Questions now from the party leaders. The leader of the opposition, Andrew R.T. Davies.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, in relation to ambulance response times, with the new categories, the Government does seem to have made progress. But we do know over the last couple of months, across the United Kingdom, ambulance response times have been under pressure. Recently in the press, there have been examples of extreme waits that patients and people have had to wait for ambulances. I cite a gentleman in Dinas Powys, who waited 16 hours to receive an ambulance, I cite an example yesterday in the South Wales Evening Post, where a lady was taken to hospital after such a long wait for an ambulance, and returned home only to find the ambulance turning up 20 hours later in west Wales. In my own region, yesterday, in Cowbridge, a lady waited 10 and a half hours for the ambulance to turn up on Sunday, getting admitted to A&E at 01:15 in the morning on Monday morning. I hope that you can recognise that there are these cases out there. I don't look to you to comment on those individual cases, because I appreciate that you can't do that, but does the Government recognise that there is a real issue when it comes to certain waiting times across the whole of Wales for the Welsh ambulance service to respond? And, if you do recognise that, what measures are you putting in place to address those deeply distressing wait times that families, patients and, indeed, the paramedics and operators of the ambulance service have to deal with?

Well, I have no reason to doubt the examples that have been cited by the leader of the opposition, and those examples need to be investigated, of course, and investigated fully. Can I say that the ambulance response times model was devised by clinicians. It is designed to ensure that those who are most in need of an ambulance get an ambulance. We know that ambulance response times have improved greatly over the past few months, indeed now for more than a year, but there will be examples that he has detailed that need to be looked at to see why such a situation has arisen.

It is right to say that there has been a great deal of pressure on the NHS and, indeed, on ambulances across the UK over the past few months particularly, and, of course, the cold snap of last week did have an effect, particularly on admissions of strokes, where there was a substantial increase in the number of people who had had strokes because of the cold weather.

So, what we do, of course, is to look to ensure that individual cases are looked at. When it comes to the actual model that's used, it is a model that was devised by clinicians.

I made this specific point when I opened my remarks by saying that there has been progress on ambulance response times in certain categories, but it is undeniable that, week after week, we are seeing cases, both in the press and reported here in the Chamber, of extreme waits that are hugely distressing to the paramedics, the teams who manage the ambulance service and, importantly, the patients and families who have called the ambulances to come in their hour of need.

The issue that I highlighted with you with the constituent in Cowbridge—actually, on Monday morning, at the Princess of Wales Hospital, they were actually using the bereavement room to stack trolleys with patients on because the pressure in A&E was so great. Now, we highlighted to you over the weekend that, over the last three years, the equivalent of 1,000 nurses have been lost to the Welsh NHS, from freedom of information request information that we've received from the local health boards. If you haven't got the staff on the front line, how on earth are you able to deal with the patients coming through the front door and the increased demand on the NHS, so that, ultimately, the 999 service can respond instead of being parked in car parks around the country?

Well, I can say to the leader of the opposition that more registered nurses are working in the NHS than ever before. For example, since 2014, the number of nurse training places commissioned has risen by 68 per cent. That, alongside our international recruitment campaign, demonstrates our commitment to ensuring that the NHS continues to have a high-quality workforce. We are aware of cases where nurses have left the profession. The reasons around that are varied and complex. Numbers will fluctuate year on year, but we know that, as I said, there are more registered nurses than ever. We are investing this year £107 million in education and training programmes for healthcare professionals. That has resulted in a 10 per cent increase in commissioned nurse training places over the course of the last year.

So, the nurses are there, but I think we have to understand that, of course, when it comes to A&E admissions, A&E admissions are affected indirectly by delayed transfers of care, for example. Where people are unable to leave a hospital when they are ready to do so and therefore able to—I put it in a way that's perhaps harsh—vacate a bed, that, of course, means that pressure is relieved all the way through the system to the very front of the hospital in A&E. So, it is hugely important to recruit healthcare professionals—I've illustrated how we're planning to do that—but also to focus on moving people through the hospital when they're ready, and out of hospital when they're ready, in order to make sure that there is space available for others who need those beds.

