Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 18 June 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:57, 18 June 2019

Well, Llywydd, CHCs are funded by the Welsh Government. Every criticism that he's just made could be equally levied at them, and, absolutely, those arrangements have not prevented CHCs from speaking up on behalf of patients.

What we are aiming to do is to strengthen the citizen's voice in the Welsh NHS. The body that we are proposing will be entirely independent of Government and it will operate—and this is crucial in relation to the question that the Member asked me in the second of his questions—across the health and social care boundary, which CHCs don't. CHCs only operate within the health service. And the young people that he referred to—and I'm grateful to him for highlighting those issues this afternoon—those young people rely on services that are provided both by the health service and very often through social services departments as well. And the new organisation will be able to speak up for those young people across that whole spectrum in a way that the current system cannot. It is entirely designed to be properly independent, to be able to make whatever points it wants to make, and those proposals, Llywydd, are now here on the floor of the Assembly for Members to scrutinise. There will be a Stage 1 inquiry in front of committee, where witnesses can be called. I look forward to Members being able to explore all aspects of the Bill, including looking at how these proposals strengthen independence, strengthen patient voice, and extend it beyond the boundaries within which it is currently confined. I think we'll do a very good job on behalf of patients and young people too.