I'm pleased to see this motion before us here today. I'm going to be referring to a couple of points that have been made already. At least 8,000 people in Wales have a chronic HCV infection. Untreated, of course, it can cause very serious illness—cirrhosis of the liver, liver cancer, and other health problems. I know, having spoken to constituents, about the impact that it can have on people's everyday lives. In the words of one constituent, who had HCV through infected blood in the 1970s, 'I never have a good day, just bad days or some very bad days.' 

By now, of course, it's possible to treat hepatitis C, get better and prevent it in the first place, and, vitally, we can eliminate hepatitis C entirely. But even though eliminating it is possible, and Wales in the past has taken great strides towards elimination by 2030, the truth is that we are backsliding and we are not on the right path at present to hit the target. Wales is the only country in the UK not to have a target of eliminating HCV before that 2030 target that has been set by the WHO. England and Northern Ireland have set an ambitious target for elimination by 2025, the SNP Government in Scotland set an even more ambitious target of 2020.

You'll hear the Government here in Wales saying that COVID has had a great impact, and of course I don't doubt that, but even before the pandemic, the health committee stated concerns that we were not on the right path to hit even the 2030 target. There is very good work being done. I am very grateful to those within the health system and charities for the great strides they have ensured are happening already, but we need further action, broader action by the Welsh Government.

First of all, the Government should allocate specific budgets—a specific budget for hepatitis C. That would give the certainty that's needed to health boards to be able to invest in accordance with the process of eradicating the illness by that date. Secondly, we need to ensure that savings—which we've seen recently in the cost of treatment, because of changes to procurement systems and centralised systems—are reinvested to detect hepatitis C patients who are undiagnosed. Third, with very high rates of HCV among drug users who inject, we need specific financial support in that area to offer more testing, for example. I'd like to hear the response of the Government and the Minister to those three points.

I have a couple of other comments, and two questions. Some of the strategies that will help us to eradicate HIV and the work that's been done in that area, which is something that's had attention recently, can be very useful as we try to hit the eradication target for hepatitis C. Is the Government ensuring that those two campaigns are working hand in hand to avoid any duplication?

And finally, shifting focus a little bit, as the chair of the CPG on infected blood, this week the inquiry into infected blood heard evidence from Sir Robert Francis about the compensation scheme for victims and families of victims. I'd like to hear about any discussions that the Governments has had with the UK Government on that.