The following amendment has been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Jane Hutt.

Item 5 is the Plaid Cymru debate on economic prosperity, the national health service and education. I call on Rhun ap Iorwerth to move the motion. Rhun.

Motion NDM6245 Rhun ap Iorwerth

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Notes Wales’s prominent contribution to the industrial revolution, to the creation of the National Health Service and its leading role in the development of secondary education provision.

2. Regrets:

a) that recent GVA statistics released in December 2016 show that GVA per head in Wales in 2015 was 71 per cent of the UK average, the lowest amongst the devolved countries and English regions;

b) that patients in Wales will wait substantially longer for diagnosis and treatment than they would for the same conditions in England and Scotland; and

c) Wales’s most recent performance in the OECD’s 2015 Programme for International Student Assessment, published in December 2016, which revealed that scores in maths, reading, and science were lower in 2015 than in 2006, and lower than the UK average.

3. Recognises:

a) the essential role of education and skills as an important driver to improve Wales’s economic productivity levels;

b) the need for sustained improvement in Welsh waiting times for diagnosis and treatment; and

c) the potential of the blue and green economy in ensuring the future economic prosperity of Wales.

Motion moved.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. It’s a pleasure to present this motion on 1 March, St David’s Day, and it’s a pleasure to wish everyone a happy St David’s Day—here in the Chamber and outwith the Chamber.

Some may ask what role there is for patron saint days in the twenty-first century, but across the world, people and nations do use these days to celebrate and promote their nations and nationalities, and long may that continue. It’s an opportunity to celebrate successes and also to consider the state of the nation. Today, we are using our St David’s Day debate to look to our past, our present and our future, and to particularly address the areas of the economy, health and education.

We need honesty in terms of how things are today. Of course, we’re not looking back with a sense of nostalgia in terms of how things were for many Welsh citizens over the past century or two. And to distance ourselves from another recent political slogan, it’s not about ‘making Wales great again’—that’s not our theme here today. We are, rather, looking at where we are as a nation, clearly stating that we believe that Wales can do better.

Wales has a very proud history. There may be a divergence of opinion among Members on the significance of various elements of our history, but certainly, as a modern nation, we can turn to chapters in our history in order to inspire our future. On St David’s Day, we can tell the people of Wales that this is the story of our nation. Our predecessor generations innovated; they created anew, they devised things; and they responded to the situation of Wales and the world as it was at that time. In health, we are talking about a Welshman creating the NHS and doing so within a British context in those years after the second world war, just as the industrial revolution was nurtured here in Wales, again, in a British or imperial context, even—these aren’t contexts that you will hear Plaid Cymru celebrating, necessarily, but that was the context at that time.

That context has now changed. Perhaps I should add that it has changed to a great extent as a result of the response to those contexts of the past. We are partially self-governing now as our nation continues on our constitutional journey. That journey, I’m proud to say, is continuing, and I’m sure that St David himself would agree that it’s an exciting journey, and a journey full of possibilities.

Our motion today mentions our contribution as a nation to the industrial revolution. We were one of the first industrial economies in the world. That experience of industrialisation was traumatic for many workers, and citizens more generally at the time. Poverty, ill health and environmental damage were clear characteristics of the period, but ultimately that was the start of the journey to a more prosperous future. It prepared the way for innovation and for technological developments and innovation. Those difficult circumstances of the time actually engendered battles for workers’ rights and for the right to vote—battles that laid the foundations to an extent that allowed us to build the democracy that we currently have, and the fact that we here today are in our own national Parliament.

There were challenges for the Welsh language also, naturally, although Gwynfor Evans noted that it wasn’t industrialisation that killed the Welsh language; it was the policies of central governments that were responsible for that through the education system and the psychological condition of the people of Wales. Gwynfor noted that the Welsh language had disappeared from the rural areas of the south-east way before the urban areas, with the language alive in areas such as Merthyr Tydfil and Aberdare, and similar towns across Glamorgan and Gwent, for decades after industrialisation.

Today, of course, it’s good to see Welsh medium education prospering again in those areas. Policy is crucially important to drive that growth. I hope we all here do welcome that growth. There’s been a change in psychology, the psychology that Gwynfor mentioned, although there are still some people who find it difficult to find that new national confidence that we all need.

I’ll move on to health and education. As the industrial revolution was nurtured here in Wales, the national health service was also born here. We know how Aneurin Bevan got the vision and the courage to develop the NHS—yes, a prominent member in the history of the Labour Party and the Labour movement, but one of the giants of our history as a nation in terms of the development of healthcare. We in Plaid Cymru believe that that vision can now truly be achieved through our National Assembly and through the Welsh Government. But that vision by Bevan from our past must continue to inspire us now.

In education, we have a long tradition of high rates of literacy among our population, and an education network that, a century a more ago, England was envious of. More recently, Wales innovated in secondary education and Wales was the home of the first comprehensive school. I’m very proud that that was in my constituency, and that was Holyhead High School. Very appropriately, I will take this opportunity to congratulate that school and other schools in the town, and everyone else who were part of the event, for the first St David’s Day parade to be staged in Holyhead—I’m very sorry not to be able to attend today.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

I’m very pleased to say that Anglesey was the first education authority to turn entirely to comprehensive education at the beginning of the 1950s. So, again, there are successes and innovation in education that we can be proud of.

