Adam Price: If the First Minister will allow me to reveal why health isn't included in the co-operation agreement, then I'm quite happy for those minutes of those discussions to be published.
Adam Price: But the point is, First Minister, that that agency doesn't have to be within the private sector, does it, it could be within the public sector. Now, could I turn to another matter that has already been referred to, the UK Government's veto over the gender recognition reform Bill in Scotland? Do you agree with me that this sets a very dangerous precedent, not only in terms of your own...
Adam Price: I would urge him to look at that possibility for this financial year as well. One of the other issues that you did bring to the table, which was welcome, was the role of agency staff. Now, we saw the figures from the Royal College of Physicians that show that the total bill in the last financial year was £260 million. Do you accept the logic of the unions that, offering a significantly...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. With the news of the teachers' strike on 1 February and the failure of the talks with the health unions last week, public sector strikes in Wales are widening and deepening. What's the strategy of the Government, First Minister, to prevent this winter of discontent continuing on into spring and into summer? Is it your policy that you're going to offer the one-off payment that...
Adam Price: Can we, please, have a statement from the Minister for Climate Change to update us on the proposed and long-awaited bypass for Llandeilo? The page summarising the status of the project on the Welsh Government website did pledge that the Government would recommend a favoured option from the four options remaining as part of the WelTAG stage 2 consultation by the winter of last year. But, on...
Adam Price: But the pay review process has led to a decade-long, real-terms cut in the wages of our NHS staff. So, the system is broken, and I make no apology for holding the Government to account and asking them to state what are your broad democratic principles. And we are here being the voice of NHS staff. We've been on the picket lines talking to them. We're making the points that they've asked us to...
Adam Price: But the progressive use of income tax in order to defend public services from Tory austerity is a long-standing socialist position that we espouse in this party, and it's something you used to believe in as well. You did recognise, in your comments yesterday, the collapse in trust in the pay review body process. How do you intend to rebuild this trust? Do you intend to change the nature of...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. On NHS pay, First Minister, we've estimated, based on figures that you've shared with us, that you could afford at least an additional 3 per cent extra pay award in this financial year. Now, I understand the health Minister has said that she does not recognise those figures, so can we assume that the pay award that you are intending to offer will be less than that figure? You...
Adam Price: I have heard of a number of cases similar to those expressed by Mabon ap Gwynfor in my region: one constituent waiting over 17 hours outside of A&E in an ambulance with stroke symptoms; another disabled constituent waiting for 12 hours outside of the A&E department for a bed after a fall; and even one man travelling back and forth to A&E to provide blankets and food for his elderly mother...
Adam Price: 8. What is the Welsh Government doing to improve A&E wait times and ambulance response times for people living in Carmarthen East and Dinefwr? OQ58876
Adam Price: In terms of the position that we are facing, of course, many of the pressures that the Welsh Government faces are also the same pressures that local government themselves are going to be facing, as has already been referred to. And it would be useful, I think, if we had a sense from the Government as to what you believe now—. We will obviously see the local government settlement detail in...
Adam Price: There can be few more difficult jobs at the moment in politics than being a finance Minister, in any Government in the world, so I do think that Rebecca Evans deserves our understanding in that regard. Because she, like every finance Minister, is facing complex, difficult challenges, trade-offs, which are really at the heart of any budget-setting process, made more difficult of course at the...
Adam Price: I think it's astonishing that you're attacking the Tories in Westminster when you're doing exactly the same in Wales in refusing to talk about pay to the unions. I just disagree philosophically with the First Minister: I do not see that actually investing in better pay and conditions for the workforce is actually diverting money out of the NHS; it's investing in the long-term, sustainable...
Adam Price: They haven't taken £400 million out of the NHS, they've invested it in the NHS workforce and have recognised that, without actually sustaining the morale of that workforce, then there wouldn't be an NHS, because, actually, who is there to deliver it? Now, Rishi Sunak has said that an inflationary pay increase for all public sector workers would cost £28 billion; the Institute for Fiscal...
Adam Price: Diolch, Llywydd. Over the last few days, Labour's shadow health Secretary in Westminster, Wes Streeting, has referred to the RCN and Unison's offer to suspend strike action, if the UK health Secretary was prepared to discuss pay. That is an offer that is too good to refuse, but that is what the Tories are doing at Westminster, and that's what you are doing in Wales. Steve Barclay met with the...
Adam Price: Can I turn to—[Interruption.] Yes, I know. Can I turn to constitutional matters? The Labour Party 2017 manifesto included a commitment to devolving policing to Wales. The Silk commission, set up by a Conservative-led administration, recommended it in 2014. Your own Government's Thomas commission recommended the devolution of policing and justice as a whole, and the Labour Party manifesto in...
Adam Price: I am disappointed with your initial response, First Minister, this afternoon, because there was recognition as the figures were published 10 years ago that we were in a critical situation, and that action was needed. That's what led then to the cross-party debate that got behind the aim of a million Welsh speakers. So, there was an acknowledgement that census figures are important. Every...
Adam Price: Thank you, Llywydd. You will have seen the census figures that demonstrate a further decline in the number of Welsh speakers in Wales, and a significant fall in terms of young people between the ages of three and 15 who speak the language. Now, this demonstrates, doesn't it, that a central element of the Welsh Government's policy, namely developing Welsh-medium education across Wales, is...
Adam Price: So, you’ve changed your view, then, from the summer, when you said: 'The SNP...won an election on the basis they would seek another referendum. How can that be denied to the Scottish people?' And Anna McMorrin was directly asked whether she was prepared to commit to the devolution of justice, and she was not prepared to give that commitment. Now, can I turn to the consequences for Wales...
Adam Price: In the conversation that you had with Sir Keir Starmer, did he reiterate the comments that he made in an interview earlier this month, which were confirmed by his official spokesperson following the judgment last week, that he would not agree to an independence referendum in Scotland following the next general election? Is that not a denial of democracy? And on that theme, what do you, First...
