2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:43 pm on 23 January 2018.

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Photo of Darren Millar Darren Millar Conservative 2:43, 23 January 2018

Can I call for two statements from the leader of the house, the first from the Cabinet Secretary for health on emergency department performance across Wales? The latest figures, of course, are very, very poor indeed. Unfortunately, yet again, the health board that is currently being run by the Welsh Government is the worst performing of all of the health boards in Wales against the four-hour target. In fact, you've just got a four in 10 chance of being in and out of that department in over the four-hour target, which is clearly unacceptable for the many hundreds of patients in my constituency and in others in north Wales who are having to endure those overlong periods in very busy emergency departments. So, I think it is necessary that we have a statement on emergency department performance, particularly given the situation, the crisis, that appears to be developing ins some of our hospitals.

Can I also call for a statement, probably from you, actually, as the Minister responsible for faith communities? I heard, obviously, your comments regarding Holocaust Memorial Day. I had the privilege of attending a Holocaust memorial event in Llandudno over the weekend and listened to Dr Martin Stern, a Holocaust survivor. He shared a very powerful and moving story and gave an account of his experiences during the Holocaust and those of his family. Obviously, Holocaust survivors are becoming fewer and fewer in number. I'm particularly interested, Cabinet Secretary, in what work the Welsh Government is doing to expose as many young people as possible to those first-hand accounts from Holocaust survivors while we still have people with us who are able to share first-hand stories. I know that the Welsh Government's done some good work on this in the past in terms of supporting young people to visit places like Auschwitz and to take part in Holocaust memorial events, but there's nothing like meeting a Holocaust survivor and hearing their first-hand account to actually transform people's thinking on the Holocaust and to tackle the growing problem that we have across the world with Holocaust denial.