Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you. I do understand that I have been asking questions of the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport on medical education to date, but it’s good to ask a question to you as the Cabinet Secretary for Education today. Now that the pre-budget agreement has secured development funding for undergraduate medical education in Bangor, will you, as the education Secretary, tell us...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 1. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on medical education in north Wales? (OAQ51097)[W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: We obviously can’t overemphasise the importance of getting our sporting offer right in Wales, not only for national well-being and celebrating our heritage and so on, as the Minister says, but more importantly as a means of getting us healthier, and as we look forward to the formation of the first obesity strategy for Wales—it’s come about as a result of our amendment to the Public...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: You know full well that the sector have been told to expect this cut of 10 to 15 per cent.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I want to make a few comments, if I may, on the priority that Plaid Cymru placed on protecting budgets for Supporting People programmes. It is shocking that it took the Plaid Cymru intervention to secure the continuation of this funding. Over the past few weeks, I have met with a number of organisations in my constituency working in the field of homelessness—the Wallich, Digartref Ynys...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for that response. I would like to suggest to the Cabinet Secretary that investing in developing medical education at an undergraduate level on a comprehensive level in north Wales—that is, including first-year students, and all the way through their studies—would be an excellent example of implementing the principles of invest-to-save. We know that Betsi Cadwaladr health board...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 6. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on invest-to-save principles? (OAQ51070)[W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much for that update. I have four questions stemming from today’s statement. The first relates to expenditure. We heard in the statement that there was an increase of 65 per cent in expenditure on neurological conditions over the four years up to 2015. I wonder whether it would be possible to have an explanation for that particular trend, because it appears to be too much of...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Following on from questions asked earlier about the impact of major events in Wales, we have a Welsh football team to be proud of, we have Welsh football supporters to be proud of, and we have a Welsh football association to be proud of, and its great credit to them all that Wales has been asked to put in a bid to potentially hold Euro 2020 games. Now, could we have a statement on what...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd, and Plaid Cymru is pleased to support this motion today. We are not happy with the proposals that the Government is indeed trying to rush through with little scrutiny, it seems, and what could only be described as a sham consultation, and, yes, we too have noticed the scramble to arrange focus groups close to the consultation deadline—indicative, I think, of how this...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you confirm that you will look at going down the route of accepting undergraduates from year 1 right the way through, which I am told without any shadow of a doubt is possible in Bangor, through a collaborative approach between Cardiff, Swansea, Bangor, whoever might want to get involved?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: This inquiry was worth while, and I thank the Chair and my fellow Members and the clerks and the research team. We started from a point where we knew there was a problem, of course, that medical recruitment was a barrier to the NHS delivering its functions, but what we have now, I think, is a valuable document—a very comprehensive document—asking why, and what we can do to try and...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: This is one of those situations that’s likely to get more and more common, I guess, as treatments that prolong life, rather than cure cancer, get developed, but with a potential for major cost implications. Now, we’ve had concerns, which you know well about, about IPFR and exceptionality, and I certainly look forward to seeing how changes recently announced will improve access. But...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you. This month, I met with staff and managers of some of the organisations and charities that do excellent work on Anglesey in tackling and dealing with homelessness, including The Wallich and Digartref Môn, and Gorwel, also. Unfortunately, being asked to do more and more with reducing resources means that they are now reaching a point where it is entirely impossible to achieve, and...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 5. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on homelessness in Ynys Môn? (OAQ51027) [W]
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for taking an intervention. Just very briefly, it’s not always about more and more staff. It’s making sure, for example, that where we train doctors in Wales, we keep more of them in Wales, because far too many medical students who are trained in Wales end up working outside Wales, and we want to train more of our own students here in Wales, including in Bangor.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: May I first of all welcome the interim report, as it is very thorough and shows a great deal of research and consultation? It gives us a great deal of detail on the state and challenges facing the NHS and the care sector in Wales today, but we must also say that the findings aren’t ones that should surprise us too much. What we have is a picture of financial pressures, demographic...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I’d like to welcome the publication of this delivery plan, and I’m sure that we can all welcome any commitment to continue to try to reduce the smoking rates, and especially those steps to try to prevent people from starting smoking in the first instance, because I do believe that that is the most significant element of the battle to reduce smoking rates in the long term. If I can look...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will the First Minister make a statement on giving patients a voice in the NHS?
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Animals are animals across Europe.
