Item 2 on our agenda this afternoon is the business statement and announcement, and I call on the leader of the house, Julie James.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. There are no changes to this week's business. Business for the next three weeks is shown on the business statement and announcement found amongst the meeting papers, which are available to Members electronically.

I call for a single Welsh Government statement, hopefully from the health Secretary, on multiparametric—or mp—MRI scans for suspected prostate cancer patients from NHS Wales. When I wrote to the health Secretary regarding this, he wrote back to me last week saying that the current guideline from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence—or NICE—doesn't recommend pre-biopsy mpMRI, and there's no clinical consensus on the optimum design of a prostate cancer pathway including this.

When the community health council for north Wales wrote to him, welcoming his commitment to expect health boards to revise their diagnostic pathways to incorporate these scans, if recommended by NICE in revised guidelines after April 2019, they also expressed concern that this would be too late, that patients in north Wales will continue to be left behind, and their discussions with neurologists in north Wales suggest that we need to be developing the service now in preparation for NICE accreditation. The reply on this occasion was,

'Once the clinical benefits have been assessed, and if the guidance is updated, I would expect health boards to revise their diagnostic pathways.'

However, the current guidance says that the key priorities for implementation in the prostate cancer diagnosis and management, from NICE, includes:

'Consider multiparametric MRI...for men with a negative transrectal ultrasound 10–12 core biopsy to determine whether another biopsy is needed.'

Well, last Friday, I met constituents—patients—who have had to spend large sums of money after that guidance was followed by a consultant in Wrexham, but the NHS in north Wales would not fund the essential scans that they ultimately received across the border in England. One told me he'd spent £1,020. He also told me that these scans were more than twice as accurate as those currently available. That gentleman was from Flintshire. Another one told me—a gentleman from Llangollen—that the buck stops with the Welsh Government because they put the the health board into special measures, and that he is amongst nine men from north Wales who have now had to pay for this despite it being available in England and south Wales. They want to meet the Minister. They say that they want him to accept that the same should be happening in north Wales, and they ask why people like him aren't being refunded when they've had to pay for this potentially life-saving procedure themselves.

Waiting for 2019 is not good enough, Cabinet Secretary. These men's lives are at risk. It's available in parts of Wales. You say you believe in a single NHS Wales. Well, please deliver on that now.

Well, I'm not entirely certain what I was being asked, but the Cabinet Secretary was here to listen to the Member's constituency case load, and he's obviously in correspondence with the Cabinet Secretary, which, I imagine, will continue.

Can I just say this to the business manager? I note from the business statement that the Government has still not stated when it will make a statement and publish the report on producer responsibility as regards packaging and recycling, which was promised by the First Minister in February. So, can the business manager confirm when this will be?

Yesterday I visited Natural Weigh in Crickhowell along with Kirsty Williams, which is the first zero-waste shop in Wales, and a very welcome private initiative. But the odds are stacked against shops like Natural Weigh because the supermarkets at the moment can package what they sell us in whatever they want and it's the taxpayer that picks up the tab for paying for it to be recycled, hopefully, but in many cases, of course, not recycled but disposed of in general waste. So, the key report on producer responsibility unlocks some of the ability for shops like Natural Weigh in Crickhowell now to make their way and be successful, and of course I wish them all the best.

Secondly, can I request a timely debate on the serious problems experienced with the north-south rail service last week? The very bad weather, which I admit would have led to service cancellations anyway, did obscure what, in fact, I think, was the most serious maintenance failure on the Wales and borders franchise that I can certainly recall. Last Tuesday a fault was found in a train wheel, which led by the end of the day to the withdrawal of 27 train units and the suspension of the south Wales to Manchester service, which is a vital link for those travelling from north and mid Wales, and vice versa, of course. It took until Monday this week—six full days later—for this to be resolved. It seems a fault at the track at Maindee, Newport was damaging train wheels.

Now, when you think about it, this is actually an absolute disgrace. Can you imagine what would have been the reaction had the east coast main line in England been out of action for six days? I don't know who's responsible, though as it was a track fault, Network Rail have some serious explaining to do. I do know, however, that it's shameful that we have to put up with such a sub-standard service in a modern economy.

This is the price we pay for an atrocious under-investment in our rail infrastructure, running at at least £1 billion. It's what you get with 5 per cent of the rail infrastructure but 1.5 per cent of the investment. And as we see huge investments in England in Crossrail and high-speed rail, we're left with track that actually damages trains and no service for a week. It's an appalling state of affairs, so can we have an opportunity very soon to debate these issues? I appreciate there have been written statements from the Cabinet Secretary, but if we debate these issues, we can also explore the possible ramifications for the new franchise, the financial investment profile of which I still think has yet to be made publicly available. We may also seek answers as to what compensation may also be available.

