'We found clear and deep-seated fractures within the Executive Team',

'we have significant doubt as to whether working relationships'— this is within the executive team—'are reparable'.

There are

'significant problems with working relationships within the Executive Team'.

'The evidence presented to us points to dysfunctionality and factions within the team'.

It's within the executive team that this report points to these problems, not with the independent board members, who you forced to resign yesterday, instead of the very people who are responsible for the failures on the ground—that executive team, not one of whom have held themselves accountable and offered their resignation to you. I find that appalling, and I think it's about time that we had mechanisms in Wales to remove people like that who do not accept their responsibility for failures when things go wrong. We have a situation in north Wales where patients have died, where patients have come to harm, as a result of the failings that have taken place, and frankly, people are owed an apology. We've got problems in our vascular services, our emergency departments, our urology services, our ophthalmology services, our mental health services, and our cancer services too—people waiting too long for treatment, and the situation under the watch of various health Ministers in this Government has gotten worse, not better, during periods of targeted intervention.

'We need some new leadership'—yes, you're absolutely right we need new leadership. We need new leadership both in the health board on the executive team, and, frankly, we need a new Government, because this Government is incapable of being able to sort these problems out. I don't know why that is. And even when you triangulate the evidence that's in the Audit Wales report to other pieces of evidence, you can see that all of the fingers of blame for the problems and the culture in that organisation point to that executive team. So, can I ask you, Minister, why on earth would you get rid of the independent members who've been doing their best to try and hold to account that executive team in recent months? Why on earth would you ask them to resign and not ask for the resignations of those executives who have been collectively responsible for these failures?

I know, from the letter that was sent to the First Minister yesterday and shared with Members of the Senedd that the chair of the health board has written to you on a number of occasions, most recently in September of last year, raising concerns, escalating concerns to you, and of course to the director general of the department, who is also the chief executive, of course, of NHS Wales. He didn't even receive a response—didn't even receive a response, and this is a health board that is supposedly in targeted intervention. And it's not just his letters that you seem to not pay proper regard to. Geoff Ryall-Harvey of the North Wales Community Health Council wrote to you in August of last year, talking about the assurances on which you were basing your responses to that organisation. He said that the assurances weren't worth the paper that they were written on. But you defended the executive team that were giving those assurances to you to provide to him; you didn't acknowledge that there were serious concerns about the quality of those responses at all. It's unacceptable, Minister, and some of the blame for this has to be laid at your door. Now, can I ask—? The report, the Audit Wales report, refers to the fraud investigation. It talks about the Ernst & Young report, which was commissioned before the NHS Counter Fraud Authority came and had a look over the books because of this missing £122 million-worth of expenditure for which there was no proper records. And it says that that piece of work uncovered some serious problems in the health board organisation. In fact, the letter from the chair of the health board to the First Minister yesterday made specific reference that there was evidence of serious malpractice. I'd like to see a copy of that report. I think, from a transparency point of view, that the people of north Wales deserve to see a copy of that report too.