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.