Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services – in the Senedd at 1:52 pm on 24 March 2021.

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Photo of Rhun ap Iorwerth Rhun ap Iorwerth Plaid Cymru 1:52, 24 March 2021

(Translated)

Thank you, Llywydd. Well, in the final health and care question session in this Senedd, may I take this opportunity to thank the Minister and his officials for their collaboration over the years? We haven't always seen eye to eye, but whilst I've been very willing to support the Government when I think they've got things right over the past 12 months, I know that the Minister will understand the importance of scrutiny and will appreciate the role of an opposition party in trying to influence policy and changing direction when we need to do that. That's why, when the Minister said there was no case for a medical school for north Wales, we were determined to continue to campaign on that, and we're pleased to see the change of mind there.

To COVID now, the situation in Wales is improving, and that's positive. There are problems in Merthyr Tydfil and in my constituency, as it happens, and we need to support those areas now. There was a strong team of volunteers out in Holyhead this morning providing COVID tests, going from house to house. I was one of them, as it happens, but it's a cause of concern for me that the process is overly reliant on volunteers and places a huge strain on the staffing resources of the local authority. Would the Minister agree that we need to look at means of providing greater support to councils as they undertake tasks such as this one, because if there are interventions like this required in various communities, then I fear that that's going to be difficult to deliver?