Questions now from the party leaders, and I call on the leader of Plaid Cymru, Leanne Wood.

Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, your Government has still not increased training places for doctors, and when my Plaid Cymru colleagues have asked about this previously, your health Secretary said he would announce doctor training places separately to those of nurses, midwives and other health professionals. Can you tell us when we can expect this long-overdue announcement?

That is something that the Cabinet Secretary for health will be able to announce in due course. We all know, of course, that it's hugely important that we provide as many training places as we can and places in areas where people can gain the greatest experience that they can, whilst, of course, building on the recruitment campaign that's been so successful in bringing doctors into Wales.

First Minister, we need that announcement sooner rather than later. Our academic institutions and health boards need assurances that you haven't forgotten about doctors. Today, we've seen plans to unveil five new medical schools in England at Sunderland, Lancashire, Lincoln, Canterbury and Chelmsford over the next three years—five new medical schools. It's relevant for Wales that these medical schools are aimed at what's known as under-doctored areas.

In Wales, of course, the progress on Bangor medical college has been painfully slow and we're still now only at the stage where your Government has only accepted students from elsewhere being given opportunities to spend more time in Bangor, rather than medical students being placed there on a permanent basis. And, incidentally, those universities that work in partnership on this are making very positive noises, which is great news. Given that even the Tories are opening new medical schools in England, do you accept that you've been painfully slow in expanding medial education in the north of Wales?

It's hugely important that medical education, when it's expanded, can provide students with the breadth of experience that they need in order to qualify, and that is a factor that always has to be taken into account. The issue around Bangor, of course, has been well explored. We are keen to make sure that as many places as possible are made available around Wales, whilst of course ensuring that people have access to as many specialisms as they can to build up their experience.

First Minister, doctor training rates are lower in Wales than in England or in Scotland. All of the organisations—the British Medical Association, the Royal College of General Practitioners and the Royal College of Physicians—have all been supporting calls for an expansion of doctor numbers in Wales. Now, we can't rely on other countries to train our doctors. We lose enough talent as it is, and by increasing capacity in England, the UK Government and the English NHS will attract even more of our future Welsh doctors. We have fewer GPs now than in 2013. We have fewer hospital doctors now than in 2014. So, the claim that you sometimes make about record numbers of health staff includes nursing assistants, it includes admin staff and it hides the fact that we are down on the number of doctors. Now, Plaid Cymru would commit to training and recruiting 1,000 new doctors for the Welsh NHS. Other countries are pressing ahead with plans to expand training places. Even Jeremy Hunt is doing it. It seems that the universities are keen. Why is Wales, under this Labour Government, lagging so far behind?

On 8 December, the Cabinet Secretary announced a £107 million investment package to support education and training programmes for healthcare professionals in Wales. That represents an increase of £12 million compared with 2017-18. That means that more than 3,500 new students will join those already studying healthcare education programmes across Wales, and the total number of people in education and training places in 2018-19 will be 9,490, compared to 8,573. There will be a 10 per cent increase in nurse training places across all four nursing fields, and 161 nurse training places in 2018-19. Now, the mistake that has been made, to my mind, by Plaid Cymru is looking at doctors in isolation. You cannot look at doctors in isolation; you have to look at the entire range of healthcare staff, and that means, of course, nurses, it means looking at those working in social care, it means making sure there are enough people to make sure that delayed transfers of care continue to go down and, of course, to make sure that you have staff like physiotherapists, who are able to provide the services that people need.

If we look at our recruitment campaign, it has been hugely successful in bringing doctors into Wales. It will never be the case, in any developed health service in Europe, that all the doctors in that health service are only trained within that health service. We want to attract the best people from around the world, and that's why, of course, our recruitment campaign has been so successful.

The leader of the opposition, Andrew R.T. Davies.

Thank you, Presiding Officer. If I could, with your indulgence, Presiding Officer, also lend my tribute to Lord Nick Edwards and Lord Richard, who were great pillars of improving the quality of life for people here in Wales, and who also carried that charge into the second chamber and stood in their respective parties as great lead role models for politicians in future generations to follow. Their loss will be keenly felt by their families, but also by their political colleagues, and we pay tribute to their efforts on behalf of Wales and, indeed, the rest of United Kingdom, today.

First Minister, yesterday it was highlighted in the press that the Welsh Government were thinking about tolling the M4 relief road. Certainly, Gerry Holtham's proposals were called 'interesting' by a Welsh Government spokesperson. If the M4 relief road does go ahead, is the Welsh Government actively considering tolling that piece of road?

No.

So, there has been no consideration at all around tolling of the M4 relief road. Your colleague on the backbenches there, Mick Antoniw from Pontypridd, highlighted only two weeks ago that the metro system is very much like the Loch Ness monster here now for many people. But the point he was making was that routes are being lost because of the cost of the M4 relief road and also the rising costs of the metro system. If tolling is not being considered for the M4 relief road, how is the Welsh Government looking to balance the budget for these two vital infrastructure projects here in south-east Wales and, indeed, other infrastructure projects across Wales, because the two of them, on the balance sheet, just do not seem to stack up?

