Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:58 pm on 26 November 2019.
Well, I think that reinforces two points. The first is that I still don't think it's helpful to try and say there is a good community health council and that others aren't. I think that's problematic. It's not a view that the national board of community health councils themselves take.
And the second is, of course, that, in talking about wanting to have different ways of working, there's a point about whether you want to have a national model, where you say you want some consistency on a national level with local standing, or whether or not you want to have different ways of working across the region. The approach we're taking is actually to say that we want a national model that is consistent, with local standing and local representation. I've indicated I'll bring forward amendments to set that out. And, again, to underscore the independence of the new body, it will be significantly more independent than current community health councils, and I don't believe it will be remote.
I will confirm, briefly, in terms of Angela Burns's point, that the consultation responses—there will be a consultation and it'll be published, as is the normal matter of working, on the statutory guidance that I've indicated.
On your point about whistleblower protection, I don't think that the face of the Bill is the place to do that, actually. You're talking about employment rights in some of the cultural change. It is important, though, that the duties of quality and candour move us to a position where people are more likely to raise concerns and the organisational response will actually make real the current rights people are supposed to have. And I say that as someone who used to be a former employment lawyer and dealt with the reality of people who had been whistleblowers and the way that they'd been dealt with in their workplace, in the public and the private sector.
I hope that in the opening I did demonstrate that I have listened to what committees have had to say, and I'm genuinely interested in developing the best possible piece of legislation. Of course, other people may not agree, and that is part of the point of the scrutiny process and the votes that we cast in this place. But I do hope we'll have the best possible piece of legislation, the response to the recommendations and the approach I've set out for statutory guidance, and I look forward to continuing this debate into Stage 2, and I hope we can have a proper, modern and fit-for-purpose piece of legislation on the statute book here in Wales.