Mark Isherwood: How is the Welsh Government supporting the recruitment of doctors into the NHS in Wales?
Mark Isherwood: I won't revisit the cases and concerns I raised with you in committee last week. However, how much of the £80 million that you've committed to the successor programme to Superfast Cymru do you anticipate coming from the refund from BT linked to their achieving targets under the clawback clause you have with them? And how certain are you that the money you're anticipating will come back to you?
Mark Isherwood: Right, well, how will you respond to this? Will you make a statement recognising, for example, that that young woman—that 11-year-old child—had an anxiety attack in front of me, in private, when confronted with the problems she's facing, and the years of her needs being denied by self-denying statutory bodies, just because she's learnt to cope so well in school?
Mark Isherwood: Can I call for a single statement on autism assessment delays across Wales? You may have seen reports of BBC Wales research last week that children in parts of Wales were waiting, on average, two years for an autism assessment despite the Welsh Government's target of six months or 26 weeks. We heard that freedom of information requests to local health boards revealed the average wait to be...
Mark Isherwood: At last September's Digartref Ynys Môn and Bangor University event in the Assembly, we heard homeless young people themselves debating youth homelessness in Wales. And they said young people living in supported accommodation could have a host of issues to deal with and may struggle with this alongside studying and assignments. Last Friday, I visited the Hwb project—Grwp Cynefin's Hwb...
Mark Isherwood: Thank you very much indeed. On the day that new figures show that joblessness across the UK has fallen, but risen in Wales, despite unemployment across the UK being at four-decade low, are you not ashamed that, compared with a year ago, Wales is the only part of the UK where unemployment has gone up?
Mark Isherwood: Will you give way?
Mark Isherwood: Well, the key thing is that we benefit economically and socially from that connection whilst clearly spreading that prosperity all the way to Holyhead. The WLGA's north Wales co-ordinator told me in committee, 'it’s not just about people who are out of work, but there’s also the issue of low wages, and then there’s also the issue about being able to move to more, higher paid work'. ...
Mark Isherwood: In his response to our report, the Cabinet Secretary states that city and growth deals have a strong role to play in our regionally focused approach to economic development. He accepts our recommendations 5 and 9 regarding the north Wales growth deal, the bid for which was formally submitted to both himself and the UK Secretary of State for Wales by the six north Wales county councils and...
Mark Isherwood: You might recall that, when we used to have the regional committees, they were extremely popular and well attended, particularly in north Wales—even when that wasn't necessarily the case across the whole of Wales. Since their demise, the cross-party groups I chair largely meet annually in north Wales, and when they do there's huge popular engagement with them, from organisations and people...
Mark Isherwood: Well, clearly, measures such as these, and pre-custodial perpetrator programmes, can contribute to the early intervention and prevention agenda. Welsh Women's Aid have emphasised the importance of financial investment in prevention and early intervention by health boards and public health regional leads, given the cost to the NHS of picking up the pieces after domestic abuse and sexual...
Mark Isherwood: In your statement, you say Transport for Wales will work with Welsh Government's new regional teams, emerging transport regional authorities and partners to create an integrated transport network. In this context, you'll be aware of the growth deal bid from north Wales that was submitted in a few days before Christmas, with negotiations due to commence with both Welsh Government and UK...
Mark Isherwood: How is the Welsh Government monitoring child-centred support for children with additional learning needs?
Mark Isherwood: Can I thank everybody who's contributed? Mike Hedges came straight in with the key point: this is not about legalising cannabis for recreational use. It's about ensuring that we trust our medical practitioners to provide legal prescriptions of cannabinoid drugs when patients can benefit. As Leanne Wood said, following effective evidence-based campaigns by MS Cymru and others, plus the...
Mark Isherwood: Professor Michael Barnes, who is a UK neurologist and rehabilitation consultant, has highlighted dozens of peer-reviewed research papers that have proved the efficacy of medical cannabis. He said such drugs have alleviated pain in all its manifestations, treated muscle spasms, anxiety and nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing chemotherapy. He also said there was evidence that medicinal...
Mark Isherwood: Diolch, Llywydd. Today's debate follows a meeting of the cross-party group on neurological conditions on medicinal cannabis that took place in October 2017, attended by people from across Wales living with a range of medical conditions—many of whom are in the public gallery today—who find a benefit from using cannabis for medicinal purposes, but by doing so run the risk of prosecution. As...
Mark Isherwood: We also supported the—.
Mark Isherwood: I've said that we are going to support this motion—I hope that that should provide you with some reassurance—but on the basis that we note. We also supported the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee's European Union (Withdrawal) Bill interim report on the legislative consent motion, including its objective 1, to remove the clause 11 restriction on the devolution...
Mark Isherwood: As the—. Yes, indeed.
Mark Isherwood: I'm coming to that. I share the disappointment expressed by David Lidington, which I'm going to come to. As the Scottish Conservatives' constitutional spokesperson said last weekend, 'clause 11 of the bill needs to be amended to restore the spirit of the Scotland Act.' And obviously, by association, legislation applying here. He said: 'There is a fundamental principle on which Scottish...
