Thank you for your statement, Minister, as well as your written statement accompanying the Bill released yesterday. I must admit, 24 hours was not a long time to absorb the explanatory memorandum, but I have sufficient detail to get the gist of the debate.

Minister, as I've said to you in the past, I accept that everything wasn't rosy with the community health councils, however, I feel there needs to be reform and not wholesale annihilation. Whilst some community health councils were not working as intended, other, particularly in north Wales, community health councils truly were the patients' champion. And I accept that not every health council operated like this, often just acting as a rubber stamp for the local health board decisions, but this was a capacity and independence issue.

With some structural changes and reform into a national body with regional committees, we could have strengthened the patient's voice. And this is the object of the exercise, isn't it? Improving the patient's voice and enhancing it. Instead, we have the Health and Social Care (Quality and Engagement) (Wales) Bill that stifles the patient's voice.

Minister, can you explain why you removed the ability for the new citizen voice body to make inspection visits to hospital wards and to challenge service changes? This new body will only be as strong as the people serving on it. Minister, your EM to the Bill talks about encouraging a more diverse volunteer base. So, what processes will you put in place to ensure that these volunteers receive adequate training to enable them to challenge authority, to stand up as a strong, truly independent and politically neutral voice for patients? In that vein, I note the inclusion of vice-chairs for hospital trusts. What steps are you taking to ensure that these vice-chairs are clinical rather than political appointments?

Although I have serious concerns with much of this Bill, I do welcome the duty of candour; it's long overdue. It has been around five years since the Evans review called for a no-blame culture. However, as the NHS Confederation points out, more clarity is needed on what this duty actually means and how it will fit in with existing policies. What role will Health Education and Improvement Wales and Social Care Wales play in developing the duty and rolling out training to all staff?

Thank you once again, Minister. I look forward to the detailed scrutiny. I will work with Members across this Chamber to improve this Bill. Diolch yn fawr.