They come from two different pots. First of all, with regard to the M4 relief road, that was money that we intend to borrow. When it comes to the metro, that comes from other sources in terms of our own budgets, in terms of looking at the city deal for funding. They are not in competition for the same resources, and, just to re-emphasise, we are not looking to impose a toll on the M4.

I am grateful for the clarity on the tolling, but, again, you can't seem to have the two projects here in isolation, because the two projects are so massive in their capital expenditure. We know the M4 relief road, at the moment, by your own estimates to the public inquiry, will be costing £1.4 billion, and rising, I might add. The metro system is £700 million at the current estimates. Most people, as I said, would not be able to make those sums stack up. So, can you give us some clarity and certainty that you do have access to that money to build both projects and that other projects in other parts of Wales will not have to be curtailed because your capital budget will be spent or exhausted on both those projects?

One of the reasons why we couldn't proceed, or the main reason why we couldn't proceed with the M4 relief road in years gone by is because we could not pay for it out of our existing roads budget. We needed to have borrowing powers in order to pay for a road project of that magnitude. So, that is paid for from a separate pot to the roads budget, so it's not in competition with any other roads project in terms of funding. When it comes to the metro, that is being funded in a different way, looking at our own budgets, looking at the city deal budgets, to take forward that project. What I can assure Members is that the metro and the M4 are not in competition for the same funding; they come from two different pots.

Leader of the UKIP group, Neil Hamilton.

Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. As I was on my way to Cardiff yesterday, I was listening to the car radio, and the World at One was on, and, with some incredulity, I heard that the Welsh Government was consulting schoolchildren between the ages of seven and 11 for their views on Brexit—perhaps it shows the level of maturity of the Welsh Government on this issue—and was going to take their opinions into account in formulating policy. I can't believe that this is true, even though I read it subsequently on the BBC website. Amongst those whom I heard on that programme was a nine-year-old who said that she thought leaving the EU was a bad idea, because, 'One of my friends says she wants to be a singer, and if I want to go around the world to see different music, like, she won't be able to because we've left breakfast'—I think she must be a fan of the leader of the opposition's speech at the Conservative Party conference last year. Surely the First Minister must agree that this is an exercise in total fatuity.

Does he have to use a nine-year-old to fight his battles? Are things that bad in UKIP now that he has to criticise the view of a nine-year-old? I can tell you that that view was more coherent than many of the views I heard from people in his own party in the course of the referendum. He seemed to complain that the news item was a 'mawkish puff piece', playing on the—. And I quote:

'playing on the emotions of the listener in order to support the Remainer narrative that the nasty Brexiteers are stopping our children from being able to play with their friends from abroad.'

Now, if that is the level of political debate that the leader of UKIP comes up with, then give me the nine-year-old any day.

Well, actually, that particular reference—[Interruption.] Sorry, Llywydd. Actually, that particular reference referred to an 11-year-old's comment, also broadcast yesterday, where she said that, if we were to leave, a lot of people who have friends in Europe might not be able to get in. 'I'm aware that people can come into the country who may not always do good things, and they can do bad things, but, on the other hand, they do have relatives and friends. It's better to see them in real life than Skyping all the time and stuff.'

Well, these—[Interruption.] These—[Interruption.] It's not I who is bringing young children into the political debate. It's the politicisation of children that is the exercise that the Welsh Government in engaged on. Is it not inappropriate to politicise children in this way in order to pursue the Government's own political agendas?

How does the leader of UKIP think that the parents of those children think of him now? What they will see is a politician in this Chamber belittling the views of their children for his own political purposes. Now, I don't know whether he is deliberately trying to alienate parents from voting for his party, but he's done an excellent job so far.

It's not to belittle the views of children at all, but the level of maturity that is displayed in those comments of course reflects their age. Perhaps even the First Minister at that age was similarly immature; I don't know. But children of seven to 11, of course, are not yet mature, and their opinions reflect that. And even though we all mature and then our opinions are worthy of being listened to, as serious comments in political debate, I find it absolutely extraordinary that the Welsh Government is now proposing to take them seriously. We know that teachers—[Interruption.] We know that political education in schools is important, but it's also important that there should be balance, and children should be taught to be critical. Given that the Times Educational Supplement, in 2016, did an opinion poll of teachers that showed that 88 per cent of them were pro remain—75 per cent of teachers; 88 per cent of university lecturers are pro remain—isn't there a danger that, even subconsciously, if political topics of a controversial nature are taught in the classroom that balance is likely to be lost?

Let's see how many votes the leader of UKIP has managed to lose—the votes of teachers, the votes of parents, the votes of governors, the votes of grandparents, all because he's chosen, for reasons that go beyond me, to criticise the maturity of nine and 11-year-olds. We have spent our time in this Chamber, in all parties in fairness, talking about giving children a voice. Now, he's saying—and, David Melding, I heard him say it, and I think the comment is apposite—that children should be seen and not heard, which is exactly what the leader of UKIP is saying. Perhaps he may want to reflect on the fact, in managing to upset many thousands of people across Wales, that, actually, children do deserve a voice.