Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you to members of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee for their report on progress towards achieving hepatitis C elimination in Wales.

Since the introduction of new treatments in 2014 NHS Wales has treated 2,850 patients for hepatitis C, with a success rate of around 95 per cent. Access to these new and highly effective treatments has been universal and there are no waiting lists. This is a significant achievement, and yet there is much more to do if we want to eliminate hepatitis C by 2030 at the latest, as we indeed aim to do.

And I do have to pause and thank the staff, the clinical community who have undertaken the current steps we have made on hepatitis C elimination. A genuine national network of clinicians, and I've met some of those people and I am tremendously impressed by not just the work they've done to date, but by their commitment to do more and to work in a different way, as indeed the report sets out, to reach those people who have yet to take up the treatments that are available.

Key actions in relation to hepatitis C and B were originally part of the blood-borne viral action plan and are now part of the liver disease delivery plan, which is due to run until December next year. In addition, a Welsh health circular was issued to NHS Wales in October 2017, setting up a framework of actions needed at a local level to support elimination. We know what is required to successfully eliminate hepatitis C: increased testing and treatment in traditional services, in the community and in prisons. Despite its inclusion in strategies and circulars, as the committee note, investment in local services across Wales has been patchy. The introduction of formalised minimum targets—and I have heard what Members have said in the report and today—for both testing and treatment is the next step, and it will require further investment by local services.

A key performance indicator for testing and substance misuse services was introduced for area planning boards from April 2019. As a result, we have already seen testing rates increase by over 50 per cent compared to the same period in 2018. Health boards will be sent a formal minimum treatment target as part of the NHS delivery framework for next year, 2020-21. This will encourage health boards to invest in effective and sustained outreach services in order to engage with individuals who are not currently in contact with traditional services. It is these outreach services that are needed rather than, in my view, a national awareness campaign. People are unlikely to see and be motivated to take part in new forms of treatment by a traditional national awareness campaign.

Formal minimum treatment targets will require health boards responsible for the health of our prisoners to consider the effectiveness of the current opt-out testing arrangements. And I was recently delighted to hear that the micro-elimination of hepatitis C had been achieved in Swansea prison. That of course now needs to be sustained in Swansea prison, and other health boards need to look at what is required to make this happen within the prison population in their own areas.

To support the local action required, a wider range of national actions are being progressed. The hepatitis C re-engagement exercise has already resulted in 41 patients commencing treatment. This programme will continue checking old patient records and contacting patients for testing well into next year. The roll-out of the testing in community pharmacies has been slower than expected, but we'll continue to drive that agenda forward to ensure that testing and treatment is delivered in community pharmacies across Wales.

I'm happy to commit on behalf of the Welsh Government to provide annual updates, guidance and instruction to health boards where necessary. I am confident that the actions outlined will put Wales back on track to achieve elimination by 2030 at the latest, as I recognise the committee wants to see as well.