Browse content similar to 21/01/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon. Welcome to the programme, and our | :00:30. | :00:32. | |
weekly coverage of questions to the First Minister. There was never any | :00:33. | :00:36. | |
doubt that Carwyn Jones would face questions on the proposals for local | :00:37. | :00:38. | |
government re-organisation and, in fact, that's the very first topic on | :00:39. | :00:43. | |
the order paper. He can also expect to be quizzed on energy pricing, the | :00:44. | :00:47. | |
NHS and the state of the economy on Welsh high streets. So that's what | :00:48. | :00:54. | |
we expect AMs to be talking about, but is there anything you want to | :00:55. | :00:57. | |
talk about? If you want to comment on the programme or any other | :00:58. | :01:01. | |
political news then please get in touch. You can reach us via Twitter, | :01:02. | :01:04. | |
we're @walespolitics, or send us an email to [email protected]. Well, | :01:05. | :01:14. | |
business in the chamber is already underway so let's go over to the | :01:15. | :01:17. | |
Senedd for today's questions to the First Minister. National Assembly | :01:18. | :01:39. | |
for Wales is now in session. Question one Llyr Gruffydd. | :01:40. | :02:40. | |
You may be aware that the... Hadera spawned from their evidence to that | :02:41. | :02:50. | |
inquiry on the heart of North Wales councils that working across organ | :02:51. | :02:52. | |
sedation and geographic boundaries can bring complexity and bring | :02:53. | :02:59. | |
confusion and we can accountability? It is said you are | :03:00. | :03:05. | |
hundreds of different cost curves all bathing differently. The member | :03:06. | :03:14. | |
makes the case for reorganisation. By seeing the evidence is not there | :03:15. | :03:23. | |
or it is too complicated. It also identifies the problems due to a | :03:24. | :03:30. | |
lack of collaboration which has not taken place between many local | :03:31. | :03:31. | |
authorities in Wales. ministers? We have raised our | :03:32. | :05:21. | |
concerns. The cost of energy is too high and we remain concerned about | :05:22. | :05:24. | |
the ability of the UK to remain competitive with energy costs as | :05:25. | :05:33. | |
they are. Thank you for that answer. Lastly, the foundation companies | :05:34. | :05:36. | |
wrote to the UK Government asking for a level playing field. If | :05:37. | :05:48. | |
companies can compete on the global market. These companies bring huge | :05:49. | :05:53. | |
investment into Wales. Do you agree that the UK Government has failed | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
those companies and their employees by failing to tackle energy costs | :05:58. | :06:04. | |
and will you raise with the Prime Minister of those issues so he can | :06:05. | :06:07. | |
change his approach to funding and energy prices? Have raised the issue | :06:08. | :06:16. | |
with Vince Cable. It is an issue which is of crucial importance to | :06:17. | :06:19. | |
those industries which are important to the Welsh industry which are high | :06:20. | :06:27. | |
energy users. They have taken steps to reduce heavily the amount of | :06:28. | :06:34. | |
energy they use. I would urge the UK Government to address this position | :06:35. | :06:39. | |
as quickly as possible. In order to secure the future of our | :06:40. | :06:41. | |
manufacturing industries. Russell George. One way to mitigate higher | :06:42. | :06:47. | |
energy prices for the future is to improve the energy performance of | :06:48. | :06:51. | |
new and existing buildings, both domestic and nondomestic. Why is the | :06:52. | :06:58. | |
Government significantly reducing its regulation targets for | :06:59. | :06:59. | |
greenhouse gas emissions, which could go a long way to lowering | :07:00. | :07:06. | |
energy prices? That is to assist the construction industry. I welcome | :07:07. | :07:10. | |
that, actually. To help the construction industry to improve its | :07:11. | :07:17. | |
performance over the next two years. The Minister made it absolutely | :07:18. | :07:20. | |
clear that he wanted to make sure targets were reached within a | :07:21. | :07:23. | |
reasonable time but they were not introduced so quickly as to stymie | :07:24. | :07:28. | |
the recovery of the construction industry. Alun Ffred Jones. | :07:29. | :08:01. | |
It wouldn't be possible to subsidise any company. We would have to find | :08:02. | :08:09. | |
some means of funding the company. Which goes against it. It wouldn't | :08:10. | :08:17. | |
be possible to establish any company that would work in any way that | :08:18. | :08:24. | |
