Thank you, Llywydd. In announcing your decision on salaries, you said that the Treasury hadn’t given any additional funding and that, therefore, you’d had discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for Finance so that this pay deal could be delivered without impacting services. My question, very simply, is: what has changed? Don’t misunderstand me—I’m very happy that these salaries are going to be higher for dentists and doctors here, but the Government’s stance in the past was to say, ‘No pay rise unless there is additional funding made available from the Treasury.'

I’m very pleased that you now have accepted that it is possible for you to take action without always waiting for the Treasury. I’m thinking of other examples, such as zero-hours contracts or the cap on other public sector workers’ pay, and your party has also in the past rejected the idea of allowing or supporting regionalised pay in different parts of the UK on the basis that it would surely drive wages down in Wales. By tailoring things to our own needs in Wales, we are showing, as in this case, that it is possible for salaries to be higher in Wales. So, has that fundamental principle on which the Government operates changed?