Questions now from the party leaders and, first of all, the leader of the opposition, Paul Davies. 

Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, can you tell us how many operations have been cancelled in the Welsh NHS in the last four years?

Llywydd, it's not an examination in which the Members thinks that we can find a figure out of fresh air. What I will tell him is this—anticipating his next question—over half the operations that are cancelled in the Welsh NHS are cancelled by patients.

Well, let me help you, First Minister. Over the last four years, the number of operations cancelled by Welsh health boards has increased by 7 per cent, with an incredible 170,000 operations having been cancelled since 2015 at no fault of patients. The Wales Audit Office has stated that each minute of surgery costs £14. We are therefore looking at tens of millions of pounds wasted in cancelled operations, which our Welsh NHS desperately needs. Now, despite being under direct control by your Government, First Minister, the health board that saw the largest increase in 2015, was, in fact, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, which saw a 31 per cent increase in cancelled operations. That is a damning verdict of you and your Government, as you are in direct control of that health board. What is your Government specifically doing about reducing cancelled operations, First Minister?

Well, Llywydd, the Member takes a complex subject and proceeds to try to simplify it beyond all sense. As I have said to him already, over half the operations that are cancelled are cancelled by patients themselves. Now, if this is an afternoon in which people want to read out letters that have been sent to them by constituents, let me tell you of a letter that was sent to me recently by a constituent of mine who went to have a cataract operation at the Heath hospital, where the surgeon was available and nurses were available and the operating arrangements were available to carry out five cataract operations that morning, and two patients turned up. And that was written to me asking what steps can be taken to share the responsibility.

So, the idea behind the Member's question was this sense that, somehow, it's the health service itself that is responsible for all those cancelled operations. As I've said, half of them are cancelled by patients. The next largest group that are cancelled are cancelled for clinical reasons, because when people present themselves for the operation, the assessment made by clinicians is that they are not fit on that day to have those operations carried out. The position is a great deal more complex than the Member implies, and it would have been useful, maybe, if, as well as quoting the number of cancelled operations that have increased, he would've quoted the number of extra operations that are carried out in the Welsh NHS as well, because he would've found that that number has gone up at the same time.

First Minister, these figures refer to non-clinical reasons. That's why they've been cancelled, First Minister. You need to get your facts right. You can spin it as much as you like, because, clearly, you and your Government are failing to run the health service here in Wales, you're failing to run north Wales's health boards, and even this morning, it was concerning to hear that your Government is struggling to get Cwm Taf maternity services out of special measures as well. And I hope this isn't another Betsi Cadwaladr in the making, where your Minister allows another health board to languish for years, failing the people that it's meant to serve.

Now, on the cancelled operations, First Minister, Dr Phil Banfield, chairman of the Welsh British Medical Association consultants committee, believes that the Welsh NHS has, and I quote, an

'insufficient capacity to cope with current demand…Continued under-funding, huge rota gaps and too few staff to provide adequate care'.

Those are his words. And I can hear the health Minister chuntering from a sedentary position. Those are his words. He goes on to say that the human cost of this is an increase in

'anxiety and distress…for patients and their families' and for Welsh

'NHS staff trying their best to deliver high quality care'.

First Minister, what do you say to Dr Banfield and his colleagues and what will your Government do to deliver a Welsh NHS that is fit for the people of Wales?

Well, what I say to him and his colleagues is that when the general election to which his predecessor refers comes, the best advice to them is to vote for the Labour Party, because then the funding crisis that affects our public services, which is the direct result of his party and everything that they have done in 10 years of austerity—that's before, by the way, they embark on a 'no deal' Brexit and create another enormous hole in the national finances—then the difficulties of funding to which he's referred can be properly addressed. At the same time, my advice to them to vote Labour in that general election will also help to deal with the issue that is currently the single biggest contributor to cancelled operations, and that's the pension difficulties that his Government has created that mean that consultants right across Wales are no longer able to fill rotas in order to carry out operations, directly, Llywydd—directly as a result of policies that his party introduced, and it's having that impact.

On behalf of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth.

Thank you, Llywydd. The UK Government has updated its temporary tariff regime, which will impact lorries, bioethanol and clothing if we leave the EU with no deal, but there are no assurances for farmers. So, we are looking at a situation where farmers could be priced out of foreign markets, and we know what the impact of that could be on farms and rural communities. In light of that announcement, will you put pressure on the UK Government anew in order to ensure that Welsh farmers aren’t forgotten and thrown on the scrap heap as a result of a destructive Brexit?

Thank you for that question. I have seen the United Kingdom Government update; I saw it this morning. I haven’t had an opportunity yet to consider the impact that will have in Wales on the biodiesel field, in particular. We have previously spoken to the United Kingdom Government about the effect that the original proposals would have here in Wales, and, of course, I spoke with the new Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, when he came here to Cardiff back in the summer about the impact on the countryside here in Wales, the rural communities, of falling out of the EU without any deal. He didn’t have very many answers, and he didn’t have very many details behind the answers that he did have to give me any confidence that the United Kingdom Government had considered in detail the impact of the path that they wish to follow on farmers here in Wales. Subsequently to that, in almost every meeting that we have had with them, we have raised the issues that Rhun ap Iorwerth has raised this afternoon—we continue to do that.

