UK COVID-19 Inquiry

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:41 pm on 28 March 2023.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:41, 28 March 2023

Well, Llywydd, I certainly agree about the importance of digital investment in the health service, and, here in Wales, we have a national digital service, there for many years. I don't accept what the Member said in one of his throwaway remarks about Wales 'lagging behind'. In fact, we have shown the way in Wales as to how a genuinely national service can tackle some of the very real issues there are in other parts of the United Kingdom, where the service has been atomised, where there is no national approach and where there are real vulnerabilities as a result. I wish we had more money to invest in this area, Llywydd, of course I do, but, as Joel James will know, in the second year of the spring statement period, we have £1 million for every capital need that we have in Wales. We invest, I think, significantly and in a sustained way in making sure that those digital opportunities that Natasha Asghar mentioned are made available here in Wales. If we had more opportunities, through a proper capital settlement, then we would be able to do more in that field as in many others.