Future' were reflected in Jeremy Corbyn's letter to Theresa May last week. But that isn't exactly the case, is it? I quote 'Securing Wales' Future': 'The EU Customs Union delivers benefits for Welsh business.... We believe at this stage that...
Adam Price: First Minister, I accept what you say about the going round in circles that we're seeing in Westminster, but the deadline that I asked you about was the one that you set for yourself, in terms of deciding when we need to move on and unequivocally say that the only way forward is a people's vote. And one of the criticisms I've heard you make of Theresa May's Government is that they're...
Adam Price: First Minister, on 22 January, you told this Chamber, 'the debate in Parliament over the next week is the last opportunity to rally around that form of Brexit...based around continued participation in the single market and a customs union...if that cannot be done,...the only option that...remains is a...public vote to break the deadlock.' Now, that was widely interpreted as you saying that...
Adam Price: Is the First Minister able to share with us the Welsh Government's assessment of the potential impact in terms of jobs on supplier firms in Wales of Honda's announcement today? Can he confirm that that may affect up to a dozen major suppliers, such as G-Tekt in Tredegar and Mitsui in my own constituency, as well as many more second tier and third tier suppliers? The Welsh automotive sector is...
Adam Price: Thank you, Llywydd. May I also extend my sympathies to the family and friends of Paul Flynn and say this: I had the pleasure of serving alongside him in that other Parliament in Westminster for some years, and he was always very willing to provide advice and support, even though we came from different parties. He occasionally would pull me up when he thought I could perform better. He was one...
Adam Price: I disagree. In any instance, non-executives also, to be able to perform their function of critical challenge, need to be able to ask good questions, and they can only do that from a basis of knowledge, and that's been lacking in this case. It's an important sector economically. It's actually bigger in terms of value added than agriculture and, indeed, in terms of the rural economy, its...
Adam Price: Well, this report by the committee and, indeed, the subsequent Grant Thornton report and the previous reports by the Wales Audit Office certainly have laid bare a—how can we say—systemic collapse, really, of ordinary rules of governance and audit, and leadership, I think, more generally, and there are issues of capacity as well, as Llyr Gruffydd has said. But I think they've also pointed...
Adam Price: Could I ask the Minister just to confirm that the police forces in Wales are going to be put on standby in the event of a 'no deal' Brexit, as has been reported, for example, in England and in Scotland? In February of last year, we received confirmation that the Government was considering the concept of free zones, or free ports, if we were to leave the European Union. Can the Minister...
Adam Price: May I ask the Minister, with just a few weeks to go, isn’t it going to be a cause of concern for people that that work hasn’t been completed? We’ve known for some time that there was a possibility of a no-deal exit, and, with just a few weeks remaining, we still don’t know what goods and medicines we are talking about. May I also ask him whether he is aware of any contingency plans by...
Adam Price: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Returning to the question raised by my colleague Helen Mary Jones, has the work that you referred to in identifying the medicines and medical equipment that are at risk of becoming scarce if there were a 'no deal' Brexit been completed? Is that work completed? How many medicines and what medical equipment have you identified on that list? Is it less than...
Adam Price: I think the idea of a national forest is all well and good and to be welcomed, but you have to ask the First Minister: you've been part of the furniture in this institution in different shapes or forms—part of the furniture whether it's made out of Welsh wood or not—and where have you been in terms of these targets? You weren't able to answer, and there's a very good reason, maybe,...
Adam Price: It does beg the question why it's taken six years and four separate reports for these deep failings to be uncovered in this way. Now, the standard response we've heard from the Government in situations like this is that this is an autonomous body for which you only have arm's-length responsibility, but you do have direct responsibility for your own Government's strategy for forestry and...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Natural Resources Wales directly manages 80 per cent of Wales's forests and regulates the remaining 20 per cent. As a body itself, it produces 800,000 tonnes of timber each year. Yet, astonishingly, as we heard yesterday from the chief executive of NRW, no-one on the current board has either knowledge or experience in timber or forestry. In their report into the problems at...
Adam Price: First Minister, when John Howard famously sacked all his departmental heads 20 years ago in Australia, it was dubbed 'the night of the long knives'. Now your Government is denying all knowledge of conversations several senior sources have maintained did happen. It seems to be a night of the short memories. Now, it said in the article that you're anxious to have a fresh start, but to give what...
Adam Price: First Minister, I'm afraid I have to press you again on this point, and this is because of the nature of the way this alleged departure has emerged in the media, as reported last Thursday by the Western Mail's chief reporter, Martin Shipton. He refers to a number of senior, and, as he puts it, well-placed sources in the Welsh Government providing him with the information that there have been...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, can you assure the Senedd that your leading civil servant, Permanent secretary Dame Shan Morgan, has not indicated in conversation with you, or Cabinet or other colleagues that she is willing to leave her position before her contract ends in 2022?
