I’d like to thank the chairman for presenting our committee report in the manner he did, and thank the clerk and my fellow Petitions Committee for actually having such a proactive approach on this issue. Acknowledgement must go to the late Peter Baldwin’s family for helping our committee and for seeking to use their own tragic circumstances to ensure no other family has to endure such a devastating loss.

I am pleased to see that the Welsh Government intends to accept in principle the 10 recommendations made by the Petitions Committee, and I have confidence that if these are implemented, the detection rates of type 1 diabetes can be improved to prevent families like the Baldwins from undergoing the tragedy of losing loved ones to misdetection.

Approximately 1,400 children have diabetes in Wales, 96 per cent of which have type 1. The key aim of this report is to make sure that when any child shows symptoms of the four Ts—toilet, thirsty, tired and thinner—they get the right diagnostics. By making sure children and young people get a quick diagnosis and early treatment, we can avoid them becoming seriously ill with diabetic ketoacidosis. What we need is for GPs to be aware of the symptoms and considering that the test is so inexpensive to test children who show any sign of these symptoms. I would also like to see the Cabinet Secretary increase his own department’s awareness of the scale of this problem, so that no child ever is let down because a simple test was not administered.

Recommendation 3 sees the Welsh Government commit to seek assurances regarding the availability of glucose meters in primary care. I'm really grateful that this recommendation has been accepted. However, I am concerned that the Cabinet Secretary finds no financial implications to this. The Welsh Government should be ensuring that all GP surgeries have at least one testing kit. There are nearly 435 GP practices in Wales. And, at a little cost, I would say the financial implications would be worth you ensuring—your department ensuring—that there is one in every single practice. Every single one of these needs this testing kit.

Recommendation 7 asks that the Welsh Government implement a means to monitor improvement with regard to diagnosis of type 1 diabetes. The Cabinet Secretary advised that the diagnosis of type 1 diabetes is monitored and reported through the national paediatric diabetes audit. However, for reference, information in the report from the NPDA highlights that, in England, diabetic ketoacidosis occurred in just over 20 per cent of new cases of type 1 diabetes, a figure that has only risen slightly between 2012 and 2015. Alternatively, the figures given for Wales fluctuate from 30 per cent to 18 per cent to 24 per cent, all in a three-year period. So, if I was the Cabinet Secretary, I would be wanting to find out more about that. So, this makes me question whether the NPDA has access to the appropriate information and whether the Welsh Government should do more to find out why these numbers fluctuate in the way they do.

This is a common occurrence throughout the Cabinet Secretary's response, whereby recommendations are accepted 'in principle' only to be passed over to other organisations or charities. Diabetes UK Cymru claims that Wales has the highest prevalence of diabetes in the UK. Therefore, the Welsh Government should do more, should accept more responsibility and be more proactive. Let's not forget that this petition started because a family lost a son due to missed diagnosis and not giving a simple and inexpensive test much sooner. Overall, I am glad that the Cabinet Secretary accepted or accepted in principle all the recommendations. It is however very important that we improve and monitor the processes we rely on in detecting diabetes as soon as possible. 

Peter's legacy will live on through the work that you have done, though the awareness you've raised here in this Senedd and throughout Wales. Diolch yn fawr iawn. Thank you.