Thank you very much. I've worked all my life with nurses, and it is right that we recognise the contribution of all our healthcare workers across the NHS and social care. We know that the past 18 months have been the most challenging. Like so many others in our public services, those on the front line of care have witnessed the human tragedy of the pandemic. The NHS pay review body report, published in July, is an exceptionally detailed report relying on a significant body of evidence, submissions and analysis. The document contains a range of points made by Welsh Ministers, and noted that a decision as to whether or not any additional money required would come from existing budgets in due course. 

We all recognise that Welsh Ministers now adding any further uplift in staff pay would need to find that money from existing budgets, and, in their evidence to the review, the Welsh Government said that, the higher the pay award, the more difficult the choices would be on how to find it and other priority ambitions for the Welsh NHS. I am pleased that the UK Conservative Government has not only provided £8.6 billion to Wales in the effort to fight coronavirus, on top of more than £2.1 billion for the 2021-22 financial year, but has announced it will also be investing an extra £1.9 billion into the Welsh NHS over the next three years. In my view, if the Welsh Government wants to pay for further increases, then it can hardly say that it is short of money. I acknowledge how difficult this is for many staff who believe that their contribution should be rewarded.

Deputy Presiding Officer, I feel the same for our social care staff too. In the pandemic, the media and the political narrative largely overlooked the work of those caring for many older people whose lives were coming to an end because of COVID-19, experiencing the trauma in the residential and nursing home sector, where residents were dying at a faster rate, and where those staff members became surrogate family members in those final hours, comforting them at the end. The pandemic exposed how poorly we have recognised the contribution of our social care staff. We must put this right. And whilst I welcome the proposals to address pay as a part of new commissioning arrangements for the social care services, we need to be robust in driving more money towards supporting this crucial part of our health and care sector. Thank you very much.