Thank you for your statement today, Minister. As a mother myself who's given birth within the Cwm Taf area, as well as being an Assembly Member for a constituency that falls under the Cwm Taf area, I can honestly say that this report is the most distressing thing that I have read since I was elected to this place three years ago, and my thoughts are very firmly with the families that have been affected.

I'd like to add my support to comments previously expressed by other Assembly Members about the impact of these tragic consequences, the nine previous reports and missed opportunities to put things right and the urgency to put things right now. I'd also like to pay tribute to those really hard-working and dedicated front-line staff who will be feeling very vulnerable with the publication of this report today—many of whom I met when I visited the new service at Prince Charles hospital recently. From the mothers who gave evidence to this report, one theme stands out very strongly, and that's the fact they wanted to give their evidence in order to put things right for future mothers going through the service. The two areas of questioning that I'd like to focus on today are very firmly linked to that.

Firstly, for all the women that I have spoken to from my constituency and also the women from Cynon Valley whose views are expressed in the report, there's one theme that stands out very clearly, and that's the issue around notes disappearing, or record keeping not being accurate, and women going through a very difficult time in labour being repeatedly asked by different members of staff to verbally pass on information rather than the information being there at hand. Now, you'll be aware that on the Public Accounts Committee, we have been undertaking an inquiry into NHS informatics, and I wondered whether, as part of the next step after this report, it would be appropriate to consider whether informatics could be used more effectively within the Cwm Taf maternity service, in order to ensure that all the information that midwives and doctors need is at hand in order to make the right decisions at the right time for mothers and for babies. 

Secondly—and this is an issue that you've touched upon in your reply to the previous Assembly Member—we know that the Cwm Taf area has particular issues around its socioeconomic make-up and resultant health issues that arise from that, but there are other areas of Wales that have those same challenges. What work can be done to link up the service provision in Cwm Taf with other very similar areas of Wales where they have fewer interventions in labour, which we know then leads often to safer outcomes for mothers and babies?