Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The Welsh Conservatives are pleased to support the general principles of the Bill before us. However, there are areas that we would like to see either added to, amended or improved, and I'd like to touch on three specific areas.

I'd like to start with the duty of quality. Minister, there does need to be more clarity as to how the provision of quality would be measured. The statement says that that duty of quality is about the effectiveness of health services, the safety of health services and the experiences of individuals to whom health services are provided is very broad brush, and I'm concerned that this duty of quality could be interpreted as being done by putting quantitative processes in place, such as quality assurance methodology, but what is really needed is quantitative measures to underpin that duty of quality: do people feel that they're getting the service that they deserve and want? Do they feel good about it? Do they feel safe? Do they feel treasured? Do they feel well cared for? And many, many stakeholders have raised concerns over this. Indeed, Public Health Wales themselves said that an annual report on quality improvement appears to be a relatively weak control, and many stakeholders felt that the quality as currently described simply isn't robust enough. So, Minister, I would ask that over the next few stages that we really address this and tie this down.

With regard to the duty of candour, I think this is a really interesting step forward by you, Minister. I mean, let's be honest, you'd think our NHS would be candid enough, but as most of us have casework that demonstrates that that is not so, we absolutely need a duty of candour because it's about trust and honesty with patients, particularly if a service user has suffered unexpected or unintended harm and where the provision of healthcare may have been a factor in that adverse outcome.

And, again, Minister, stakeholders raised concerns over how the duty will be defined. Will it sit? How will it sit with prudent healthcare? Will it tie in with wider organisational processes? What about proportionality? What about training and integration between health and care or other partnership arrangements, such as GPs? Why is this duty so delayed on an organisation? Where is the individual duty? Because if there is no other lesson to be learned from Cwm Taf, it is that individuals failed to act openly and with transparency.

Both the duty of quality and the duty of candour as currently prescribed give little detail on how they will be measured, monitored and reviewed, and, to be frank, a yearly report is neither here nor there. I'm really pleased, Minister, to hear that you're going to make the guidance statutory, but I think then we need to have an involvement process as to what goes into that guidance. There needs to be a consultation and I'd like you to assure us that all of that will happen so that the guidance that goes forward that is statutory on these organisations to provide duty of candour and a duty of quality do sit well with us as an Assembly and with the wider stakeholders.

I'd like to just turn to the citizen voice body. I agree that some reforms are required of the existing CHCs. However, we're not seeing evidence that moves us from the Welsh Conservative position that citizen voice bodies must be independent. And that's not only us and the current CHC organisation that obviously believes they should be independent, but also the seven health boards, the three NHS trusts, Health Education and Improvement Wales, the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales, the British Medical Association Cymru, and numbers of other organisations who are also very keen that a new national body should have local representation.

Minister, the recommendations of the parliamentary review are clear: the citizen's voice should be put front and centre in the development and delivery of health and care services. And your 'A Healthier Wales' aspirations echo this ambition, but make no mistake, engagement with the public isn't about form filling but is about voices around the table where policy is made or reviewed.

A citizen's voice body has much to add to the discourse, provided their national branches are firmly rooted in the local communities that they represent. There is a genuine concern that a nationalised Government-run citizen voice body will be staffed by people unwilling to tell it as it is, unwilling to stand up for people's rights, unwilling to deviate from Government process, unwilling to challenge health boards, unwilling to take on local concerns. Minister, therefore, I ask: would you be willing to amend the Bill on that? I did hear what you said. I'm really pleased about some of the commentary you made. I did take on board your point that because it's going to be a wider pool, there's more for people to draw from, but, as you said, it's not enough to be independent. You need to be seen to be independent.

Deputy Presiding Officer, I have one more very important quick point to make—I'm sorry, I know I'm over time—I am of the view that the Bill must not be silent on how health and social care services support and protect those who raise genuine concerns. I've met health and social care professionals from all over Wales who have witnessed, reported and challenged bad practice, poor practice, inappropriate practice, but many of those healthcare professionals have not been listened to. Instead, they've often been blamed. They've been hounded, vilified, marginalised and have felt their careers have stalled. Too many of them suffer inordinate amounts of stress for trying to do the right thing. I started raising this concern some eight years ago, and I would like to ask you, Minister, and say to you, if you truly want the duties of quality and candour to be game-changers in our NHS, you absolutely must address this issue on the face of the Bill. If you're going to lead culture change, which is what you say you want to do, we've got to really protect our whistleblowers and give them the voices and that they know they can raise their concerns. We've seen so many cases where they've been ignored. Thank you.