Of course, both the Minister and I, alongside both the Deputy Presiding Officer and the Member for Clwyd West, attended the north Wales Armed Forces Day a week ago on Saturday, where we heard moving references to the battles of Jutland and the Somme, and it’s particularly pertinent—and I know the Minister will have timed this statement accordingly—that Friday of this week will be the centenary of the start of the battle of Somme, that dreadful day and the beginning of carnage, killing hundreds of thousands.

You referred to funding; I wonder if you could comment on the projects in Wales funded by the LIBOR money, which part-funded or helped to fund the First Choice development in Wrexham that you referred to, and also funds the projects being delivered through CAIS as the lead organisation—Change Step, peer mentoring and advice services to veterans, and the Listen In service, supporting families and friends of veterans, which has developed into an all-Wales project. Thankfully, funding was confirmed in the UK budget earlier this year.

You referred to the £585,000 a year to maintain the unique Veterans’ NHS Wales service. I wonder if you could help the understanding of that, where Welsh Government, after a period of uncertainty, reconfirmed £100,000 recurrent annual funding for that specific service, as opposed to veterans services generally within the NHS, and how that equates to the £585,000 figure you refer to here, particularly in the context of the statement made at a meeting of the cross-party group on armed forces and reserves earlier this year by clinicians that funding for the Veterans’ NHS Wales service specifically remained below equivalent funding in Scotland and England.

In terms of the Homes for Veterans in Wrexham, I hope you’ll acknowledge that this is the third residence in north Wales to be managed by Alabaré Wales Homes for Veterans. I recently visited both Colwyn Bay and Llandudno Junction homes and met privately the residents and listened to what they had to say. I hope you will take note of their concerns at your meeting with the expert group in July, if you’re going to identify key priorities and the means to deliver these. In that context, in a written answer today, the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport told me that Veterans’ NHS Wales provides dedicated therapists in each health board area, providing specialist outpatient care for veterans with mental health problems, such as PTSD. How do you therefore refer to the comments made to me by a veteran, from a wheelchair, two weeks ago after my intervention had finally got him in front of the community mental health team for assessment, when the promised care co-ordinator—promised within four weeks—hadn’t arrived after two months? When they chased that, they were told that the health board had lost six members of staff and were in the process of replacing them, and I was told on the same visit that another person being supported by Homes for Veterans Wales had been waiting four months since being assessed, and that now the Veterans’ NHS Wales psychological therapist was herself away on sick leave.

I was also told during that meeting with veterans themselves that although Veterans’ NHS Wales is providing a good initial response to referrals, it was just a quick assessment meeting and the patient was then back on the waiting list if they actually needed psychological intervention. Of course, these are serious, particularly when they come from the mouths of the service users, and I’d be grateful if you and your colleagues could look at that.

They also told me—. Sorry, the Cabinet Secretary also told me in her written response today that, with regard to priority treatment and healthcare for veterans, she had asked GPs to consider when making referrals whether, in their clinical opinion, priority treatment may be appropriate as the patient’s condition relates to military service. Would you also therefore consider the concern expressed to me by veterans in person two weeks ago? One in particular told me that he can’t access the health service ‘because his mental health condition prevents him from being able to articulate his words to his GP, and his GP needs to read his notes and his long-standing mental and physical health conditions’. Again, a lot more work, I hope you’ll agree, is required in this area.

Last week, I raised with the business Minister the ‘Call to Mind: Wales’ report published earlier this month, showing that much more needs to be done to support the mental health needs of veterans, and the Minister confirmed that a statement would be forthcoming. Can you confirm that this isn’t that statement, and when that is likely to occur?

Just two final points. As you know, the Scottish Government has introduced a commissioner for veterans who has been very effective in identifying and articulating their needs, and there is a growing call in the armed forces community in Wales for a commissioner here who not only does that, but actually reaches the wider armed forces community to improve outcomes and promote the availability of support. What is this new Welsh Government’s current position on that? Will you look further at the experience in Scotland and engage with the senior armed forces representatives in Wales who have expressed support for this?

And finally in terms of everything I’ve said and everything you and everybody else has said, do you or do you not agree that a veterans’ needs assessment across Wales is needed as the basis for service delivery by the Welsh Government, if it’s finally to acknowledge what planning is required to achieve the provision that all these people are telling us they need?