Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 22 November 2022.
Diolch, Llywydd. The Royal College of Nursing has paused the formal announcement of strike action in Scotland, because the Scottish Government has reopened pay negotiations. Why are you, so far, refusing to do the same? Last week, the First Minister suggested it would be wrong to talk to the RCN while other unions are also balloting, so can we expect that, when the ballot results for those five other health unions are announced in the next two weeks, you will reopen negotiations then? The First Minister asked us in Plaid Cymru where the money could come from for an enhanced pay offer this year. Well, can I suggest two potential sources? One is the current spending that is unallocated, and the latest published figure for that, in June, was £152 million; the other is the reserve, which stood at £92 million. Can you perhaps update us on where those figures are now, and why they can't be used as a source of funding for a revised pay offer?