Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 7:24 pm on 4 December 2018.
It's a pleasure to take part on this important debate on the draft budget, as Chair of the health committee. And, of course, with the health and social care of around £ 9 billion, there is a huge challenge facing the members of the committee to scrutinise all the details of that major budget. So, I will go through some of the process of scrutinising and gathering evidence. In July, we scrutinised the Welsh Government’s response to the parliamentary review, ‘A Healthier Wales’, which is the Welsh Government’s plan for health and social care. In September, we received written evidence from all health boards, the Welsh Local Government Association and the Association of Directors of Social Services in Wales, to add to the whole host of evidence that we’d already received. Then, in November, we scrutinised the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Services, the Minister for Children, Older People and Social Care and the Minister for Culture, Tourism and Sport. As to the main themes, transformative change was one of them. The Cabinet Secretary has been clear that service transformation must become a mainstream activity for health and social care organisations and that these organisations’ core funding will be used to deliver the relevant changes.