Lywydd, rwyf wedi paentio llun, gobeithio, o orffennol Cymru. Y cwestiwn yn awr yw sut rydym yn dysgu o’r profiad hwnnw ac yn adeiladu ar yr etifeddiaeth honno er mwyn paentio gweledigaeth o’r dyfodol a gwella perfformiad a rhagolygon mewn meysydd allweddol? Mae angen i ni allu troi at ein hanes, nid i ddod o hyd i esgusodion am berfformiad gwael, ond fel ysbrydoliaeth i wella ein perfformiad. Er mwyn ein presennol a’n dyfodol, rydym yn dweud, ‘Gall Cymru wneud yn well’.

Mae’n ymddangos fel ddoe, ond 20 mlynedd yn ôl, roedd gan fwyafrif bach o bobl yng Nghymru ddigon o hyder i bleidleisio ‘ie’ i’r syniad eu bod yn byw mewn gwlad sy’n haeddu cael llywodraethu ei hun. Ond hyd yn hyn, nid yw Llywodraethau datganoledig wedi gallu, er enghraifft, codi ein gwerth ychwanegol gros o gymharu â gweddill y DU. Nid ydynt ychwaith wedi meddu ar y pwerau neu’r uchelgais—y ddau o bosibl. Ar gyfer y wlad a welodd gymaint o arloesi technolegol, ac a arferai fod yn brif allforiwr adnoddau’r byd, ai dyma’r gorau y gallwn ei wneud?

Pam ein bod mewn sefyllfa ar Ddydd Gŵyl Dewi lle na all pobl yn y wlad hon ymfalchïo yn ein lefel o ffyniant ac yn ein lefelau o gyfoeth? Gallwn weld y dangosyddion hynny sy’n gyson yn peri pryder ar iechyd a’r safleoedd PISA ar gyfer addysg. Mae lefelau tlodi yn dal i fod yn enbyd o uchel. Ni allwn edrych yn ddiffuant i lygaid pobl yng Nghymru a dweud, ‘Ydym, rydym yn cyrraedd ein potensial’. Ond gadewch i ni symud tuag at amser pan fyddwn yn gallu gwneud hynny yn y dyfodol.

Mae 20 mlynedd yn ifanc i ddemocratiaeth, ond mae’n ddigon hir i ni gael Llywodraeth gyda gweledigaeth glir a gweledigaeth uchelgeisiol ynglŷn â ble rydym yn mynd. Roeddwn yn falch o faniffesto Plaid Cymru ar gyfer yr etholiad y flwyddyn diwethaf—yn falch o’i syniadau ac yn falch o’i arloesedd. Mae’n ddyletswydd ar bob un ohonom yma i arloesi ac i ysbrydoli.

Gydag amser yn brin, fe drof at welliant y Llywodraeth. Ni fyddwn yn ei gefnogi, nid yn unig ar yr egwyddor ei fod yn dileu rhan fawr o’n cynnig, ond yr hyn a welaf yw gwelliant sy’n cael gwared ar dystiolaeth, ar ddata, am rai o’r heriau sy’n ein hwynebu mewn gwirionedd. Ni ddylai llywodraethau gilio rhag realiti, ac mewn gwirionedd, mae gwneud hynny’n rhwystro’r ffordd rhag gwella perfformiad.

Edrychaf ymlaen at y ddadl heddiw. Wrth ddathlu ein nawddsant, hyderaf ein bod i gyd yn awyddus i ddathlu’r gorau o Gymru—y gorau o’n ddoe a’n heddiw. Ond gydag asesiad gonest o’r sefyllfa yr ydym ynddi heddiw, gadewch i ni adeiladu gweledigaeth go iawn ar gyfer ein hyfory hefyd, ac na foed i ni byth dderbyn unrhyw beth nad yw’n cyrraedd ein potensial llawn.

I have selected the amendment to the motion, and I call on the leader of the house to formally move amendment 1 tabled in her name.

Amendment 1—Jane Hutt

Delete point 2 and replace with:

Notes:

a) the unemployment rate in Wales has fallen to 4.4%, lower than the UK average;

b) recently-published OECD healthcare quality indicators show Wales is performing at a similar level or better than other countries in the UK on the majority of indicators;

c) the 2015/16 GCSE exam results for Wales show the main performance measure has increased each year since records began in 2006-07, while the attainment gap between pupils eligible for free school meals and their fellow pupils is closing.

Amendment 1 moved.

Formally.

Jeremy Miles.

Diolch, Lywydd. I wanted to pick up on one of the points in the motion that drew attention to the gross value added performance of Wales against the UK average. It seems to me that what we’re looking at here is actually a fundamental question of the inequality of the UK as a country—it’s uniquely unequal in comparison with other countries, for example, within the European Union.

We heard at the Brexit committee earlier this week that the performance of some of the European Union countries, on the basis of their membership of the EU, might have been faster because of the fact that we are, in Wales, a comparatively small part of a larger whole and our economy is so different, in some ways, from the UK in general. But I think it is worth bearing in mind that those comparisons of GVA only take us so far, and they’re a very crude tool for comparing the kind of economy that we want in Wales.

Actually, London and the south-east are the only two parts of the UK that exceed the average, which is a startling fact if you think about it. They’re the only two parts of the UK’s economy that are stronger than the average. So, I think that tells us some of the picture, but it doesn’t tell us the whole story.

