We would need core competencies set at every level, and those competencies would be based on this value-based training. A professional body could require continuous professional development to ensure that those managing our services are able to keep up to date with all the requirements on them and all the developments that go around them. Some, particularly middle management managers, say to me that they are overwhelmed, sometimes, by change. They don't resent the expectations of Welsh Government of the service that they're going to deliver, but they need to be empowered to do that properly.

So, this is about valuing those who manage our NHS. It's about giving them the tools to do the job and it's about ensuring that everybody else knows what can be expected in terms of competence, knowledge and skills from people managing at different levels in our service. Now, of course, one aspect of this registration would be that, if a manager persistently failed, or if a manager was having trouble doing their job, their professional body would, as it would with a nurse or a doctor, step in and prescribe advice, prescribe training, prescribe support. But, if that was not successful, in the end, this professional body would have the right to strike a manager off and say, 'You are not a fit-and-proper person to undertake the management of our service'. That is not the main function of the legislation that I'm proposing, but it is a sanction, and it would end a pattern that we've seen—and I have no intention today, Presiding Officer, to name names—of persons in very senior roles in parts of our service failing to manage those services effectively, disappearing for a while and then popping up somewhere else managing another aspect of the service and not doing it well. That is totally unfair; it's totally unfair to the patients, it's totally unfair to the clinical staff, but it is also totally unfair to those working in management in the service who want to be able to do that effectively.

I realise that this is a huge piece of work—this is not something that could be achieved by a private Member's Bill—but just because it's a huge piece of work does not mean to say that we shouldn't set out to do it. I remember being told in this place that it would be impossible and much too complex to register healthcare support workers. Well, we're doing that now. And I think we need to be equally ambitious around what we offer to those who manage our services.

I would also see this legislation properly establishing the independence of Healthcare Inspectorate Wales. Members will remember that the committee, back in 2014, was very concerned that it hadn't received reassurances about the role of the inspectorate, that it wasn't suitably independent. Now, I know the Minister has got some long-term plans to do something about this, but I would remind him that he said that the NHS quality Bill that would be coming forward would address this issue of HIW independence and the draft we have before us does not.

My proposed legislation would also place a duty of candour, not just on organisations, which, of course, is commendable, but on individuals. Where we most need that duty of candour is where people need to be empowered to speak up within organisations that will not exercise their duty of candour. And simply putting that responsibility on organisations will not deliver what I'm sure the Minister intends. We also need a robust, consistent, transparent complaints system that is truly independent and trusted for patients and we need to look again at how successful our whistleblowing policies are, because my experience and my postbag tells me that they are not.

This is a matter of the utmost seriousness. In some circumstances, this is a matter of life and death. I believe that this is a problem that needs a radical solution. I believe the people who work in our service deserve to have their professionalism recognised, deserve to be properly trained, deserve to know, through a set of core competencies, exactly what is expected of them. And they need to know too that they will be held accountable for delivering the planning and the management of our services in coherence with that core set of competencies.

I look forward, Llywydd, to hearing other Members' comments in this debate. I am not expecting—although, of course, I would be delighted—the Minister to say here that he will take on this legislation, but I do hope that he will feel able to acknowledge that there are serious issues that need to be addressed and that we can explore on a cross-party basis in this place to ensure that we have the best, most transparent management system that our NHS needs and deserves.