Diolch, Llywydd. I formally move amendments 57 and 58, tabled in my name. This is about the duty to ensure sufficient resources, and the amendments seek to request that Welsh Ministers should ensure that those sufficient resources for the citizen voice body are put in place.

These amendments have been brought forward from Stage 2, as while the Minister outlined that they're putting in considerable resources for the CVB, this is to make sure that its functions and importance for the Welsh citizen are not lost or set aside in the future, and the regulatory impact assessment shows just an extra £600,000 in running costs compared to the CHCs.

I do accept the Minister's point that financial decisions have to be made carefully, and I also believe that the buck stops with the Welsh Government when they make these decisions every financial year, but this is not just about a budgetary choice; there are specific needs, including indemnity, public engagement, education and training. These are clear needs that the citizen voice body must continue in order for it to run well. It's of vital importance that the citizen voice body can carry out certain functions in order to be able to effectively scrutinise the Welsh NHS, and without a clear marker to continue this choice, we don’t have reassurance that this will happen well into the future.

The Health, Social Care and Sport Committee was clear about this at Stage 1, stating that it had shared witnesses' concerns about the level of resources allocated to the CVB, with costs associated with its establishment, work across health and social care sectors, and putting regional structures in place. Most importantly, the committee stated that it feels 

'there is a weight of expectation on the new Body, particularly given its extended role to represent the public interest across the health and social care sectors. We do not believe the resource allocation is sufficient to enable it to live up to these expectations.'

As I said, the RIA does outline some of these costs. It remains to be seen though whether these are sufficient, and I want to remind Members of the value that stakeholders place on resourcing the body properly and why it's so important to place that commitment on record.

Social Care Wales said,

'Promoting the new Body and ensuring that the general public understands its role'  is a key priority. They said it's crucial that volunteers to the body receive sufficient training and support from the outset, as well as receiving ongoing support. In their evidence, they said they noted that understanding the implications in terms of resources of a genuinely engaged citizen voice is one that's important to make, and their representative went on to say that they,

'suspect that if the ambitions of this are achieved we will actually see an increase in activity'  and hopefully, that, of course, will require more money.

The older people's commissioner, very clearly, said that as the social care sector is extremely broad, she feels it's essential that the CVB,

'has sufficient resources to develop its functions and to operate smoothly across both sectors'  and it's important that its role,

'is clearly set out and communicated to the public.'

Gelligaer Community Council stated that,

'The new body should be adequately resourced so that it can maintain a presence in local communities and so that the complaints advocates can hear from people who cannot leave their place of care.'

And that's a really important one.

The Royal College of Physicians said:

'this new body should receive the education, training and investment it needs to ensure it effectively delivers advice and support to patients, their friends and family, and the general public about the care they receive.'

We all say we want to support this new citizen voice body so that it can truly represent the voice of the citizens of Wales. In order to do that, in order to undertake that training, that public engagement, that education, an indemnity for volunteers, it needs to have sufficient financial resources. These amendments, 57 and 58, are there to ensure Welsh Ministers make those sufficient resources available.