I wanted to pick up on the idea in Rhun ap Iorwerth’s speech that is really about the idea of Wales exporting ideas, if you like, to other parts of the UK and other parts of the world. And the NHS, for example, is one of those, I suppose, exports that we are all proudest of here and across Wales.

There are still things that we can and do export to the world, and some of those are important ideas. I want to touch on a few of those today, and I think all of them play into the idea of the sort of economy that we want to have in Wales. I think that rather than just looking at GVA, we should look at the kind of assets that we’ve got in Wales and build an economy that reflects our assets. One of those assets, and it’s mentioned in the motion, is the idea of the blue economy and the green economy, and I think we must focus on that as one of our key principles in our future economy.

We have unique assets that other countries can’t compete with, in terms of the tidal reach that we have and the long coast that we have. We have the prospect in the tidal lagoon not just of green energy but of a massive economic opportunity for not just south Wales but the whole of Wales—a classic example of how the blue economy can become a reality. It’s already worth about £2.1 billion to the Welsh economy, and that’s really before we’ve done very much in terms of marine renewables in particular. We’ve made good innovative strides, but there’s much more potential there for us. And I hope and expect that we’ll see a marine plan from the Welsh Government that commits to focusing on that sector.

The second asset I want to talk about is the notion of well-being and the innovation that we have in Wales in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. We are genuinely groundbreaking in that piece of legislation, and that is an idea that we can export to the world. But the challenge for us, I think, now is finding ways for that to be a catalyst for economic development in itself. What is our analysis of how there is an economic opportunity that comes from having long-termism and sustainability absolutely at the heart of our economy and of our society? We’ve already started to do work to foster the circular economy where we recycle and so forth. There is much more that we can do in that area over time to create a new kind of productivity where we look at assets as things that we have for the long term, not just as disposable items.

And the last idea that I think has potential for us to export is the idea of a distributed economy—one where, actually, more of the wealth and more of the economic activity is spread throughout our country. I held a forum in Neath recently for discussing the economy, as I mentioned earlier, and one of the key issues that came up in that was the idea of how we can improve our local supply chains, and how we can work between the public sector and the private sector to boost our local economies. That isn’t really an agenda that has developed much in other parts of the UK, and I think there’s a real opportunity for us in Wales to do that.

So, I think we can’t run away from the idea of GVA as an important indicator of the health of the economy—obviously, we want an economy where growth is at the heart of it—but I’d encourage us to debate much broader tests for the success of our economy that reflect well-being and other measures. We need to look at our assets and build an economy that reflects the fantastic assets that we have in Wales.

I’m going to take the opportunity, too, to celebrate our successes as it is our national day today, and to take inspiration, as we’ve heard, from our history in tackling many of the challenges facing us today. The Member for Neath talked about our assets. Well, one of the major assets that we have as a nation, of course, is our people, and investing in our people, for example through the education system, is something that’s important for us, but it’s also something that we have an honourable tradition of doing, too. We have a history of innovation and enterprise in education—as much as any other sector that we will discuss today, I would argue.

We need only mention the name of Griffith Jones, Llanddowror, back at the beginning of the eighteenth century, to understand and appreciate that innovation—Griffith Jones and his circular schools educated children during the day and adults at evening, with those then going on to teach others. That cascading element of learning reached a point where there were 0.25 million people who had become literate, out of a population of less than 0.5 million. So, more than half the population were literate. And by the time that Griffith Jones passed away in 1761, Wales had the highest literacy level in the world, so much so that Catherine the Great of Russia sent a commissioner to Wales to learn lessons, and to see whether the system could be adapted for Russia. That may correspond not to us asking the OECD to come to tell us whether we’re on the right path, but to Wales telling the OECD what they should be telling other nations. That’s where we want to be, and, of course, that’s where we have been, in that specific chapter of our history anyway.

In 1889, then, the Welsh Intermediate Education Act was passed—legislation introduced by Welsh Members in Westminster that was revolutionary, because it meant that children, whatever their economic background or their academic ability, could attend a secondary school for the first time. We had to wait another 10 years before similar legislation was introduced for England. The success of the Act and the county schools was clear, with the historian K.O. Morgan—Lord Morgan—noting that,

Erbyn y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf, gorchuddiwyd Cymru gan rwydwaith o gant o ysgolion uwchradd “sirol”, ac roedd ganddi system addysg uwchradd a oedd yn amlwg yn rhagflaenu’r un yn Lloegr.

The success of the Act could also be seen in the fact that secondary schools in England were few and far between where there was no teacher from Wales during the first half of the twentieth century, a time when Wales was exporting teachers. ‘A nation of teachers and preachers’ was the description at the time, and it would be no bad thing if we succeeded in recreating that today.

But, of course, our history these days is different: we have seen decline, unfortunately, not the progress that I’m sure each and every one of us would’ve been eager to see happening. We have seen the recent PISA results. The Estyn annual report also highlights the positives—we should acknowledge that: the outcomes of 16 per cent of secondary schools in Wales are excellent, higher than any time since 2010. But those that are not up to standard was also up to 14 per cent.

Now, the history of the development of education is very interesting, of course, and is one that we should take great pride in, but we have to acknowledge, hope and be confident that we are on the verge of another exciting time in the development of a Welsh education system, with many programmes in place to reform the education system, as we have discussed in this place many times. It’s not inevitable that Wales will have a system that is seen as falling behind other nations. We have led the way in the past and we can do so again. We will need to ensure, of course, that the Government has a clear vision and a clear focus on delivery in terms of the potential that we have, and I am one who supports the Government’s approach at the moment, although there may be some disagreement as to how certain elements are to be rolled out in terms of timing and so on. But, essentially, I am confident that we are moving in the right direction.

