Diolch, Weinidog. Thank you for a statement that confirms that Betsi Cadwaladr is staying at a level of intervention for another period at the hands of Welsh Government, which has failed in five and a half years to turn around the problems that put it in special measures.

I always praise the front-line staff in the NHS, in the north of Wales, as I do in the rest of Wales. Their response to this pandemic has been second to none. I'm proud to know many of them, and I'm proud of the work that each one of them has done, tirelessly. Your invitation for us to praise them specifically for bringing the board out of special measures, are you saying that they didn't do their bit to bring the board out of special measures over the past five and a half years? What I've seen is the Welsh Government failing to take the adequate steps, and steps that you could have taken previously. The statement, to me, basically says, 'You know what? We can't make progress, it seems, whilst we are in special measures.' Has it really taken you five and a half years to get to that point?

And how did you reach this point in a matter of weeks? We're now—where are we? 24 November. You told us on 7 October that there were big problems that needed to be faced still, in mental health in particular. But it's not today that you're deciding; apparently earlier this month, by that point, the tripartite meeting had told you, 'All is good'. So, in a matter of three or four weeks things had been turned around. And that, to me, seems very, very odd.

You say that special measures were having an impact on the health board's ability to recruit and retain staff. Again, are you only just realising that now, after an extended period of jobs being unable to be filled, both on the clinical side as well as on the management side? Are you only now realising that special measures are affecting negatively the ability that we have to attract the best people to work in health in the north of Wales?

Of course, on one level, I'm pleased to see a moving forward from special measures to another level of intervention. But I'm still of the opinion, as are many patients and staff members within Betsi Cadwaladr, that the north of Wales needs a fresh start. It has taken too long to get to this point and there is very little faith in how we are going to get to the next point, where we can really say that we have, in the north of Wales, a health service that works and that is designed in a way that staff and patients deserve. We need new health boards for the north of Wales, a fresh start, and today does not convince me that the Welsh Government has a handle on the real problems, not least in mental health, which was at the root of putting the board into special measures in the first place, to the extent that I can say that the problem is anywhere near resolved.