2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:34 pm on 30 January 2018.

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Photo of Mr Simon Thomas Mr Simon Thomas Plaid Cymru 2:34, 30 January 2018

If I may begin with the easy one, which is to note that Caerphilly cheese today got protected geographical indication status as the only indigenous Welsh cheese—which I'm very pleased to see, but it does give a wider context, of course, to what happens when we leave the European Union, both to PGI status, and, indeed, branding food from Wales. Because, at the moment, what you see currently in the shops is not necessarily guaranteed for the future, and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs need to come to agreement with the Welsh Government around how exports, particularly beyond the UK, get marked. We could have a situation where that very high-quality Welsh food getting PGI status—15, now, products in Wales—could be simply branded as food from the UK. Now, I've got nothing against food from the UK, I eat it all the time, but I want to see food from Wales branded properly in that way, so we can market and export that, particularly in new markets, of course. So, I'd very much welcome a debate, actually, on this from the Government, on a resolution of the Assembly, so we can send a very clear signal to the Westminster Government, who'll be negotiating trade agreements on our behalf, that we want and need to see Welsh food specifically designated as Welsh food. I'm not against a UK designation as part of that food chain, but I really want Welsh food to be designated as such.

The second issue I'd like to ask about is more to do with Hywel Dda, and it's to simply say this: I did want to ask about the reconfiguration and the plans that are going ahead, but I want to ask a much more specific now, which is around a statement from the Government around the protocol regarding health boards and their work with Assembly Members, in the light of the astonishing replies of the First Minister to my colleague, Adam Price.

So, to put on the record, I had two e-mails from Hywel Dda before Christmas, asking me to get involved in some very woolly and uncertain kinds of discussions. I thought that was an invite to give them political cover for serious consideration, and I wasn't prepared to engage with that. I got an e-mail on 23 January, saying, 'We tried to phone you'—no record they did, but—'We tried to phone you, and, by the way, this serious change is happening and it's about to break in the local press', which I then responded to and had a meeting with them on Friday. And I think it was just following a meeting that Angela Burns and Paul Davies also had with them. They told me in the meeting on Friday they wanted to set up a political reference group, which the First Minister referred to—[Interruption.]—which is the first I heard of it. They certainly haven't contacted me to say they want—they invited me to that group. But I have serious concerns now to join any such group, knowing that what I say, and what I e-mail them, will be revealed to the First Minister, and will then be used as political attacks on me in this Chamber. So, this is a quite serious question, despite some muttering by Ministers in this place. This is a serious question: is there a protocol regarding the way health boards deal with Assembly Members looking at serious reconfigurations of hospital services in their area? If such a protocol does not exist, will the Minister—the Cabinet Secretary concerned—ensure that such a protocol is in place, because, without such a protocol in place, I do not feel I can engage with Hywel Dda?