I'd like to remind everyone that this Bill did move at pace, and I'd like to put on record my thanks to all the committee clerks, to the officials on the Welsh Government side. And I'd like to pay particular tribute to our head of research, Georgina Webb, for all the work that she did on this Bill.

And what a Bill. It started with such promise: to drive duty and candour through our healthcare services. It was a Bill full of opportunity, where we could actually look to our healthcare services and say, 'Now is the time for you to really understand that quality is a key driver within the NHS, candour is a key right within the NHS'. And, of course, it was the opportunity to protect and preserve the voice of the people of Wales, their opportunity to actually put forward what they think to formulate and to shape the direction of travel.

But, to be frank, it's an opportunity that has been squandered. And the Welsh Conservatives will not be sponsoring—or, sorry, supporting—this Bill. Why? Because it is a Bill that has not actually done what it said it would do. Counsel General, when I look at the duty of quality, I feel that part of this Bill still remains hugely weak in detail. As I stated last week during the Stage 3 process, I remain concerned that the Bill's provisions on the duty of quality are overly broad—it risks becoming an aim rather than a duty. Without specific mechanisms for health boards to undertake the necessary action to ensure that it's monitored and upheld, what does duty of quality really mean? How are we going to measure it? And, if you fail in your duty of quality, what are we going to do about it? The Bill says none of that—it's very light on it.

And it's not just me who thinks this. This is across a number of different forums, and I just want to bring forward two. The first is from the British Medical Association, who says that:

'Unless some form of sanction or corrective action is triggered, we believe that the proposed duty would run the risk of lacking effectiveness' and could just become a box-ticking exercise. And, of course, the Royal College of Nursing—these are the professional teams that make the health service run as it does. There has to be a consequence to doing it or not doing it, otherwise there's no incentive to do it at the most basic levels. 

And then we turn to the duty of candour. Now this is really an area that deeply concerns me. I've strong reservations as to how effective this Bill will be when delivering this aim, and I stand by the comments I made in Stage 3—that it's because there's been no clarity over whose responsibility it is for failings. Buck-passing has become absolutely routine, and ignorance should not be a defence. The need for this section of the Bill to work effectively is that honesty, openness and transparency should be the focus and, indeed, the locus of the whole health service and the Government, and I still feel that, without a sea change in the culture that's become prevalent across some of the health service management, it is still not being delivered. 

I understand that this Bill, in and of itself, would not necessarily have prevented some of the scandals that we've seen in places like Cwm Taf and Betsi Cadwaladr, However, it would, with more teeth, have enabled us to strive for an NHS with an honest and open culture—a culture where, when a staff nurse or a midwife does a report that says, 'There are serious failings in maternity services', he or she would feel empowered to be able to flag that up, because that's a duty of candour. Nothing in the current Bill is there that says something that will say, 'You can do that'. In fact, rather it's 'Please be candid' and 'Oh, never mind, if you find you haven't been—. There's not a lot we're going to do about it'. 

And then finally, I just wanted to turn to the citizen voice body. I think that is something that has exercised the hearts and the minds of the public and all the local community health councils. Now, I absolutely appreciate that the CHC board have rightfully said, 'We are where we are. Probably the numbers will indicate that this Bill will pass and we will work with the Government'. And they are happy that you've agreed to engage and consult. But I say to you that if this isn't just some political sort of smoke and mirrors, you must engage with them honestly, deeply and truthfully and really bring them on board. Because I've said it before and I'm going to say it again: we keep talking about the voice of the citizen. The health service is for the people, it's about the people, it's staffed by the people and it is in the heart of our country and we absolutely must give the people a voice. And this Bill, as it currently stands, does not enshrine that voice. And I'm just—