I recognise that there'll be a range of people who won't accept the findings produced in the independent HASCAS investigation report. I recognise that there'll be a range of families who will simply not be able to accept the conclusions they have reached, and I think it's easy to understand why that might be, where people have witnessed challenges that they have reported on. But, as the report set out, it certainly does not provide a clean bill of health for the health board—far from it—and it does recount failings in the care that some people were provided with, but it says that, overall, it does not support the previous finding of institutional abuse and neglect. 

And it's fair again to reflect that, whilst some families are angry and hurt, and you understand why in the conclusions reached, there are a range of families who did not wish to engage because they had no complaints about the care provided. Other families did engage and confirmed they had no concerns or complaints about the care provided. It's also true to reflect on the fact that there were disagreements within families about the care provided as well. So, in that contested environment, where people have different versions of the same events, where there's an acceptance that, on occasion, the care was not as it should have been and that people were let down when that happened, it is not surprising that there are different views on the overall conclusions of the report. But, as I say, that does not affect the integrity of this report. 

It's worth again reminding you and others that, of course, this report had access to a much wider range of information. It interviewed 168 witnesses that were not available to the initial report. It considered 190 witness statements in the police report that were not available to the first report as well. There were real problems highlighted.

In terms of the response from HASCAS, we should remember what they themselves have said. They say that their report does not cast doubts on the validity of families' concerns. Indeed, it actually upholds very many of their concerns. It is important that this is a highly critical report. And that is the approach that I will take to seeking further improvement. I wish to see families that are affected, even including those who do not accept the report, being supported in the continued life that they will have. I wish to see support provided to staff directly affected, and I wish to see, for the future, real and sustained improvement that will take forward the real concerns and criticisms in what is a highly critical report.

It is for the Assembly, though, to determine whether it wishes to review the 300 pages of the HASCAS report and the 700,000 pages of documentation and witness evidence that underpin it. That is a matter for the Assembly, not the Government, to determine. For my part, I will do what I can and should to provide the reassurance that all of us, I'm sure, will wish to seek, and that is that people have their concerns listened to and that we take seriously the requirement for improvement that does exist within north Wales healthcare.