Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. Now, last week, of course, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board decided that they would force nurses, midwives and healthcare support workers to extend their shifts for no extra pay. The plan was to enforce an extra 30-minute unpaid break per shift, even though many nurses, of course, don't have time to take their breaks as it is. And by the health board's own admission, it would have meant nurses working an extra unpaid shift per month to make up their hours. Now, the decision was meant to save around about £25,000 a month. Not an inconsiderable sum, you might say, but, of course, when you put it in context, the board is already spending over £1 million a month on agency nurses, then it's a relatively tiny amount of financial saving, but the health board was willing to destroy the goodwill of nursing staff that keep our NHS working.

I, as I'm sure many of you have, have received hundreds of messages in the last few weeks from the nurses, the patients and their families who would potentially have been affected by this. Those people working on the front line were saying—I'll quote one nurse—

'This will be the final nail in the coffin for nurses working for Betsi. We already work on understaffed wards, so we're lucky if we take a break, and this will mean lots of nurses moving away from the nursing profession and I will be one of them.'

Another nurse told me:

'This decrease in pay would involve me working an extra 6-hour shift a month, causing significant childcare issues and increased costs for this. I feel the people responsible want more and more out of an already-struggling workforce'.

And, of course, don't forget that over 1,000 nurses in Betsi Cadwaladr health board are aged 55 and over, and if you lose that group of experienced and dedicated professionals because of this misguided attempt—I have to say—to save a few pounds, then you will clearly reap what you sow. One in 10 nursing posts at Betsi are currently vacant, meaning that overstretched nurses and staff are already having to work extra hours anyway.

Now, this proposal has wrecked morale in a workforce already on the brink, and many nurses, as I quoted, have said that they will quit, some saying that they would retire early, others suggesting that they might even have to take sick leave if the scheme was introduced. Plaid Cymru and the unions have fought this tooth and nail. We collected, as a party, over 3,500 names on a petition. Unite as well collected the petition; collectively, I think it's over 8,000 names between us. And the union, of course, were even talking of balloting members on possible industrial action, even strike action. Now, what does that say when dedicated health professionals are saying 'enough is enough' and would consider the unthinkable and take strike action to safeguard their working conditions? And that, of course, was the context in which we, Plaid Cymru, brought this motion before the National Assembly today. A situation that nurses, midwives, healthcare support workers, patients and so many others of us find intolerable.

But, of course, things have changed. Late this afternoon, news broke that Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board have shelved the proposals in a clear victory to those of us who have been campaigning for this, and, of course, a huge relief to those who would have been so affected by these proposals. But there are so many questions, now, to be asked. How did it come to this? Why did the board not see the folly of its ways sooner? Plaid Cymru brought a debate on this very issue to this National Assembly a few weeks ago; the Minister could have stopped it then, but he chose to back the board. There are big questions about this whole process and how meaningful, really, was the consultation process. So, I look forward to hearing what the Minister has to say about this whole debacle and how a health board under his direct control was allowed to pursue these proposals in the first place. And I will be looking, Minister, in your response, for a guarantee that this will not be allowed to happen again. If you give us that, then I probably won't move this motion to a vote this afternoon, but, if you don't, then, clearly, we will need a statement from this National Assembly making it clear that this proposal was wholly unacceptable and that we will not tolerate such a proposal again in the future.