The OECD report praised the move away from introducing unconnected events. What we need to do now, of course, is to strengthen the vision for the long term, to continue on the path on which we are travelling. But in so doing, of course, we must ensure that the reforms in the pipeline are implemented effectively and ensure that everyone—from the teachers in the classroom to the consortia and the education authorities and everyone else—do understand where we’re going and buy into the vision, that everyone is clear about their role in that context, and that they know what their contribution is to the project and how all of that work comes together. But in doing that, we can be confident that everyone will be working in the same direction and that we will achieve our aims.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. I’m pleased to participate in this important debate this afternoon. I can confirm, from the outset, that the Welsh Conservatives will support this motion.

Of course, we on this side of the Chamber recognise that Wales faces a number of challenges when it comes to our health, our education system and out economy, and I’ll be focusing on the future.

As the second point of the motion says, performance in these policy areas clearly shows that the Welsh Government must be more creative and collaborative in developing policies for our public services. If we are serious about transforming the economy, we must support our small businesses, which are the backbone of our economy, and we must invest in key infrastructure projects.

The Welsh Government must recognise the potential of SMEs to grow the Welsh economy and create the conditions necessary for more enterprise here in Wales. Only recently, some businesses have suffered terribly because of increases in business rates. Businesses need to know whether they actually qualify for some of the additional funding announced by the Welsh Government.

I appreciate that the Welsh Government is going to look at the business rates system in the future, but the Government can take action now on this issue. For example, it could split the business rate multiplier in order to provide a level playing field for small businesses to compete with larger businesses.

SMEs also need support in accessing finance, and I believe that the Welsh Government must develop a regional approach to enable businesses to gain access to funding in order to reflect their local economies.

We must think much more creatively if we’re going to transform the economy, and creating a series of regional high-street banks across Wales would certainly localise access to finance for small businesses. Proposals like this could be submitted fairly quickly and would have a positive effect on the local and national economy in Wales, and I hope that the Welsh Government looks carefully at these kinds of policies and finds a better way to support small businesses across Wales.

Of course, there are also fundamental problems in the health service in Wales. The Welsh Government continues to adopt a one-size-fits-all approach to providing health services across Wales, which is failing Welsh patients. The Government must move away from its centralising agenda for healthcare services. We need to see policies that protect local services and we need to see stronger services across Welsh hospitals.

Centralising services does not necessarily mean better services when it comes to meeting healthcare needs and the Welsh Government must reverse this worrying trend and start developing more integrated local services within our communities. The Welsh Government must expand the role of community hospitals across Wales in order to help reduce the pressure on our hospital units, which are already under enormous strain. I also believe that the health service must be more accountable to those it serves. In my opinion, this would lead to improvements by giving patients a voice at the heart of decisions made in the health service. Indeed, establishing local accountability and transferring decisions relating to health services away from the central government in Cardiff Bay and putting that authority back in the hands of local communities, in my opinion, would improve our local health services.

In terms of our education system, I’m sure that all Members in the Chamber agree that our children deserve better. I appreciate that the Cabinet Secretary is embarking on a broad range of measures in relation to the education system in Wales, but as things stand, the figures show that Wales is simply not where we want it to be in terms of international benchmarks.

Going forward, there must be greater ambition and leadership from the Welsh Government and that must be passed on to teachers throughout Wales. A recent report by Estyn stated that a significant lack of strong leadership was holding teachers and children back from achieving their potential. Thus, the Welsh Government needs to focus more on improving teaching standards and developing a strategy to target and develop leadership issues in the education system.

As part of a campaign to empower teachers, the Welsh Government must establish a national formula with money being directly targeted at schools to put all learners, whether in rural or urban settings, on a more equal footing. By doing this, it will release more resources for the classroom. Directly funding schools would actually drive power down to the teachers and headteachers who know what is best for their schools, giving them more flexibility and control over the priorities of their schools. And the Welsh Government must provide the tools for schools to be more creative in implementing the curriculum, for example, by making schools entrepreneurial hubs by establishing social enterprises in each school to improve the business skills of future generations.

In closing, Llywydd, the Welsh Government must be much more innovative and creative in order to improve the lives of people in Wales. Continuing with the same old approaches will not bring improvements to our health service, or our education system and will not grow our economy. Therefore, I urge the Welsh Government to act and to be much more innovative.

It is also a pleasure for me to participate in this debate on St David’s Day, reflecting the fact that we’re commemorating the death of Dewi on this day in the year 589—some 1,500 years ago. This nation’s history goes back a long way and it’s still reflected in our language, our art and our faith. And, yes, it is a day of national pride and I’m going to follow the same route. I reminded you of some of the pillars of our history in the previous debate, and I might as well continue where I left off in the last debate.

But, specifically in health, over the years before the days of the NHS, Wales had innovated in this area: Meddygon Myddfai—the Medics of Myddfai—were innovative in this area in medieval times. Myddfai is a small village now, but many hundreds of years ago, it led the medical world in these isles. Much of that history has been lost, but there was huge innovation happening hundreds of years ago in medicine here.

