The culture of resistance to scrutiny, to change and challenge led, of course, to Betsi's hierarchy refusing to release this report, despite, even, the requests of the information commissioner. Grieving relatives had to wait unnecessarily due to a bureaucracy that didn't put people first—it put its own interests and its own reputation first, and, of course, in doing so, tarnished that reputation even further. And it's not just grieving relatives of victims at Hergest, of course—think of the Tawel Fan scandal and the many, many families affected there. The alarm was raised in Hergest, and had it been heeded across the health board with the timely publication of the Holden report, then we might not have had Tawel Fan. 

Now, I'm heartened by the acceptance at the very top of Betsi Cadwaladr health board in recent months that things must change—that's a very positive step and, of course, it's to be welcomed. But I'm not naïve. We've been here before; we've had these false dawns in the past—promises made to learn lessons and to be more open. But Betsi Cadwaladr can't afford to make any more promises and not deliver. So, the proof will be in the pudding, because we all accept that running the largest health board in Wales with such challenging demographics is difficult, and mental health care particularly is an ongoing challenge across all health boards, as we heard earlier, and I'm afraid that those challenges are, of course, only increasing.

I can't accept the amendment proposed by the Government. This Government has a direct responsibility for the failings at Betsi Cadwaladr due to the time it spent, as we heard, in special measures. It would be better for the Government to reflect on its complicity in the problems that blighted the health board during the past decade. Where was the leadership from Government when it was under its direct control? Why didn't you get rid of that cover-up culture and drag the health board out of this mess? So, we now move forward and we need far more transparency and accountability from those charged with running our public services.

Now, I want to touch on children and adolescent mental health services particularly. We know of the completely unacceptable backlogs in dealing with acute cases of child mental illnesses and I know that the Deputy Minister is painfully aware of that, and they are problems that have had traumatic impacts on youngsters, their families and the wider community. And the pandemic, as we know, has intensified these issues, so we have to look at intensifying the support as well. And that's why I am glad that the Plaid Cymru co-operation agreement with the Government commits to looking at how we can test community facilities, involving the third sector particularly, to try and develop the clear referral pathways into NHS services that can help support young people in crisis, or those with urgent mental health or emotional well-being issues.

The failings at Hergest should never have happened, and, of course, the whole farce around the initial non-full publication of the Holden report should certainly never have happened. So, let's hope now that Betsi Cadwaladr health board has finally learned its lesson and will finally start getting to grips with the serious failings in mental health services in north Wales. Now, that would at least be a belated but a positive and hopefully lasting legacy for all those who were so tragically failed.