I'm grateful for the opportunity to contribute to today's debate, and I thank Plaid Cymru for tabling it. Like other speakers, I wish to start my contribution by paying tribute to all those front-line workers within our NHS. They have led us in the fight against coronavirus, from treating people in hospitals to administering vaccines as part of the UK's world-leading vaccination effort.

I want to take the opportunity to specifically look at nursing conditions in my local health board, Hywel Dda. Figures from the Royal College of Nursing showed that the number of nursing vacancies in my health board—in our health board, Minister—increased from 408 full-time-equivalent positions in May 2021 to 539.2 full-time-equivalent positions in July of this year. This is leading to a much heavier reliance on agency staff, which is reflected in staggering spending, highlighted by further figures obtained by the RCN. Over the course of the 2021-22 financial year, spend on agency nurses for the health board was between £28.9 million and £34.3 million. Why can't I give an accurate spend? Because the figures provided by the health board, via a freedom of information request, were £5.4 million lower than the figures obtained by another absolutely identical FOI request sent to the Welsh Government. How on earth can such a vast discrepancy in accounting exists between Welsh Government and health board figures? And while this discrepancy is deeply troubling, we should not let it deflect away from the sheer amount of money that this health board is spending over the course of a year on agency nursing—money that, with better management and, most importantly, better guidance from the top, could be spent on retaining nurses and paying them a higher salary.

But this debate today is not just about the remuneration that nurses receive, but also about the respect that the Welsh Government shows to them. You've not met with the RCN to discuss the pay dispute. Both the Westminster and Scottish health Ministers have. And having listened to the Minister's response to the Petition's Committee report on safe staffing levels on 28 September, I know she will stand in response to this debate and point the finger at the Westminster Government. But can I ask the Minister, with genuine seriousness, to pause and reflect on her current strategy of deflection? Is it really the best course of action to treat our nursing workforce, a workforce of intelligent, articulate and determined people, with a lack of respect by trying to pull the wool over their eyes? It is the Welsh Government that has been in charge of the NHS in Wales for over 23 years now—a period of time where the Welsh Labour Party have always had their hands on the levers of power. I know this, the Minister knows this and, most importantly, the nurses know this.

Minister, none of us want to see our nurses strike. As a Welsh Conservative, industrial action is something that does not sit comfortably with me. In recent months, I have visited Glangwili General Hospital and had frank conversations with nurses. From these conversations and following discussions with the RCN, I can see why they are so frustrated. So, I beg you, Minister, I plead with you, to sit down around the table with the RCN to specifically talk about pay and the strike action. Deflecting your responsibility as health Minister, when after the pandemic the understanding of where health decisions are made in Wales is at an all-time high, does a disservice to the workforce who so valiantly serve us. My constituents deserve better. Our nurses in Wales deserve better. Please, Minister, take responsibility for your Government's actions. Establish a constructive way forward to avert industrial action, and recognise the contribution that our nurses make in Wales. Diolch.