A little later on—about a century and a half ago—we see Hugh Owen Thomas and his nephew, Robert Jones, innovating in the area of bone surgery, and Robert Jones is recognised these days on a global level as the father of orthopaedics. He shaped orthopaedics initially and he is recognised globally as the leader and founder of orthopaedics.

Of course, we have heard the history of the creation of the NHS and we continue to be extremely proud of the contribution that Wales made to the health service. And, of course, if we come forward a little further again, in the year 2007, Professor Sir Martin Evans of Cardiff University won a Nobel prize in medicine on the basis of his innovative research in stem cells and DNA.

Sometimes it’s difficult for people in our nation to think, ‘Well, what’s Wales ever contributed? I don’t know what’s going on. Who’s been innovative and who’s been confident and successful?’ Well, there’s a list and I could go on, but naturally I can’t go on all afternoon, so I’m going to stop listing names now. But it’s enough to note that there are very exciting developments happening now in medicine in our universities and in our medical schools. Our medical schools—we have two now, one in Cardiff and one in Swansea—are producing bright junior doctors. Of course, they could produce more. At the moment, less than 20 per cent of our medical students in Welsh medical schools come from Wales. No other country works in that way. Over half of the medical students in Scotland come from Scotland and over 80 per cent of medical students in medical schools in England come from England, and yet we are operating at a level of 12 per cent of students in Cardiff and Swansea coming from Wales. Well, we’re supposed to be producing doctors for our future, but we’re not producing enough and that is why we need a new medical school in Bangor too, so that we can produce more bright junior doctors for our nation. Yes, we are proud of our health service, but the system is under huge pressure. We need to employ more doctors and nurses and so on, and we need to train more doctors and nurses in the first place, and, of course, we need to provide the most modern diagnostic technology, which is available—[Interruption.]—but it is exceptionally expensive.

And, of course, we need an alternative vision of a health service that is focused on the community—[Interruption.] Yes, a community that is digitally connected. The Minister is clearly innovating in that area too. [Laughter.] That reminds us that we can do great things in our health service digitally too. I’m pleased that the Minister reminded us of that, because that also assists primary care. And I want to see more specialists in our hospitals coming into the community to work, to break down these barriers between hospitals and primary care, and—yes, it’s been said a number of times—health and social care collaborating more closely.

So, to conclude, yes, we are proud of our health service. We are proud of all of the innovation that has happened in the past, which is happening now, and will continue to happen in the future. We are determined to keep our comprehensive health service and to keep it in the public domain here in Wales. But we do need changes to provide the best possible services for our people, using the talent that we clearly have. Thank you.

Well, I’m very happy to support this motion of Plaid Cymru today, and my party will be voting for it. I hope that leads to a spontaneous outbreak of rejoicing on Plaid Cymru benches. I’m going to be consensual today in a rather different way from yesterday, as it’s our national day. Although St David’s message to us all isn’t, perhaps, entirely to our taste, because the monastic rule of St David was that monks should pull the plough without draught animals, drink only water, eat only bread with salt and herbs, and spend their evenings in prayer, reading or writing, and have no personal possessions. So, Wales would be a very ascetic place if we followed that prescription exactly.

I agree with everything that was said by Rhun ap Iorwerth in opening his debate today, and it’s right, I think, to look back to Wales’s history and what we’ve given to the world. I’m sad to say that in my lifetime the history has been rather different, at least in relative terms: we’ve been a nation in decline economically although, as I fully acknowledge and indeed glory in, it’s been a nation that has grown culturally and in terms of the feeling of nationhood. Although I am a firm believer in the United Kingdom, I feel myself also to be a proud Welshman, and I think one can have two kinds of nationhood that exist side by side with one another. I would also say that if Wales were to become an independent nation politically, there’s no reason whatever why it could not be one of the most successful nations in the world, because scale is not everything in this respect. [Interruption.] Singapore, for example, is a minute speck in the ocean, and it all depends upon—[Interruption.] It all depends upon the kind of economy that can be developed, which, of course, depends upon the political environment. I’m sad to say that, on the current manifesto of Plaid Cymru, it would be unlikely to replicate the success of Singapore.

But the Plaid Cymru motion today is quite right to point out Wales’s relative decline in recent years, economically. Wales does have only 71 per cent of the GVA of the United Kingdom. That compares with 93 per cent in Scotland, and Northern Ireland, which previously, 20 years ago, was below Wales on that table, is today above us. We are at the bottom of the table. So, we’ve had 20 years of decline, sad to say, under a Labour Government here in Cardiff and, for most of that time, a Labour Government in London as well. In my region, west Wales and the Valleys, in fact, it’s only 63.3 per cent of the GVA of the United Kingdom, which is even worse.

Although I’ve taken a lot of stick from the First Minister and others for having been a Minister in Conservative Governments in the 1980s and 1990s, actually, in 1989, Wales had 89 per cent of the GVA of the United Kingdom, and so we’ve gone back from 89 per cent to 71 per cent under the great excoriaters of Thatcherism of the 1980s. So, every year since 1996, Wales has either flat-lined or gone backwards in this table. So, it is a record of unrelieved gloom, I’m afraid, and failure.

