2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:56 pm on 15 December 2020.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 2:56, 15 December 2020

I very much hope that we do get some form of deal at the end of this, despite the eleventh hour, so any input that the Welsh Government can have into that process would, I'm sure, be beneficial.

Two issues if I may raise with you, Trefnydd. Firstly, the issue I raised with the First Minister earlier: could we have a statement from the health Minister on addressing the capacity issues in the NHS, given the spiralling number of cases now of COVID-19? I refer the health Minister to the situation in the new Grange University Hospital in south-east Wales. That is already, I believe, at capacity in terms of COVID cases, and patients are being told not to go there unless they really have to with other conditions. That's obviously causing concern, so could we just have an update on what can be done to try and alleviate the situation there?

Secondly and finally is the issue that's been raised by Jenny Rathbone and my colleague Mark Isherwood on care-experienced children, and the specific issue he raised in north Wales. It reminded me as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee of the work we did earlier in this Assembly term on care-experienced children, and we took a fair amount of evidence from young people themselves who'd been through the care system, and there were issues raised particularly around placements. I wonder, as time has passed since the first part of that inquiry, whether we could have an update from the Welsh Government on what's been done to implement the recommendations that we came forward with at that time. Thank you. Diolch.