I thank the Cabinet Secretary for the statement today. I am trying to assess how much recognition that there is in truth of the concern that has been raised in the wake of the publication of this White Paper. There is a description by you, as Cabinet Secretary, of the broad-ranging nature of the responses, and we have to remind ourselves how short the consultation period was over last summer, and that the public meetings were last-minute steps as were the public forums that were held around Wales. It’s important to remember that. But, even though there is, as you said, quite a response that's been received, it's quite superficial what we’ve heard from you on what exactly came out. Maybe that’s inevitable in quite a brief statement, but a lot of those who responded you say agree in principle with what was proposed by the White Paper, but some who responded have asked for more information and details. I do appreciate the positive spin you’ve put on that, but we have to remind ourselves that there is a very deep concern that’s been voiced about some elements of what was in the White Paper.

I will start with the concern on the intention to get rid of the community health councils. I will make the point again, as I’ve done previously, that we’re not asking for the CHCs to be kept forever—that’s not what people are asking for—but for the retention of their function and the purpose that was and is delivered, as the voice of the people.

I hope that it has become clear to you as part of this consultation that there is a feeling that the health inspectorate and the CHCs or any new body can’t be doing the same work, because the purpose of the body that represents the patient is to measure and to assess and evaluate the experience that the patient has within the NHS, and what was recommended in the White Paper wasn’t going to deliver that on behalf of patients in Wales. So, I would like to have confirmation from you, while you say that you’re going to develop and take new proposals forward in terms of a body to give the patients a voice, that getting rid of CHCs or something similar to them is now off the table, because patients in Wales deserve far better than that.

Two other questions. The statement says that support has been voiced that very robust steps should be taken against health bodies that fail. What does that mean when we’re talking about organisations that are already in special measures? Are you talking about introducing very special measures or hugely special measures? Please give me an explanation of that.

Finally, in terms of the representation on health boards, are you as Cabinet Secretary in agreement that more balance in terms of gender across the health boards is necessary and that we have an example of the need for that balance in order to prevent decisions such as getting rid of perinatal services back in 2013? I think that decisions could have been different if there were more women on the boards at that time. Possibly, we could talk about decisions regarding gender identity and so forth too, but I would appreciate more comments from you about that important balance on our health boards.