Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:51 pm on 31 January 2023.
Thank you. As you know, the Minister for Health and Social Services continues to engage with trade unions. I know that her officials have met with the trade unions today and I think they're planning to meet again next week. We want to keep our door open; we want to continue to have discussions to, obviously, support our NHS staff. As you said, the Minister now is looking to the next year, because in the process, you have to do that. But, I think what is really important is that, unlike England, we have kept that engagement with our trade unions to ensure that they do feel listened to.
Also, I should just say that across the Welsh Government, every Minister is looking at what more funding we can bring forward—we're looking at our underspends and we're looking at our reserves—to try to put more money into that pot of money that we want to give not just to our NHS staff, but to our teachers and public service workers. If that happens, we won't be able to do other things. So, I don't want to underestimate the work that we are doing, as a Welsh Government, to try to bring a resolution to this.