My first question highlighted the dilemma, the crisis that some people do face when they ring for an ambulance here in Wales. And that was my very point: the system isn't allowing the flow of patients so that, instead of being parked in hospital car parks with patients on board, the ambulances are out in the community dealing with the 999 calls that are requesting their help. I've highlighted, from FOI requests from the LHBs—these are their own figures—that 1,000 nurses have been lost to the NHS here in Wales through not being able to retain the nurses within our service. The health board that's under your direct control, Betsi Cadwaladr, has lost 493 nurses in that period. They had the highest number of nurses not being replaced out of all the seven health boards here in Wales. It's not unreasonable, First Minister, to put to you, and it has been put to me over the last couple of days in particular by this family from Cowbridge: has the Welsh Labour Government run out of ideas when it comes to addressing the pressure points within our NHS? So, can you give me something to take back to my constituents, and many other people in Wales, to understand what exactly the timeline is for seeing progress in the Welsh NHS, so that these 10, 12, 14, 16-hour waits are not a regular occurrence within our ambulance service?

Well, if we look at the figures, we see that ambulance response times have improved, and he has acknowledged that. We see improvements in delayed transfers of care, we see improvements in terms of diagnostics, we see improvements in terms of referral-to-treatment times, but there will be occasions where some people are affected adversely, and they need to be looked at very carefully and investigated, and lessons learned from those occasions. I have to say that the financial pressures on the NHS are always considerable, and they are financial pressures that exist across the whole of the UK. We have to make sure that there is sufficient funding available for the Welsh NHS. We are in a position where, fairly soon, the NHS would consume half of our resources, and, as political parties, I believe we have to look very carefully—and the parliamentary review, in fairness, has done this—at how we allocate resources to the NHS in the future, how we remove log jams, if there are any, and how we develop an NHS that commands public support across political parties.

Leader of the UKIP group, Neil Hamilton.

Diolch, Llywydd. All Members will have been horrified by the recent nerve agent attack in Salisbury. The general consensus of opinion appears to be that the exchange in the House of Commons yesterday by Jeremy Corbyn and the Prime Minister fell well below the level of events. Chris Leslie, a former Labour shadow Chancellor, said it wasn't appropriate to make party political points when

'our country is potentially under attack'.

Another Labour MP, John Woodcock, said

'it would put our national security at significant risk if we were led by anyone who did not understand the gravity of the threat which Russia poses to this nation.'

Does the First Minister think that Jeremy Corbyn is such a person?

I'm not here to answer for anybody else, any more, I'm sure, than he's here to explain how it is that Nigel Farage thinks that a trade deal with the US is possible in 48 hours, which is what he said yesterday. This is a hugely serious matter. We have people who have been badly affected, we have a police officer who was badly affected. Fortunately, it seems as if he is on the road to recovery. Of course there needs to be a full investigation, and the investigating authorities will have the support, I'm sure, of politicians, not just in Westminster, but of politicians on all sides here in this Chamber.

I noticed that the First Minister sidestepped the question. But Nicola Sturgeon has said

'Cool heads certainly required but also a firm response. Russia simply cannot be allowed to launch attacks on our streets with impunity.'

Does the First Minister agree with that?

Of course I agree with that. He's trying here to suggest that, in some way, I do not accept there has to be a full investigation or do not accept there's any Russian involvement. Of course those factors come into play. It's hugely important that there is a full investigation. I know that, on a non-partisan basis, there is support for that, both in the House of Commons and, indeed, I'm sure, here in the Assembly. It cannot be right that people are injured or worse as a result of the use of what appears to be a military-grade nerve agent. Whoever was responsible for that needs to be brought to justice.

Well, I thank the First Minister for that very reasonable reply. One thing that I did agree with Jeremy Corbyn on as a result of yesterday's exchange was this: he said there must be

'a robust dialogue with Russia on all the issues—both domestic and international—currently dividing our countries, rather than simply cutting off contact'.

If that is true of Russia, it is perhaps even more true of our relations with the United States. The United States is our most important ally, and although the Secretary of State has changed during the course of today, Rex Tillerson said recently

'We stand in solidarity with our allies in the United Kingdom' and that what happened in Salisbury was a 'a really egregious act' and he was extremely concerned by Russia becoming more aggressive. There's no reason to believe that the policy of the American administration will change with a new Secretary of State.

Is it not, therefore, incumbent upon all senior Labour politicians to have the closest regard to our interests with the United States and our diplomatic relations with them, and to stop the puerile name-calling of the President and others in his administration with whom they happen to have political disagreements? It's the interests of Britain that should be first and foremost.

