3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on the recruitment and retention of staff within the Welsh NHS? OAQ52018

We are working closely with health boards through our successful national and international marketing campaign ‘Train. Work. Live.’ Health boards are using the campaign to recruit and retain healthcare professionals with positive results.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for that answer. You'd be aware of the considerable residential developments that are going on around the city of Cardiff, and in particular I draw your attention to the developments in the west of the city, where surgeries and practices have issued notices to say they are unable to take on more patients because they haven't been allowed any more resources to recruit and, importantly, retain staff to meet the increased demand of new housing. Do you recognise that as a problem in the system of provision of primary medical services, and what discussions have you had with the health board in the Cardiff and Vale area to try and address that resource issue that new developments are creating to the west of the city on GP surgeries?

There are challenges about population growth where it exists, and it's not just within the Cardiff area—though that is the most significant part—but it's also within north-east Wales. We've seen some areas of population growth there also. So, there's a broader challenge about managing that. There's something about the number of staff we have, but also the way in which those staff are organised, and so the way in which we organise local healthcare will matter, the numbers of doctors, but other professionals too.

There are conversations I've had with the local health board, both in my capacity as a constituency Member but also as the Cabinet Secretary, about what the future will look like. The challenge in resourcing, as ever, is that when we put extra resource into one part of the health service, it does not necessarily exist for another. That's also a challenge the Government faces when we are allocating our budget after eight years of reduction in the real-term budget. But we always need to look at how we have a more effective use of the resources we currently have, as well as the continual campaign for greater resources for public services here in Wales.

I'm grateful to my colleague Dai Rees who's going to be bringing forward a short debate later on today about the impact of austerity, which is clearly at the heart of so much that we can and can't do. So, continuing that theme, Cabinet Secretary, even though you've been able to protect nursing bursaries in Wales, which the UK Government in England has cut—and the Royal College of Nursing have made significant comments about that today during a debate—would you agree that the Welsh Government could have done even more for nursing and front-line NHS staff, whether that's in training or recruitment, if we'd not faced over £1 billion of cuts since 2010? And would you further agree that many of us in this Chamber are just getting a little bit tired of hearing Tory benches constantly calling for more investment in health when it's their UK Government in Westminster that have chosen to make such deep cuts in our budgets? [Interruption.]

Despite the noise of outrage from the Tory benches, what the Member says is factually and undeniably correct. Members on Conservative seats in this place need to recognise that they have been champions of austerity for three successive general elections. For three successive general elections, you have been champions of austerity. You cannot now avoid the unavoidable consequence of that austerity. Despite eight years of Tory austerity, we have record numbers of health service staff, because of choices made by this Welsh Labour Government. Despite eight years of Tory austerity, we have record numbers of registered nurses, because of choices made by this Welsh Labour Government. The Tories will stand up for austerity, they won't stand up for the health service, they won't stand up for a proper funding settlement for Wales, because it is in their interest and because it is their ideological obsession. The Tories will always be the same.

Cabinet Secretary, as has been highlighted before, the cross-party group on cancer last week highlighted some concerns over recruitment of staff. It also highlighted that staff banding in speciality areas is actually lower in Wales than in England. Some are band 6 in Wales, where the equivalent post is a band 7 in England. Staff therefore are either migrating to an equivalent job with better pay in England or actually not even coming into Wales. What's the Welsh Government going to do to ensure an equality of staff banding for equivalent work across the UK?

These are negotiations that are ongoing with our trade unions, as representatives of the workforce. In England, they imposed a variety of measures into the contract. I am proud of the fact that we listen to and engage with our trade unions as workforce representatives. I look forward to a future conversation about Agenda for Change terms and conditions. If there is to be, finally, more money from the UK Treasury, we can have a conversation here in Wales with our partners about how to allocate that money to our hard-working NHS staff and those areas where we think it will make a particular difference to the service provided and outcomes for people here in Wales.