But, looking to the future, the future doesn’t actually lie with Government. Governments can’t do more for people than they can do for themselves. They can affect the environment within which people live and work, of course. But we have been coping, for the whole of my lifetime, with the decline of major extractive and manufacturing industries, which couldn’t actually be reversed, although it could be slowed down, and today we’ve been discussing the current problems of Ford in Bridgend. Where we have large employers who dominate one particular area, we are at risk, of course, of major changes in global demand or conditions. The future must lie in the promotion of enterprise with small businesses, as Paul Davies was pointing out in his speech, and also the technologies of the future.

Today, on the front page of ‘The Times’, there’s a story about how Sir James Dyson is going to fund a new technology campus, just by junction 17 on the M4. He himself lives by junction 16 on the M4. This is less than an hour from Cardiff, and yet where are the equivalents in Wales? These are the kinds of industries of the future that the Government should be encouraging and doing its best to attract and to support. So, let’s, yes, glory in our past, but let’s have a Government that will produce a future in which future generations can glory when they look back.

Well, in fact, I did want to give a very uplifting view of Wales’s future and how we can, for all the wonders that we’ve achieved in the past, as teachers and preachers, become a nation of scientists and technologists and move our nation onwards. I think that I want to describe us as an energy nation. One of the earliest ecological poems in the Welsh language, ‘Torri Coed Glyn Cynon’, talks of the cutting of the woods of the Cynon valley in order to feed the early industrial revolution, the medieval ironworks of that time. So, we’ve been an energy nation for a long period of time.

But the question we must face now is: how can we be an energy nation once again and how can we become the California of the Atlantic? Because we’ve got the beaches, we’ve got the surf, we’ve got the film studios, some of us have got the beach bodies—[Laughter.] Definitely. I can see the Cabinet Secretary for communities nodding his head at that. But, more importantly, we have universities, we have research, we have a history of technological development that has already been alluded to in several contributions, and we have huge energy resources still, no longer underground—no longer underground in a safe and sustainable way, anyway—but in our seas, in our air, on our hills and in the sun. It’s how we marry our latest understanding of technology with the challenges of things like climate change and the challenges of energy security that I think will give Wales a unique selling point for the next generations, and I think will make Wales that successful small nation, whether we labour still under devolution or become an independent nation.

We can build on some of those building blocks already and I think all of us would want to see Wales become as self-sufficient as possible in terms of our use of energy, in terms of our economy, in terms of the way we develop our own skills and our own people, whether it’s in medicine or in technology or in the education field. And we’re way behind. Scotland already produces, for example, 32 per cent of its electricity from renewables. We are at 10 per cent. One of the countries with the most rich renewable resource, both in the sea and on land, is one of the ones that’s actually lagging behind the United Kingdom in terms of production. Since the early 1970s, we’ve had another little revolution in Wales, because Wales is a nation of competing political narratives. One of the interesting narratives that happened in the 1970s in Wales is the small country, the small nation, kind of approach—people coming into Wales to look for self-sufficiency, living on the land, some crazy ideas and some crazy ways of living from time to time, but leading to ideas, like I said, of alternative technology and a real re-evaluation of how we produce our energy and how we go forward. So, we’re at the cusp at the moment. We still have very poisonous nitrogen oxide emissions from coal-burning power stations. We still have old technology. We have old communication links and old energy grids that are actually holding us back from this new energy future. But we also have the skills and the ideas to do it. I think it turns around three things that I’d like to see us, very imminently, doing here in Wales.

First of all, I would like us to examine how we can establish a Welsh energy company. The Welsh Government has been quite warm of late to this idea, which originated with Plaid Cymru, and I hope that we can work with the Welsh Government and anyone who’s interested in trying to explore the ability for a Welsh energy company to be established in Wales. So, we’ll make the best use and keep those skills and resources within our nation.

A second thing that I think we could look at very seriously in Wales is hydrogen. The Congress in America celebrates hydrogen cell day. Why are they celebrating hydrogen cell day? Because they say that they produced the hydrogen cell economy—particularly in California, as it happens. It originated in 1838, here in Swansea—in Swansea, with William Grove, an absolute genius, if you examine his history: a barrister who became a scientist, and a leading scientist at that, and developed the hydrogen cell technology that is still, in principle, that which can drive our trains now, our public transport, commercial vehicles, and, perhaps more for the private vehicles and private cars, looking at where we develop an infrastructure around electric cars and electric vehicles. These two go very well together. These technologies—electric vehicles and hydrogen technology—go very well together with renewable energy, because it’s a storage system that you can use in your transport system that helps smooth out the infrequencies that we get, particularly in renewable energy, and particularly with wind.

But, of course, the other thing that we can do—the third thing—has already been alluded to. It is the tidal lagoon. So, we turn to Swansea once again, where, instead of losing, as we did 150 years ago, that technology that was originated in Swansea and ended up in California, let’s make sure that this technology, which can be trialled in Swansea as the pathfinder project, as recommended by the Hendry review, isn’t lost to us and does become the technology that we now take forward and learn from, and use the skills from.

So, to conclude, as is traditional on this day, with some words of Dewi Sant, when he told us, ‘gwnewch y pethau bychain—do ye the little things in life’, and to say that’s a load of rubbish. Like the Californians say, don’t sweat the small things. Let’s do the big things—let’s do the lagoon, hydrogen and electricity.

I call on the leader of the house, Jane Hutt.

Well, I’d like to start by thanking Plaid Cymru for tabling this motion for debate in the Chamber today and returning the Welsh Government’s good wishes for a happy St David’s Day. It does provide us with the opportunity to talk about our performance across these three key areas of the economy, education and health, and I welcome that opportunity. I also think it’s apt. As Rhun ap Iorwerth has said in his opening remarks, it’s about looking at where we are today, and that’s appropriate on St David’s Day.

