Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:40 pm on 14 January 2020.
Good afternoon, Minister. I do welcome the statement. It's good to see the 14 projects that have been funded, and I'll be very interested to see how the other £11 million is finally deployed.
I'd just like to pick up on a couple of points. Regarding the final funding round, could you clarify whether you'll be targeting applications from any specific health board area, or will you be looking at a whole-Wales approach? And you say that proposals should be brought by mid March. Do you have a deadline for when you would be setting yourself a deadline for when these proposals might be signed off?
In the statement you gave on this fund last year, you said that workforce planning and workforce development would be a strong theme, and I wondered how this ambition is progressing and what evidence is there that the projects promoting better workforce planning are making that difference. Again, in last year's statement, my colleague Darren Millar stated that you hadn't given us any indication as to what the split of investment would be between social care, community care, primary care and secondary care. Are you looking at it in those terms or is it very much in the round? Because I have obviously had a look at the projects that have been agreed so far.
The statement draws reference to how the fund is intended as a catalyst and will be non-recurrent. What process exists if these schemes, once funded, ultimately fail? How are you able to ensure sustainability and ensure, if it's a good project, that it actually does get that buy-in from the people around it, the organisations around it, to be able to move forward? I just wondered what checks are in place to measure the success of a scheme.
Last year you highlighted that you were working with partners to develop a set of national indicators to evaluate new models as they develop so that more promising innovations can be scaled up, and I wondered if you can give us an update on what those might be. Following on from those aims, you expressed your desire to see these projects cross borders, and, again, it's all about what support will be there to fund schemes that are deemed a success in one part of Wales to ensure that they do make that transition across to other parts and pollinate through well.
And, finally, you put a lot of emphasis in your statement on the regional partnership boards and doing everything through them, and, of course, you'll be aware of the Wales Audit Office report on the regional partnership boards that showed somewhat patchy and inconsistent outcomes in some areas, and I wondered if you might be able to give us some reassurance that, whilst you're putting your trust, your effort, and you're asking them to come forward with those ideas, they will be able to take them forward and they will have that strength and support to make sure that this transformation money isn't wasted.