Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 2:33 pm on 6 February 2019.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 2:33, 6 February 2019

Well, I'm grateful to the Minister for his answer, though slightly puzzled by it. I thought that the whole point of special measures was that the Government was taking some responsibility for what was going on. But putting that to one side, and be that as it may, I'm also slightly surprised to hear the Minister say that factors are complex and, by implication, they don't know exactly what's going on, because in response to my colleague Adam Price last week, the First Minister asserted that there was no need for an in-depth inquiry into the state of A&E in Wales. That is, of course, something that's being called for by your Labour colleagues in London, though, in fact, the English system, unfortunately, is outperforming the Welsh system on average. One of the reasons, of course, that the First Minister gave for not needing an inquiry was, he said: 

'We know the things that need to be done.' 

That's exactly what he said, and: 

'The job is to get on and make sure that the general improvements are shared elsewhere and everywhere'.

Now, I'm sure I and everybody in this Chamber would want to associate ourselves with what the Minister has just said about the excellent work that front-line staff do, in sometimes very, very difficult circumstances. But either the First Minister is right and we know what needs to be done, in which case, I'd suggest that the Minister and his officials get on with it, or we don't know, in which case, we need to find out.