Thank you very much, Deputy Llywydd, and I'm very pleased to have an opportunity to contribute to this important debate and to formally move our amendment. In terms of the main motion, we will support the motion today, of course. As well as being a statement of very real concern about the state of health services in general after two years of pandemic, there are elements of the motion that I have certainly been emphasising over a period of years: how inadequate the cancer quality statement is as a way of driving improvements to cancer services, and the need to invest in the cancer workforce to support patients through their treatment, and so on and so forth.

But there are two things that I want to cover in the next few minutes. First of all, our amendment and the need to complete that work, as a matter of urgency, of establishing multidisciplinary diagnostic centres across Wales in order to ensure that that infrastructure is in place in order to diagnose and treat cancer as swiftly as possible. We can't overemphasise the need for swift diagnosis and the benefits that come from that, and of course the pandemic that we have lived through has created a broader crisis, possibly. According to the statistics, some 1,700 fewer people than we would have expected have started cancer treatment in Wales between April 2020 and March 2021.

Wales was the first nation—and we can take pride in that fact—the first nation in the UK to trial these diagnostic centres. There are some in existence, others are in the pipeline, and there are two other areas—Powys and Cardiff and Vale—where there are no plans in place. I would appreciate an update from the Minister this afternoon on the work to ensure that those centres will be available to serve the whole of the Welsh population. There is no room for any sort of postcode lottery when it comes to cancer services, and that is the emphasis of our amendment today.

The second element that I want to mention—and it is referred to twice in the original motion—is the very clear absence of a national cancer plan or a national cancer strategy that could ensure that the Welsh Government could build the kinds of cancer services that we need here in Wales. We should bear in mind that we are facing huge challenges here in Wales. Some 20,000 people are diagnosed with cancer in Wales on an annual basis, possibly 170,000 people living with cancer, and the level of health inequalities and social inequalities—things that we have discussed very recently in this Chamber—mean that the survival rates for certain kinds of cancer are worse in Wales than in the rest of these isles, and across Europe.

And in England, Scotland, and in Northern Ireland very soon, there are cancer plans, cancer strategies in place that set clear targets and give a clear focus to the development and support of services. So, in Wales, we have a collection of plans and frameworks, and it's simply not good enough. If we are serious about tackling cancer, then we need a strategy. What we got from the Welsh Government in March of last year, once the cancer delivery plan came to an end a few months before that, was a cancer quality statement. Not a plan or a strategy to improve diagnosis, treatment and research in Wales, but something that doesn't have that detail that we need, doesn't provide the accountability that we need, or the action plans, or the objectives, or the timetable that we need, and which doesn't have the vision that we needed, never mind the vision that's needed now to restore services post pandemic. 

Deputy Presiding Officer, just a quick word from me on the Government's amendment. We will be voting against that amendment. It does nothing to provide solutions to the crisis that we're facing in Wales; it's a list of what the Government says they've done. And, although they're just asking us to note that list, how can we support it when all it is is a list of things that actually fail to get to grips with the task of putting a proper strategy in place? I am sure that the Minister wants our cancer services to be as good as they can be. Of course, we all want to see that, but I'm afraid that we won't see that without a robust strategy in place. So, I would ask her again today to listen to the over 20 charities and organisations that are part of the Wales Cancer Alliance that are encouraging the Welsh Government strongly to formulate a comprehensive cancer strategy for Wales.