Finally, Deputy Presiding Officer, on a very different topic, can I say I was moved to host a meeting of Kurds living in Wales last week, focusing on the attack by Turkey in and around Afrin in northern Syria? They had moving and very powerful stories to tell and, as citizens of Wales, it is right that their stories and experiences are heard in our Parliament. So, would the First Minister please convey their concerns as Welsh citizens directly to the UK authorities and make a statement on that to the Assembly? To see a NATO ally attacking our allies against Isis, and those working for a secular democracy in Syria and Iraq, which is a very fragile flower indeed, is an abomination. It would serve the Welsh Government well to speak out for our Welsh citizens from Kurdistan.

The Member raises three very important and very diverse points. On the producer responsibilities, the Minister is indicating to me that she's in negotiation with producer organisations in Wales and will be bringing a statement forward once those negotiations are complete. I would like to just say that I do share the Member's frustration at some of the producer packaging that we have, and in some ways our modern, digital way of living has made that worse, because when we order things over the internet they do come rather ludicrously packaged. If you'll forgive me, Presiding Officer, just for one moment, I ordered a small lead for my phone—I won't mention the make of my phone—and it came in a box this big, and it had quite a lot of completely unrecyclable packaging inside it that, if it had contained a fragile piece of china, might have been understandable, but it was a piece of plastic lead. I've actually written to the company in question, complaining, and with lots of photographs to say, 'What on earth was the purpose of this?' So, I share his frustration, and I know the Minister shares his frustration as well, so I'm sure she will be bringing forward that statement once those discussions are complete.

My Cabinet Secretary colleague for economy and transport is indicating that he'd be more than happy to have a Government debate on the subject of the service failure, and in fact the franchise in its entirety and our aspirations, if you like, for what sort of control we should have, and indeed some calls for further devolution of some parts of the network. I think the service in question is one of the areas in which it's not entirely certain whose responsibility it is. I share some frustrations of that as I'm from Swansea and we have the Great Western issue as well. So, I think we are saying that a debate in Government time would be a very good way of exploring some of those issues and seeing what level of consensus there is across the Chamber on that. 

And in terms of our Welsh citizens who have Kurdish links, I also share his sorrow and regret at some of the things that are going on. I'm more than happy to pass on his concerns and the concerns of this Chamber to the First Minister, who I'm sure will act accordingly.

I had two points I wanted to bring up with the leader of the house. I'm very pleased we're having an individual debate tomorrow on prisons and I'm hoping to use that opportunity to talk about women prisoners, but I wanted to draw to the attention of the leader of the house the activities of the Koestler Trust, which is a prison arts charity. This week, I'm expecting a painting to go up in my office that has been painted by a woman prisoner, and is there to mark International Women's Day week. So, I thought this initiative has got such worth that I wondered if it would be possible at some point to have a statement about initiatives like this in Wales, which as well as the intrinsic merit of the paintings themselves, are a form of rehabilitation. So, I wondered if there was something we could look at there.

Secondly, a week ago, hordes of women descended on the Whitchurch rugby club in my consistency. The roads were blocked and they weren't able to get into the room that had been set aside. This was for a meeting organised by our MP, Anna McMorrin, addressed by Carolyn Harris MP and myself, and this was all to do with the absolute fury about what's happened to their pensions—the so-called WASPI women. It did seem to be such a matter of such huge concern to so many women, and I know so many women throughout Wales, that I was wondering whether there was anything at all that we could do through our business here in the Assembly to look at this issue and to look at the huge implications it's having for women in the planning of their lives, such as whether they give up a job or not, affecting their roles as carers—all things that do impinge on our devolved responsibilities, although of course the issue itself is non-devolved.

Indeed. Well, two very important points indeed. In terms of the art project, I'm delighted to hear that there's a painting going up in her office; I look forward to having a look at it. Of course, it isn't devolved to us, but it impinges on a lot of devolved Government services: employability, social services, caring, and so on. So, what I'll do is I'll have a conversation with various Cabinet colleagues to see what we can do in terms of a cross-Government response to that, and I'd be more than happy to come and look at the painting and have a further discussion with her about what can be done. It seems like a very good project indeed. I'm sure we can do something with it. 

In terms of the WASPI women, as they're called, I must declare an interest at this point, Presiding Officer, to say that I'm actually one of the WASPI women. I'm in the age group of the women who've had their pensions moved. Mine's been moved by seven years. And that's fine if you're actually still in employment, but not if you're not still in employment, or your whole family responsibility was predicated on your being able to retire at a particular point in time. The issue isn't that we don't have pension parity, which is what we're often asked. That's not the issue. The issue is the amount of time with which you have to prepare and plan for the amount of income that you'll have. So, it's not the move to parity across the genders; the issue is how long you had to plan for that and how much you would have had to save in order to make sure that your plans stayed in place. I think it's really important to make that point, because the issue here is that was not long enough for people who are not fortunate enough to stay in employment past their sixtieth birthday to be able to put those plans into preparation. And as a result of that, a very large number of people are actually suffering severe hardship as a result of not getting their pension for those years. So, it isn't a devolved matter, but it does impact on our services very, very much. I know that my colleague the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport has made our views on the impact on the Welsh economy overall well known. I'm more than happy, as the equalities Minister, to make that point again forcibly to the UK Government.

