I suppose the first thing I should say is that I'm pleased that we do have a cancer plan, and I look forward to seeing it hopefully make a difference. We know that our survival rates aren't good enough. We know that there are people—I was speaking to one person who found out too late over this weekend that he had cancer—there are too many people not being able to access the treatment that they could have had. There are too many members of staff who want to do more who can't do more, and that's heartbreaking for them. 

And we do now have a plan, and looking forward is important. But it is important to bear in mind the delays that there have been before getting to this point today. The last two cancer plans—2012 to 2016, then 2016 to 2020—and we're almost three years on from there getting this plan. It is not good enough, and before the Minister says 'Well, COVID was the great problem from 2020 onwards' the plan for 2020 onwards should have been ready before COVID struck. What we had, of course, was the quality statement for cancer, but it was quite clear that that wasn't considered to be adequate by all bodies involved with the fight against cancer in Wales. Yes, it's taken three years to bring us to this point. 

Many of the questions that I have now reflect some of those questions raised by organisations that have been involved in drawing this up but still see some gaps in the key information. Tenovus, for example, asked for more information around performance and accountability monitoring. How will we be able to identify as to whether we are on the right track? Does the plan deliver what it's supposed to deliver? I wonder if the Minister could tell us more about that issue.

Then, the workforce. The nature of the questions has changed slightly during the day, because, in less than the last two hours, we've had the workforce plan that we were promised by the end of January. Some five hours and 40 minutes of January remain. This isn’t the way we should be working. We should be in a position where we would have a statement to the Senedd on the workforce plan. I will take this opportunity to ask questions on the workforce because this statement’s been given, but I am not, and I’m sure those involved in the fight against cancer aren’t happy that things have been done in this way.

I’ve had a brief opportunity to take a look at the new workforce plan. I was concerned this morning with the BBC reporting comments from the Minister in the context of the fact that the cancer workforce was tired, and there are too many vacancies, and what the BBC said was that the Minister was saying that the health boards had the money and it was up to them to prioritise. Well, that doesn’t represent a workforce plan, I’m afraid. But we now do have a workforce plan, and it does state that responding to challenges set out in the cancer plan is one of the priorities for the new workforce plan—but I can’t see what the plan is for strengthening the cancer workforce. There is mention of timetables for different elements of strengthening the workforce. I can’t see a specific reference to the cancer workforce in that timetable. Perhaps the Minister could elucidate how exactly the plan published today will help in implementing the cancer plan, because without the workforce we have no means of improving survival rates, we have no means of taking pressure off our existing workforce. So I will look forward to a response on that.

And I’ll ask, if I may, one question on a major part of our cancer landscape, namely Velindre. I’ve been aware over recent weeks that more and more people, as I have done in the past, have suggested strongly that the co-location of cancer services with other emergency services is what makes sense, rather than developing them as discrete cancer centres. Has the Minister had an opportunity to consider the most recent comments by those who are very prominent in the cancer field and who are still suggesting that the wrong decision has been made? We want the best possible cancer services, but we don’t want decisions being made that we may regret in years to come.