Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. On 14 November I laid the National Health Service (Indemnities) (Wales) Bill, together with the necessary supporting documents before this Assembly. The Bill amends section 30 of the National Health Service Wales Act 2006 in relation to schemes to meeting losses and liabilities of certain health service bodies. It will confer a new power on the Welsh Ministers to establish direct indemnity schemes. This will provide the enabling power to make regulation to establish an existing liability scheme to cover the liabilities of general practitioners for clinical negligence claims that have been reported, or incurred but not reported, prior to 1 April 2019.

The future liabilities scheme that covers claims arising from 1 April 2019, together with the existing liabilities scheme, will align with the arrangements being put in place for GPs in England. It would ensure that GPs in Wales are not treated less favourably than those in England, and that there is no negative impact on GP recruitment, retention, and no interruption of the cross-border flow of GPs.

The draft Bill was scrutinised by the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, the Finance Committee, and, of course, the Constitutional and Legislative Affairs Committee. As part of that scrutiny, key stakeholders, including the three medical defence organisations, were invited to give evidence, and I'd like to thank the committees for their work within what was unavoidably a truncated timetable.

I am pleased that the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee supports the Bill and has recommended that the Assembly agrees the general principles today. The scrutiny committees have, however, requested reassurance or clarity on a number of points. Two of the medical defence organisations questioned whether GPs will continue to receive a holistic service from a state-backed provider at the same standard that has been provided to date by the medial defence organisations. They also queried whether the state-backed provider will protect the professional standing of GPs to the same extent, which they feel is integral to the credibility of the scheme.