Can I thank you, Minister, for your statement this afternoon? You are in a very difficult position; that's something I would accept. And I appreciate how tough these negotiations are for you, Minister; it's not easy at all. And it is regrettable, as you will agree as well—and as the RCN will agree—it is regrettable that we've got a further announcement of strike action in February. 

You mention in your statement, Minister, ways in which we can work together to restore confidence in the pay review body process. So, can I ask you for your assessment of that? What is your assessment of the pay review body process, please?

You also mentioned payments—the one-off payments—and I appreciate that you said you worked across Government to look where you could find that additional funding. But that won't do anything, I would suggest, to stabilise the workforce, or attract people into the profession, which is a large part of the issues that we're talking about. Or do you think I'm wrong in making that assessment?

You said in your statement, Minister, this afternoon, that,

'Unlike the UK Government, we are not responding to the strikes by bringing forward new, draconian laws that would trample over the devolution settlement and restrict workers' rights further.'

Now, in your oral statement last week, you stated that the impact on capacity as a result of recent industrial action has placed additional pressures on our system. So, you must therefore agree with the International Labour Organization, which the TUC subscribes to, that minimum service levels are a proportionate way of balancing the right to strike with the need to maintain vital services, such as health services.

Minister, the other issue, of course, is taking the pressure off our Welsh NHS, and we've seen how successful surgical hubs are in England. Where they've been introduced, we've seen the two-year wait virtually being eliminated in England, yet, in Wales, we've still got tens of thousands of people waiting for over two years for treatment. Now, I think that, last week, you almost lost your temper with me, Minister, saying, 'Look, you keep banging on about surgical hubs; well, we've got them, they exist.' But the reason I'm asking is because that's your response yourself—you've been saying that for some months to me—'They exist, they exist.' But in freedom of information requests, in a written response to Andrew R.T. Davies at the end of November, just less than eight weeks ago, you responded to him,

'At present, there are no dedicated surgical hubs across Wales.'

So, this is why I keep raising this with you, Minister, because we do get different answers on that point.

And my final question to you, Minister, is, quite simply: do you think you will resolve the pay dispute any time soon?