But, looking back over the last few years against the backdrop of the recession and austerity budgets forced upon us by the UK Government, it’s clear that Wales’s economy has grown. There’s close to a record number of people in work, and the employment rate has increased more than the UK average over the last 12 months. The unemployment rate has also decreased more in Wales than the UK average over the same time. Last year, this Welsh Government helped to create and protect 37,500 jobs through intelligent and effective partnerships with businesses in Wales. We have also seen real gains in educational improvement. The overall 2016 GCSE results showed another strong performance, with two thirds of our learners achieving at least A* to C, with an increase in the top grades.

In terms of the health service, we recognise that some waiting times are too long, but referral-to-treatment waiting times are now 30 per cent lower than the high point in August 2015, and diagnostic waiting times are 63 per cent lower than the high point of January 2014. We expect to see further reductions before the end of this month. We accept there’s always room for more improvement, but we are making significant progress in these areas.

In moving the Government amendment, I’m pleased to provide perhaps a more comprehensive overview of Wales’s position. The unemployment rate in Wales has fallen to 4.4 per cent, lower than the UK average. The recently published OECD healthcare quality indicator showed that Wales is performing at a similar level or better than other countries in the UK on the majority of indicators. The 2015-16 GCSE exam results for Wales show the main performance measure has increased each year since records began in 2006-07, while the attainment gap between pupils eligible for free schools meals and their fellow pupils is closing. Yesterday, the OECD, of course, published its rapid assessment of education in Wales, and we discussed this report in the Chamber—the statement from the Cabinet Secretary. But the OECD provided us with independent evidence on where we have improved, and they point to progress made to support the professional learning of teachers, to increase school-to-school collaborations, the rationalisation of school grants, the development of a national schools categorisation system, and the steps taken to develop a new curriculum fit for the twenty-first century. Llyr Gruffydd spoke of the historical landmarks in our history of education in Wales, and, yes, the OECD does identify areas where we need to strengthen further. But this independent analysis does show that we’re on the right track. We’ve laid the foundations for a self-improving system that will grow from strength to strength.

In responding to some of the other points in this debate, the Welsh Government’s approach to delivering our commitments in Wales is key, so our programme for government, ‘Taking Wales Forward’, shows how we are driving improvement in the Welsh economy and public services, and our aim is to deliver a Wales that is prosperous and secure, healthy and active, ambitious and learning, united and connected. But, to achieve this, we have to set out where we have the levers to intervene—where the Welsh Government can intervene to maximise the impact, and how our key commitments will contribute. We’ve set out these areas, which we will focus on, that allow us to make the greatest impact. Ambitious measures, but aimed at—. These measures are aimed at making a difference for everyone at every stage in their lives.

We will use the opportunity given to us by the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to work differently, to develop innovative solutions to challenges that we face, to help us to maximise our impact in these uncertain times—a new kind of productivity, as Jeremy Miles has said, based on sustainable investment. We recognise the potential of the blue and green economy. We’re committed to supporting new and existing enterprises in Wales to take advantage of major marine industry and energy infrastructure—again, as Jeremy Miles has highlighted, and, indeed, Simon Thomas, unique opportunities that we have in Wales to take us forward—I think it’s being talked about as Wales’s next industrial revolution—such as the proposed tidal lagoon, and isn’t it great when we all agree, as we did in a debate only a couple of weeks ago, and send such a strong message to the UK Government that we want to take up that challenge here in Wales?

Simon Thomas is right: the energy sector is a key sector for the Welsh economy as we move forward. It’s based on our natural resources, the long tradition of generation, and, of course, the pipeline for future investment. This links directly to education and skills and the central role they play in improving Wales’s economy and productivity. Our education system must provide learners with the skills, knowledge and attributes they need for the modern world to enable us to compete and our young people to succeed for their own benefit and for the benefit of Wales.

This is why we are making these changes to the education system, aimed at realising a world-class curriculum geared to equip our children and young people to thrive amid the challenges and opportunities of the twenty-first century.

Finally, in relation to our beloved national health service, we, of course, should and will expect health boards to continue to make improvements to patient care and access to treatment during 2017-18. By the end of March 2018, we expect no-one to be waiting more than 36 weeks in the majority of specialities. I’m sure you will all have welcomed the announcement made by the Cabinet Secretary of the extra £95 million for healthcare professionals—that’s absolutely critical, as Dai Lloyd has said—in terms of a demonstration, again, of where this Government sees its priorities.

So, Llywydd, as I said, we welcome this debate. It does give us an opportunity to take stock, and also to welcome constructive scrutiny and to feed into the direction of travel. We need to ensure we’re delivering on our commitments, we’re enabling people to live healthy and fulfilled lives, and continue to support our economy with investment in skills and infrastructure. But we do, as a Welsh Labour Government, have an additional goal, to tackle inequalities, which are as bad for our health as they are for the economy, against the backdrop of continuing UK Government austerity policies.

I just have to say one comment in response to Neil Hamilton. Now, Neil says he supports this motion but I feel that, in terms of his rather disparaging and glib remarks, I need to remind him again about our position in terms of the impact we’ve had in terms of the economy. The jobs market in Wales has continued to outperform almost every part of the UK over the past year. Good news for Wales. Employment in Wales has increased faster than England, Scotland or Northern Ireland. I don’t know where you’ve been, Neil Hamilton, during this time in terms of these figures. Unemployment—[Interruption.]

