2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 6 July 2021.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Alun Davies Alun Davies Labour 2:23, 6 July 2021

Obviously being controlled by the Government. [Laughter.] Could we have a statement on the Government's out-of-hospital cardiac arrest strategy, please? I notice that this morning the Government has made more money available to support the location of defibrillators, but that is, of course, one element of the overall strategy, and I would like to hear how the progress is being made, because Wales, when the strategy was launched back in 2017, had one of the lowest levels of survival for those suffering out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, so I think it would be useful for the Government to make a statement on that.

Could I also ask for a statement on the committee structure of this Senedd? The agreement that we've seen from Business Committee in the last few weeks seems to be reducing significantly the ability of committees to hold the Government to account, and this severely and, in my view, profoundly weakens this Parliament's ability to hold the Government to account. The Finance Committee has already written to Business Committee on this matter, but I believe it's something that all backbenchers should have the opportunity to consider and to comment upon.

The final statement I'd like is on the ICT policy that is being imposed upon us by the Commission. I asked a question last week to the Presiding Officer, and, in answer to that question, she did say that there would be a review of this policy. I think it'd be useful for all Members to understand the proposed terms of reference of this review, the timescale and nature of this review, and who will undertake this review and how decisions will be taken. Until the review reports, I do believe that this policy should now be suspended.