We’ll be looking at the whole remit to understand where we get the greatest value to train the greatest number of people. And, of course, we want to make sure that that investment will lead to more people staying in Wales to serve here, because that’s the point and the purpose. We’re investing more money to try and get more doctors to stay in Wales as well. And, as part of the deal, the quid pro quo, we need with the university sector—there are challenges in what we can and we can’t mandate them to do—there will have to be some understanding about the mission that I and the Cabinet Secretary for Education are on in taking precious resources at a time of a falling budget to put into this area.

Now, in addition to ‘Train. Work. Live.’ for doctors, we also launched a ‘Train. Work. Live.’ campaign for nurses. I was delighted to launch this campaign in spring this year, and it was very well received both at the launch and at the Royal College of Nursing congress in Liverpool. English nurses were delighted to see a Government genuinely on their side and trying to recruit nurses to be proud of who they are as well. That campaign, again, is being successful, but we know that recruitment alone isn’t the answer. We are, of course, implementing the Nurse Staffing Levels (Wales) Act 2016 in Wales—a first in the United Kingdom, a first in Europe. We are also training more nurses here in Wales. Two years ago, we invested in nurse training to increase the numbers by 22 per cent. Last year, we increased nurse training numbers by 10 per cent; this year, an increase of 13 per cent. We are actively looking to train more nurses here in Wales. It is the biggest investment in education and training for nurses since devolution. In addition, we’ve also increased midwife training by 40 per cent this last year as well. And, as Rhianon Passmore reminded us, we have maintained the student bursary here in Wales, directly different to the path taken by the Tories in England. That isn’t just important for nurses, but it’s also important for other allied health professionals in training. But, of course, our investment in education and training includes those allied health professionals, and the £95 million package I announced earlier this year has resulted in 3,000 new students joining those already studying healthcare education programmes across Wales. We are committed to extending the ‘Train. Work. Live.’ campaign to pharmacists and other healthcare professionals.

Specifically on radiologists, who’ve been mentioned more than once, not just in the debate today but in the Chamber, we expect the £3.4 million investment that I announced in an imaging academy in Pencoed to make a real difference to recruiting and retaining radiologists here in Wales. Again, it’s a signal that we’re investing in and valuing all the varied and different parts of our workforce. Because we do know that we need to increase the skill mix of the staff we already have and the different range of staff we have within the service, as they will increasingly work in multidisciplinary teams. So, that £95 million package I referred to included an extra £0.5 million to support local healthcare, to develop advanced practice, education, and extended skills within our primary care clusters. So, we’ll also support new and emerging roles, including the pilots for physician associates programmes in Swansea and Bangor, and social care roles with a specific focus on those which alleviate existing pressures and contribute to better integration and outcomes for individuals.

In terms of the planning of the workforce, regulation plays a key role as well, so I’m pleased that the UK Government have listened to voices in Wales and other parts of the UK to regulate physician associates. That is a good, positive move forward to allow us to plan for their role in the future workforce. I am, however, deeply sceptical about the UK Government plans to regulate nurse associates. That appears to me to be a cost-driven role substitution rather than the quality-driven, prudent-healthcare approach that we wish to take here in Wales.

In addition, we will continue to develop the healthcare support workforce, who make a valued and increasingly varied contribution to service delivery in both clinical and non-clinical services. Again, that is something where we agreed in partnership with the trade union representatives and the staff in the health services about how to develop that role to use it to its fullest potential.

We also continue to invest in the NHS workforce year on year. It’s worth making this point, bearing in mind the comments made in the debate. From 2015-16, the last year we have complete figures, the NHS full-time equivalent workforce rose by 3.2 per cent, and that is in the face of year upon year upon year of Tory austerity. That’s a simple fact. We come to this place and we debate the difficult choices we have to make and what it means to continue putting more money into the national health service—what that means for other public services who are shedding staff and deciding what they can no longer do. In that context, to continue putting more money into the NHS, to continue to see the staff headcount go up, is a real and significant achievement that we should all take note of, and it does not come easily. That is the context in which we have this debate about the demands for more staff in more specialities. It does not mean we are not planning to increase staff where we need to have them, but let us not pretend it is an easy thing to do.

So, we remain committed to the development of a 10-year workforce plan, with the principle of that already having been developed. But we cannot and shouldn’t avoid the fact that all parties in the Chamber agreed to a parliamentary review for health and social care. It would not make sense to publish a detailed workforce plan in advance of the publication of the final report of the review. That review will, undoubtedly, as it properly should, affect our thinking and our planning of the services for the future and the workforce to deliver those services with the public. That does not mean the NHS here in Wales is standing still. Workforce planning is undertaken at all levels in our organisation, working collaboratively with partners to ensure the right workforce, with the right skills, both now and in the future. It is an essential part of the integrated medium-term planning process.

So, we continue to press ahead with a number of strategic actions for the NHS workforce. That includes the establishment of Health Education and Improvement Wales from April next year, and that will, of course, maintain its independent approach. Now, crucially, Health Education and Improvement Wales will be expected to work with other bodies, such as Social Care Wales, to provide a comprehensive understanding of the present and future needs of the workforce.

I can see time is against me, Llywydd, so I’ll finish now. I’ll make it clear that we will support amendment 2, but, in setting out our future direction, restate that we value the resourcefulness and the commitment of our NHS workforce to deliver high-quality care. There are recruitment challenges that we recognise. We’re committed to work with our partners, with the service, to address those and make sure we have the service that everyone here would want and that the public and the people of Wales deserve.