The Minister is bringing her comments to a close.

[Continues.]—has fallen by 1.4 per cent over the last year and I would say Wales should be rightly proud of its place in the world. Some of our most significant achievements are centred around an equal society. From Hywel Dda’s laws to Aneurin Bevan’s vision, our education system is founded on these same principles—a good, comprehensive system for all, no matter their background. This is what we’re taking forward in our programme for government.

Diolch yn fawr. Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus.

Rhun ap Iorwerth, to conclude the debate.

Could I thank everyone who’s taken part in this debate?

Hoffwn ddiolch i bawb sydd wedi cymryd rhan yn y ddadl heddiw. Mae’r Gweinidog yn tynnu sylw at ble y mae’n credu ein bod yn gwneud yn dda. Mae’n iawn i ni ddathlu ein llwyddiannau. Mae’n iawn i ni dynnu sylw at lwyddiannau a chyflawniadau dynion a menywod cyffredin gwych yng Nghymru ar draws y cyhoedd a’r sectorau preifat.

Rwy’n falch o glywed y Gweinidog yn dweud y gellid gwneud rhagor, ond rwy’n clywed yr adlais o amgylch Cymru’n dweud, ‘Wel, gwnewch fwy felly’, oherwydd mae’r Llywodraeth, wrth gwrs, mewn sefyllfa lle y gallwch weithredu. Gall y Llywodraeth osod y naws ar gyfer y genedl. Gall y Llywodraeth osod y cyd-destun lle y gall uchelgais ac arloesedd, ac wrth hynny rwy’n golygu uchelgais ac arloesedd go iawn—. Gall osod y cyd-destun ar gyfer pan fydd hynny’n gallu dod yn norm, yn gallu dod yn rhagosodiad, a dyna rwy’n aros amdano gan y Llywodraeth.

Trof at sylwadau Jeremy Miles ar werth ychwanegol gros. Diolch i chi am ganolbwyntio ar werth ychwanegol gros. Rydych yn iawn nad dyna’r unig fesur ar unrhyw gyfrif, nad yw’n dweud y stori gyfan, ond er bod anghydraddoldebau wedi parhau yn y DU am gyfnod rhy hir—rydym yn cytuno ar hynny—nid ydym bob amser wedi dihoeni ar y gwaelod, pwynt a ailadroddwyd gan arweinydd UKIP yma. Rwy’n cael fy hun yn y sefyllfa anarferol o fod yn cytuno ag ef ar un sylw a wnaeth, sef ei fod yn credu, pe bai Cymru yn dewis mynd ar hyd llwybr annibynnol, y gallai ddod yn genedl lwyddiannus. Mae’n bryfoclyd, onid yw? Y gwahaniaeth yw bod hynny yn fy nghyffroi i a byddai’n well ganddo ef, er gwaethaf ei honiad, pe na bai hynny’n digwydd. Nid yw hynny’n ymddangos yn arbennig o resymegol i mi.

Ond yn ôl at y gwerth ychwanegol gros: fel cymharydd o ble rydym o’i gymharu ag eraill—cystadleuwyr, os mynnwch, yn ystyr bositif y term—mae’n arf defnyddiol iawn; mae’n ddilys iawn. Rwy’n falch ei fod wedi dweud na ddylem anwybyddu’r gwerth ychwanegol gros. Hoffwn ei atgoffa, wrth gwrs, fod gwelliant y Llywodraeth yn ceisio cael gwared ar ein cyfeiriad at y gwerth ychwanegol gros gan ei ddisodli â ffigurau diweithdra, fel pe bai hynny’n dweud y stori gyfan—rwy’n siwr y byddai’r Aelod yn cytuno nad yw’n gwneud hynny.

Diolch i Dai Lloyd, Llyr Gruffydd a Simon Thomas am fanylu ar rai o’n cynigion ynglŷn â lle y gallem fynd yn y dyfodol. Diolch i Paul Davies—ni fyddwn yn cytuno bob amser ar sut i gyrraedd ein nod fel cenedl, ond rwy’n ddiolchgar am y gefnogaeth i’n cynnig heddiw ac am y cytundeb fod angen rywsut i’r Llywodraeth osod y bar yn uwch.

Mae arnom angen uchelgais ac mae angen ewyllys wleidyddol os ydym yn mynd i adeiladu ar ein huchelgais ar gyfer Cymru sy’n iachach, yn gyfoethocach ac wedi’i haddysgu’n dda—dyna ymadrodd sy’n fy atgoffa o’n maniffesto ar gyfer y llynedd. Roedd maniffesto Plaid Cymru yn etholiadau’r Cynulliad Cenedlaethol yn sefyll dros Gymru gyfoethocach wedi’i haddysgu’n dda. Rydym yn falch o fod yn arloeswyr yn y blaid hon. Nid ydym am gael monopoli ar arloesedd, ond byddwn yn parhau i amlinellu ein gweledigaeth gadarnhaol ar gyfer cyflawni’r uchelgais hwnnw. Gadewch i ni osod y bar yn uwch a gadewch i ni anelu amdano. Dydd Gŵyl Dewi hapus, bawb.

The proposal is to agree the motion without amendment. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I will defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.