7. Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services: Brexit — The Risks for the Future of Health and Social Care in Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:43 pm on 26 June 2018.

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Photo of Suzy Davies Suzy Davies Conservative 5:43, 26 June 2018

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you for your statement. I think it might have been just been a little bit more balanced if you had mentioned the £1.3 billion innovation fund that was mentioned by the UK Government. There are other ways of dealing with some of the challenges that you raised here without being quite so gloomy about it. What I wanted to ask you specifically was: this is 'Brexit—the Risks for the Future of Health and Social Care in Wales'—I can't really see anything in your statement about social care, and I'm hoping that this is not going to be a recurring theme when we're talking about the integration agenda. So, I'm wondering if you can tell me particularly which of the current European programmes to which we might have access after Brexit you might like us to buy into, which might be of advantage for social care innovation and knowledge, and, secondly, whether you can give us some indication of how you've reached the figure you think that we have for the number of EU nationals currently working in social care. I appreciate that, because we don't have registration, that's difficult, but I'm quite curious to know where you got the figure from because a simple extrapolation from a UK figure won't be accurate, bearing in mind that 12 per cent of the EU national care workforce works in London, and only 2 per cent works in the north-east of England, for example. Thank you.