Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:58 pm on 10 January 2023.

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Photo of Adam Price Adam Price Plaid Cymru 1:58, 10 January 2023

But the pay review process has led to a decade-long, real-terms cut in the wages of our NHS staff. So, the system is broken, and I make no apology for holding the Government to account and asking them to state what are your broad democratic principles. And we are here being the voice of NHS staff. We've been on the picket lines talking to them. We're making the points that they've asked us to share with you.

It's good to see that you are prepared to address, at long last, the massive increase in the use of private sector agency staff in delivering NHS services. Does this mean that you distance yourself from the position of the Labour Party in England, which is calling for the greater use of the private sector in the NHS—privatisation by proxy, essentially? Are you, as a Government, prepared to recommit to the principle you espoused 16 years ago, which was to completely phase out the use of the private sector in the NHS? Or is that promise to go the same way as Keir Starmer's 2020 leadership pledge, which was to end outsourcing in the NHS?