Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate again. It was only some three or four weeks ago that we were debating this very subject with a Conservative motion before us and that motion, after amendments, did find favour. And it's regrettable that the Government haven't moved on this particular position, when the Assembly speaks in such a positive way. I would like to see a more positive reaction from the Government. 

I formally move the amendments that are laid in the name of Darren Millar. Obviously, amendment 2 reflects on that debate that was held, as I said, some three or four weeks ago that had a positive outcome for retention of A&E services at the Royal Glamorgan. Amendment 3 and amendment 4 touch on the engagement process that the health board should always undertake when discussing any major proposals, and to be fair to the health board, to a point, they have done that. And obviously, the south Wales programme did that in its time as well. But what is a fundamental flaw here is the flaw of the south Wales programme when it talks about delivering services for this particular part of the community that I represent as a regional member for South Wales Central.

The Royal Glamorgan is not an old hospital; it’s a relatively new hospital. The surrounding area is expanding rapidly. I’ve heard the Member for Pontypridd talk of about 20,000 new houses being erected in that particular area. The whole surrounding area is a growth area—it’s not a diminishing area, it is a growth area. And then you couple that with amendment 5, which was the evidence put forward by Cwm Taf themselves at the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, where the health board had not been actively looking to promote jobs at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. And today, there’s a story in the local papers highlighting that freedom of information requests have identified that there’s been no positive action to attract full-time—and I use the word 'full-time'—consultants. There has been action to try and attract locums to fill the gaps. Well, you cannot build a sustainable service, as everyone knows, on locums. And so, everything points to this need to retain the accident and emergency provision at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital—a modern hospital, with a growing population surrounding it and growing demand.

And yet, the health board, over the last several years, has been hellbent on delivering the south Wales programme, which, to a point, they are mandated to deliver, because it’s a programme that obviously the Government has endorsed, and ultimately has said to the health boards that are signatories to it, 'This is the blueprint for health services within the area.' I don’t think there’s a person who believes that that blueprint is a sensible way to deliver accident and emergency provision within the Llantrisant and the Valleys areas. And indeed, the medical professionals at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital have said so much themselves. They identify that, obviously, there are gaps in the rotas—no-one’s disputing that fact—but when you take the point that the health board has not been proactively promoting availability of employment on that cycle of consultants, and to take themselves forward in their careers, is it any wonder that there are vacancies that have struggled to be filled?

And so, on all fronts, there is a positive case to be made for the retention of A&E services at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. And the Government’s amendment saying that this is all the fault of the health board is ridiculous, I have to say, because the Government is in a position to give direction to the health board over the overall strategic direction of health provision here in Wales. Yes, I accept that, day-to-day running is delegated to the health boards, but the overall strategic direction of health provision here in Wales is at the door of the Minister of health. That’s his role, or her role, depending on who occupies that office. And so, it is incumbent on the health Minister to listen to the representations that are being made in this Chamber, made wider by the communities that are served by the Royal Glamorgan Hospital, and ultimately by the evidence that supports the retention of the A&E service at the Royal Glamorgan Hospital. And I do hope that we will get a positive response from the Deputy Minister this afternoon that it builds on the vote that was held some two or three weeks ago in this Chamber, rather than, ‘This has nothing to do with us. Pass it back to the health board’. That just will not do and I hope that the motion, with amendments, will be supported this afternoon.