The Llywydd took the Chair.

Leader of the house, I would like to ask for a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport on support for businesses affected by the proposed M4 relief road. I have been contacted by a manufacturing company in Newport that would suffer considerable and irrecoverable loss of business, as well as incurring relocation costs, due to the forced closure of their existing site in Newport. Although this company has been in contact with the Welsh Government since 2016, they are deeply frustrated about the lack of clarity with regard to the level of practical and financial support they can expect to receive to enable them to continue to operate in Wales. Leader of the house, could I ask you for a statement by the Cabinet Secretary on this matter as soon as possible? Thank you. 

Yes. The Cabinet Secretary has already said that there will be a debate on the floor of the house about the M4 and all of its ramifications as soon as the outcome of the public inquiry is known. So, I'm sure that that is an aspect—businesses displaced by the proposals, whatever they might be as a result of the public inquiry, I'm sure will form part of that debate. 

I'd like to ask the leader of the house for a Government statement from the Cabinet Secretary for local government if possible, and, indeed, for further guidance on the obligations on local authorities under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015. I'm sure the Cabinet Secretary will be aware that in our community the leisure centre at Pontllanfraith is under threat of closure. It's had a last-minute reprieve temporarily because of the hard work of local people campaigning to save that asset. It does enhance people's well-being. It's had record numbers of users in the last financial year, but the local authority, like every other, is caught in this position, due to the fiscal policies of the British state, of desperately trying to raise money, and they would like to sell off the land for the leisure centre in order to sell to developers to make money to pay for services. And Caerphilly council is now having an overall leisure and well-being review, and I think, as part of that review, having greater clarity on their obligation under the well-being Act would enhance that review, and would make it very clear to them their obligations, and, hopefully, will lead to an outcome where citizens can continue to enjoy the outstanding facilities at Pontllanfraith and elsewhere for the future. 

The Member makes a very important point. It's one of the very desperate effects of the austerity agenda overall, and although councils in Wales have been protected by this Government in a way that hasn't been possible for councils in England, nevertheless the austerity agenda bites hard. And it bites hardest on some of our hard-fought-for and much-loved community facilities. And that's happening right across Wales, and lots of councils are indeed struggling with that. And it's a real dilemma between supporting statutory services that councils must maintain and the so-called discretionary, but nevertheless absolutely essential, services that the Member points out. 

It's not for us to second-guess the individual decisions of different councils and so on, but I know that my Cabinet Secretary colleague is in constant dialogue with the Welsh Local Government Association and with individual councils about their well-being duties, and I'm sure that he'd be more than happy to write out again to them expressing the overarching strategic nature of their duties under the Act, although I would emphasise that individual decisions are very much a matter for the local democratic institution. 

May I thank the leader of the house for her statement and pursue an issue that is important these days? Air pollution continues to be a problem facing many people in my region, as you will know, coming from Swansea yourself. In Hafod in Swansea, in Morriston and in Port Talbot, air pollution causes ill health and unnecessary deaths. Now, when ClientEarth took this Government to court, it was admitted that the Government’s lack of action on air pollution was unlawful. We are now waiting for the clean air plan for Wales and the clean air zones to be launched. Can I ask you, therefore, for a debate and an update as soon as possible on this plan, and ask when this Assembly can expect further information on the clean air zones? Thank you.

The Minister's listening to your remarks, which I'm sure she concurs with, and she will be bringing forward a statement for the house to consider shortly. I would like also to say, though, that there's very much an equalities issue here as well. One of the interesting things, if Members have access to university studies about clean air, is that, in Swansea for example, much of the pollution generated by the cars on the seafront in Swansea, from the very wealthy parts of the city, actually flows up the hill in a perfect storm to the poorer part of the cities at the top. So, the pollution generated by the wealthy parts of the city actually impacts heaviest on the poorer parts of the city. So, I'm not sure that everybody is entirely aware of quite how air flows work in that way, and the complexity of actually managing variable traffic speeds, for example, in order to reduce the way that air flow actually happens, given particular climatic conditions. We didn't suffer from the snow in Swansea particularly over the weekend, but we had severe wind, and that caused some very serious pollution issues in the city in pockets, as it pocketed in particular aspects of the city. And Swansea University has been very proactive in its pursuit of that as an issue. And I know the Minister is very well aware of these issues, and she will be taking those into account when she brings her statement forward.

Thank you, leader of the house.