Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 28 February 2023.
Well, I don't think, myself, Llywydd, that it could have come as a shock to anybody who was reasonably well-informed about the operation of the board. I'm looking now at the letter sent by Janet Finch-Saunders, a member of the leader of the opposition's own group, to the Minister in which she called for the entire removal of the board, including independent members who are found to be unable to deliver what is required by internal interventions. If it was apparent to a local Conservative Member that independent members needed to be removed, I find it difficult to imagine that it was shocking news to anybody else in the north of Wales. What the Minister did was to make an assessment of what the auditor general had said, plus other sources of information that concluded that the fractured relationships within the board were clear, ongoing, deep-seated and intractable and that working relations could not be repaired. That is the basis on which the Minister made her decision.