Well, I have to say that I do not approve of the methods of the President of the US and the way he communicates. The office of the presidency of the United States of America is one that should command respect, even amongst those who did not vote for the current President, and I'm not sure the current President is in that situation. I am troubled at the fact that Rex Tillerson, as the Secretary of State, was supportive of the UK and was wholly supportive of the Prime Minister's position, and he has been sacked as a result of it. That does trouble me. What does that mean in terms of what support will come from the US Government for the position of the UK Government in terms of this horrific attack? And there are many questions that are asked as a result of that. I have never taken the view that we should in some way cut off our ties with the US. I was there a fortnight ago, and spent time both in the US and in Canada. My view is that we should reach out to all democratic nations and entities, including the European Union, of course—an entity that he is less keen to keep ties with.

Leader of Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood.

Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, can you outline the role of Assembly Members—the role that we have—in terms of scrutiny of the south Wales metro plan and the next rail franchise?

Well, it's open to Members, of course, to scrutinise the Government's plans in the normal way.

Well, the comparison of the south Wales metro to the Loch Ness monster by one of your backbenchers sums up how many of us feel about it. Your Government won't explain what's going on, and people want clarity. You won't even publish the invitation to tender document, and that's something that's been done by every other country that makes up the UK, and it's now been confirmed that Transport for Wales believes that the electrification of the Ebbw Vale line has been, and I quote, 'discontinued from further consideration'. Can you confirm that you no longer have any intention to electrify the Ebbw Vale line by 2023?

Well, the Ebbw Vale line was not included in the original spec for electrification. That does not mean, of course, that there won't be more frequent services on the line. That will happen. Now, when it comes to the metro itself, as I'm sure Members are sick of me saying, the metro was something that I first mooted, many years ago, in—of all places—Bedwas rugby club. There is a map that's been published, including different phases of how the metro will be developed. It's not simply a question of upgrading what is already there. It does mean looking at, for example, new light rail links, particularly where there are existing heavy rail lines that are not in use. It does mean looking at the way buses interact with both light rail and heavy rail. We've shown our commitment, of course, by making sure that we have control of the track itself, to make sure that we're not in the hands of Network Rail, over whom we have no powers to direct. We fully intend to move forward—and we've allocated money for this purpose—with better trains, more convenient trains, a reasonable price, an integrated network and, of course, more frequent trains, and that's exactly what the metro will deliver.

This sounds to me very much like a reverse gear, First Minister. Your original business case included the Ebbw Vale line. It said, and I quote:

'the case for electrification of the Valley Lines rail network is, first and foremost, on the basis that all lines are included from Ebbw Vale to Maesteg and with the Vale of Glamorgan line also included.'

Now, the documents published by Transport for Wales are based on the latest available information, which was published in November 2017—two months after the final invitation to tender. So, I ask you, First Minister: what information did Transport for Wales receive, which led to them stating that the Ebbw Vale line, the Maesteg line and the Vale of Glamorgan schemes have been discontinued?

Well, they haven't been discontinued, because there will be more frequent services on those lines, as we've said. For example, if you look at Maesteg—. [Interruption.] If you look at Maesteg, for example—. If you look at Maesteg, for example—. [Interruption.] If you want to ask me about trains, then good luck. If you look at Maesteg, for example, a twice-hourly service is what is being proposed, whether that means through to Cardiff or that means one to Bridgend and one to Cardiff. Of course, the problem with Maesteg is that the main line electrification has gone west of Cardiff. That adds significantly to the cost of electrifying to Maesteg. Originally, when we looked at the metro plans, the UK Government had said it would electrify as far as Swansea. Now that has disappeared.

But let's be quite clear about this. Two things to emphasise here: firstly, whatever is the method of traction, there will be a better service and a more frequent service; and secondly, to suggest what was suggested last week, that you can divorce Cardiff from the rest of the Valleys lines, clearly doesn't work. Many, many people come to work in Cardiff from the Valleys. That means when they get to Cardiff it's hugely important that they can get around Cardiff properly, and get around Cardiff in the easiest way possible, and that means, of course, integrating the system in Cardiff with those of the Valleys lines. Again, let me be absolutely clear: there will be more frequent services; there will be better services. 

Electrified?

Some lines will be electrified first. The business case for others will be looked at in the future. We can't electrify them all at once. We're looking at the lines and developing electrification as time goes on.

But the point that Plaid Cymru are trying to make is this: that somehow—I know they're not listening—there has been a move away from providing people in the south Wales metro area with a better train service. That's not the case. The trains will be better, more frequent. In the first phases, some will be electrified, and there will be a rolling programme for doing that. People will be able to catch buses that connect with train services. They will be part of an integrated network in a way that's never been possible before. The metro will happen. It will move forward along the lines we've suggested, along the plans that we've suggested, and the people in the south Wales metro area will get a better service.