Thank you. And, firstly, I would like to thank the Paul Ridd Foundation and the Petitions Committee for bringing forward this petition today, and I was very pleased to meet Paul's sister and brother and other members of the foundation earlier this afternoon. Today's debate does provide me with the opportunity to explain our plans to embed a comprehensive national education programme across the whole of the NHS in Wales, not just in hospital settings.

We're committed to ensuring that those affected by a learning disability lead an active and fulfilling life within a caring and stable environment, where the challenges they face are understood and society does all it can to address inequalities and potential hardships.

What happened to Paul Ridd was a tragedy for all involved, and I would also say the same for Helen Mary's constituent, and, for some time now, the NHS in Wales and the Welsh Government have committed to ensuring lessons are learned and history does not repeat itself. I am confident that we can achieve this, with great strides being taken in awareness and understanding of the issues facing individuals with a learning disability and how these issues can be addressed. However, we do recognise that sometimes progress has been slow and more needs to be done. 

The Paul Ridd Foundation have done an exemplary job in going into hospitals and educating staff on how to help those with a learning disability. Sadly, Paul's family know only too well why it's so important for all NHS staff to understand the issues faced by individuals with a learning disability, and I welcome their continued contribution as we develop a framework for the NHS in Wales. 

The landmark Learning Disability: Improving Lives Programme received Cabinet and cross-party support when launched in June 2018. This sets out our commitment to improving the lives of those affected by a learning disability. The programme contains 24 actions across the whole of Government, aimed at addressing issues that affect those with a learning disability. It covers early years, health, social care, housing, employment, education and transport. We have provided, as has already been mentioned today, additional funding of £2 million to support the NHS to deliver the health actions in the programme.

Implementing these actions will improve the consistency and quality of learning disability services in both primary and secondary care for children, young people and adults. One particular action is to ensure that reasonable adjustments are made in hospital settings to support people with learning disabilities and their families to access mainstream NHS services. This is why an education and training framework for all staff is so important. Our approach is to ensure that learning disability awareness training is fully embedded into the core training programme for all staff as part of the health board's mandatory equality and diversity training, supported by more in-depth targeted training for staff in key roles. I know that the foundation are anxious that this training should be mandatory and I can confirm that it will be. Our approach will ensure that staff are fully aware of the issues and able to deliver the best possible services for individual patients and their families.

Pre-registration education for all health care professional groups includes an element relating to dealing with vulnerable groups. The nursing profession has specific provision in the core curriculum on learning disability and includes a placement in a learning disability service. However, the approach varies across the health professions, with some professional groups receiving general awareness raising as part of wider training provision around equality and diversity, and of course some healthcare professions will have qualified prior to the inclusion of any sort of awareness raising training. So, we're committed to putting in place a comprehensive framework of education and training for all NHS staff to ensure that everyone working in a health care setting—