Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Last week, in response to a topical question that my colleague James Evans put down, First Minister, the economy Minister said that the Welsh Government had spent £4.25 million purchasing a farm in mid Wales, in his words, to secure a permanent home in Wales for the Green Man Festival. The next day, the festival said that there are no plans to move the Green Man...
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, thank you for the answers you've given this afternoon. I think it clarifies that the purchase of Gilestone Farm is more a case of securing an exhibition/festival space rather than an agricultural space. If you could confirm that to be the case, as that was my understanding from the answer you gave. If it was to include an agricultural component to it, are you minded to give...
Andrew RT Davies: Cash flow is a critical component of any business, First Minister, and as we go into the critical summer/autumn planting season, farmers need the confidence that they have the cash flow to buy the stock, breeding stock or seeds, to plan for the next growing season so that there's a harvest to be had next year. The UK Government in England have brought forward the window for paying the basic...
Andrew RT Davies: I was making the point to you three weeks ago and six weeks ago that, because of the conflict in Ukraine, there is huge pressure on the inflation picture, that farms are having to buy seeds, fertilisers and other products that directly feed through into the food chain with the finished products that end up on the shelf. You did say to me, First Minister, that there is no crisis in the food...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, three weeks ago, you said to me that there is no crisis in the food sector, after I raised with you the pressures on the agricultural supply chains. Yesterday, the governor of the Bank of England said families were facing an apocalyptic food price rise thanks to supply-chain problems caused by the conflict in Ukraine. Who is right, you or the...
Andrew RT Davies: Health Minister, obviously, one of the key things about community support from the health profession is to have the right quality of staff and quantity of staff in the community. It's International Nurses Day tomorrow, as I understand it, and one of the measures that a previous Welsh Government took on board was that it brought forward the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 that is...
Andrew RT Davies: Can I make a point of order, Presiding Officer?
Andrew RT Davies: I'd be grateful if you could clarify your determination when it comes to the co-operation agreement. I think they were very reasonable points that the leader of Plaid Cymru was raising there, and the First Minister's perfectly entitled to respond to them, but you have determined in a letter that you sent when the co-operation agreement was brought into effect that questions to the First...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that answer, First Minister. I very much hope that those in the medical fraternity such as the British Medical Association do come and make that powerful case to you, because I detected a commitment to achieve those extra funded places if that case is presented to you. But what we also know in the acute sector, i.e. the hospitals, is that regular data is not provided on vacancy...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for the answer, First Minister. It is a fact that there are more GPs in Wales, but it is a fact, obviously, that many are part-time, as I said in my opening remarks to you. Nearly a third of the workforce is on a part-time basis when it comes to GP practices. Importantly, as I said to you, I recognise that there's an increased number of GPs being trained, but the actual figures...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, when I was going round Wales over the last couple of weeks, which was far more profitable for you than me as it turned out last Thursday—[Laughter.]—there were many things that were raised with me as I went round Wales, but one of the key themes that came across in all parts of Wales was access to GPs and the ability to get appointments in GP...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, I listened very carefully to your response to my second question. I asked you why the Welsh Government policy position took a further two weeks to change to the testing of patients being transferred to care homes. I also pointed out that at the time you said—you said—that there was no value in this testing taking place and that your health Minister—again, his...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, you adopted the same policies as other Governments in the United Kingdom, which the court judgment referred to, about the discharging of patients into care homes without testing taking place. You, at the time of the change of policy in England, said that you could see no value in testing patients being transferred from hospitals into care homes, and, indeed, your health...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Where's Hefin David when you need him, especially on the first two questions? First Minister, what view has the Welsh Government formed in light of the recent court judgment about discharging patients from hospitals into care homes?
Andrew RT Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Andrew RT Davies: Will you take an intervention?
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, there is a crisis. Fertiliser, which you need to grow crops, is now £900 to £1,000 a tonne; it is normally about £300 to £350 a tonne. Wheat, the key component of making bread, is north of £300 a tonne; it normally trades at £140 to £150 a tonne. Beef is at £440 a kilo; it normally trades at £340 to £360. I could go on; I like to think I've got my hand on the pulse...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that explanation, First Minister, because when I questioned the Minister around the food crisis that I see evolving now the Ukraine situation is escalating and the damage it is doing to the supply of food on to the market, the Minister said that there was no crisis and that there was no need to bring the processors, the food producers and the retailers together in the very...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Dare I stray into local government issues, First Minister, especially as there's something happening next Thursday? But I will ask you the question about the agricultural Bill. This is a Bill that has not seen the light of day yet. We were promised it in the spring of this year; we even got promised it in initial form before the last Senedd elections. The...
Andrew RT Davies: As someone who represents the Cardiff and Vale health board area, they have been lamentable in commissioning services in the community through pharmacists. Would you agree that there needs to be greater orientation around the contract so that more services can be contracted to pharmacies, especially in the public health agenda? Because if I look further west, I can find those services in...