I’m pleased there is consensus between us on this issue, but I now want to appeal for regenerating a consensus that used to exist between us on the name of this institution. In the past, you have said that you would favour the name ‘Senedd’, and I was very pleased to hear that. Could I ask you why you decided to break with that consensus by saying that you now want to scrap the monolingual name ‘Senedd’, a name that has earned its place very widely already, and you now want to support an amendment to the Senedd and Elections (Wales) Bill to call it ‘Senedd Cymru/Welsh Parliament’, as its official name? Now, this is a matter that goes beyond party lines—and I’m very grateful to Hefin David and Mike Hedges for jointly tabling an amendment that we’ll discuss tomorrow—but may I appeal to you, at the eleventh hour, to show confidence in the ability of the people of Wales, whatever language they speak, to take ownership of one name that belongs to each and every one of us?

Llywydd, as I’ve already said, I use the term ‘Senedd’ every time I allude to the National Assembly, and I believe that, throughout Wales, that will be the common usage, and that all people in Wales will allude to this place in that manner. But it is a matter for Assembly Members to decide on this question, and there is more than one view in this Chamber. There will be an opportunity tomorrow to hear the views of those who wish to persuade us to support one or other of the names, and I look forward to that debate.

If it's a matter for Members, can you confirm to us that you will allow your Ministers also a free vote on this matter? There's certainly no legal barrier to calling it 'Senedd' only, and in explaining his reason behind his amendments to drop the Welsh-only name, your predecessor, Carwyn Jones, said in The Guardian a few days ago it's because it would cause confusion. But who's confused? Those who've now long called this place the Senedd, who are being told that should be undone—and, of course, we can still call it Welsh Parliament if we want—I'm sure I would at times too—but we're talking about the official name. Is it those who don't speak Welsh who would be confused because they can't understand why Welsh Government believes they somehow can't cope with the word 'Senedd'.

I sincerely hope that we are all very serious about creating a bilingual Wales, but that does not mean compartmentalising people into Welsh speakers and non-Welsh speakers. Here's what you call your Parliament if you speak Welsh; here's what you call your Parliament if you don't. Let's be confident in ourselves, uniting the nation behind the name that belongs to everyone regardless of their language, reflecting both our heritage and the dawn of a new kind of democracy. This is our Senedd, a unique name for a unique Parliament.

Llywydd, my experience going out and about and talking to people over the summer and since, including children in English-medium and Welsh-medium schools, is that the term 'Senedd' is already in popular parlance, and it's what people use in practice. It's what I myself use and intend to go on using. The term that people think is best reflected in an Act of this Assembly may be different to that, as it is in Ireland, as you know. The Dáil is what people call the Parliament in the Republic; in the Act of Parliament that set it up, it's referred to as something more extensive. There'll be an opportunity tomorrow for people to hear the debate. There are views that deserve to be respected on all sides of this Chamber, and nobody, no individual and no party, has a monopoly of arguments on this matter. That's why we will debate it here, but Government will act collectively—that's the nature of being in government. Labour Members who are not members of the Government will be able to vote as they are persuaded by the arguments, and I look forward to hearing those arguments when the time comes tomorrow afternoon.

Brexit Party leader, Mark Reckless.

Diolch, Llywydd. My grandfather was a Member of it—I think is called the Dáil. Llywydd, you worked very hard on trying to get a version of the Bill that we're debating tomorrow that has as close to a consensus as we could find, and you worked no harder, I think, than on the naming of our institution. Now, I wonder, First Minister, if you recall that there was a stage in the process where the plan was to have in the Welsh version, 'Senedd' or 'Senedd Cymru', and then in the English version, 'Welsh Parliament', and it was suggested that that was the best option to command the closest to a consensus. Yet that then changed, and it changed, I'm told, following representations from within the Labour group and from one senior figure in particular. You tell us now it's a choice for Members, but is it not the case that the Bill we have before us is as it is regarding the name because of the representations you made, suggesting that that would garner a consensus, and it's because of that we have a version of the Bill that we're going to need to amend tomorrow.

Well, I certainly don't recognise that version of history. It's not a Government Bill, it's a Bill for Members of the Assembly. I absolutely think it is for Members here to put their arguments, to try to persuade one another. There will be many different points of view, and then we will decide on it in the democratic way. The Government has not been the sponsor or the inspiration for this Bill, and neither should we be.

I know the Government's not the sponsor, but you, First Minister, as an individual Member, were responsible for the representations that you made, and that was why I asked was it not the case that we have the version the Llywydd put forward because of those representations, and because of how strongly and forcefully you put forward that having 'Senedd' on a monolingual basis would command a consensus when it patently does not.

Now, another aspect of that Bill that you're now looking to change, and I hope you will vote for the amendments that are down in my name and that of your predecessor, relates to the rights of foreign nationals to vote. Now, I recall at Labour conference that there was a motion passed towards the end that said not only did Labour now want to keep freedom of movement with the European Union, but Labour wants to extend freedom of movement to the whole world, and give people an immediate right to vote, regardless of nationality. And a week or two later, we see Welsh Government come to seek to amend this Bill, which isn’t a Government Bill, to implement Corbyn and Labour’s policy. Now, if the situation is as you and your party wish, of lifting immigration restrictions and extending freedom of movement globally, have you made an estimate of how many people would be involved if we extend voting rights to foreign nationals in the way you now propose?

Llywydd, I think the Member is accusing me of supporting Labour Party policy, so I’m grateful to him for that. I look forward tomorrow to voting in favour of allowing those people from other parts of the world who have made their homes and their futures here in Wales to give them the opportunity to express their commitment to our futures by taking part in our democratic processes. That is absolutely the right thing for us to do, and it is particularly the right thing for us to do at a time when those people feel that their place in Wales is less secure than it ever has been, where they are made to feel by others that they’re not welcome to be here, and this party—and others, I hope, on the floor of this Assembly—will be determined to send exactly the opposite message. Those people have a stake in our futures and their futures, they live in our communities, they have a right to participate, and they have a right to participate democratically too.