wasn't competitive. If you want a competitive market then it is | :08:25. | :08:28. | |
important that all companies are competing on a fair basis, which, of | :08:29. | :08:34. | |
course, that is another matter. You would have to have a company to | :08:35. | :08:40. | |
build their own and not work in a way which is contrary to European | :08:41. | :08:48. | |
regulations. We have a leader of the opposition. First Minister, you said | :08:49. | :08:56. | |
recently you were confident that the Welsh Ambulance Service or NHS Trust | :08:57. | :09:00. | |
has the resources it needs. You are aware of the tragic incident of the | :09:01. | :09:07. | |
death of Mr Fred Pring who died after waiting 42 minutes for an | :09:08. | :09:10. | |
ambulance. The reason, because there were no Ann Jones is available to | :09:11. | :09:14. | |
attend. We were told that the situation was that there were six | :09:15. | :09:19. | |
vehicles waiting in Wrexham and three more. If an ambulance had been | :09:20. | :09:27. | |
available, the optimised suspects for his survival would have been | :09:28. | :09:31. | |
greatly increased. When you hear of these events, do you believe the | :09:32. | :09:37. | |
Welsh Ambulance Service has the resources it requires to actually | :09:38. | :09:43. | |
stop events like this happening? First of all, could I express my | :09:44. | :09:46. | |
condolences to the family of Mr Fred Pring? It is right to say that the | :09:47. | :09:53. | |
coroner did not say he would have lived had an ambulance arrived. It | :09:54. | :09:57. | |
is right to say he would have had a better chance. That much is true. | :09:58. | :10:06. | |
That said, of course, this was not a typical event in the history of the | :10:07. | :10:12. | |
Welsh Ambulance Service nor is it typical of their performance over | :10:13. | :10:15. | |
the last year. But it is important we continue to improve as they have | :10:16. | :10:19. | |
done in order to minimise events such as this are carrying in future. | :10:20. | :10:26. | |
I asked you did do Ambulance Service have the resources it requires to | :10:27. | :10:29. | |
try to stop events like this quest Dominic. Your own District General | :10:30. | :10:37. | |
Hospital had, I'm told, ill Ann Jones waiting outside -- LF in | :10:38. | :10:49. | |
ambulances. That potentially could have affected the outcome of the | :10:50. | :10:54. | |
patients ability to survive the incident they were presented for at | :10:55. | :10:59. | |
the hospital. I ask you again, given that I have cited two examples in | :11:00. | :11:05. | |
very recent weeks, does the Welsh Ambulance Service have the resources | :11:06. | :11:11. | |
to help mitigate and stop these types of events happening at our | :11:12. | :11:19. | |
district general hospitals? Yes. Could I just pointed to one aspect | :11:20. | :11:23. | |
which affects ambulance response times? That is the time it takes to | :11:24. | :11:31. | |
get through A It can become overloaded from time to time and | :11:32. | :11:35. | |
that delays ambulances. The answer is to get more people through A | :11:36. | :11:42. | |
That is why we are so keen to ensure that we have a structure for the NHS | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
that enables that to happen. This is not just about ambulance resources, | :11:48. | :11:50. | |
it is about ensuring hospitals can admit agents as quickly as possible. | :11:51. | :11:56. | |
That is why there have been proposals to look at the structure | :11:57. | :12:01. | |
of A That is where we will disagree. I do not believe by | :12:02. | :12:07. | |
shutting A departments you will help. One of the key problems of | :12:08. | :12:13. | |
people progressing through A is to be taken through to the hospital | :12:14. | :12:18. | |
environment and the loss of beds is one of the big obstacles for people | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
to build a pass-through and ambulances being able to discharge | :12:25. | :12:29. | |
patients into A We have the worst waiting times in the UK, | :12:30. | :12:34. | |
regrettably. What key actions will you undertake to see that there is | :12:35. | :12:40. | |
improvement? I would suggest immediate in pregnant in our A | :12:41. | :12:46. | |
times so the events I have outlined previously can cease to be an | :12:47. | :12:53. | |
occurrence within the Welsh NHS and patients and families will not go | :12:54. | :12:55. | |
through that, those individual families have gone through | :12:56. | :13:01. | |
recently. I disagree that we have the worst times. In Belfast, they | :13:02. | :13:13. | |
have bad times there. But what can we do to increase throughput? The | :13:14. | :13:19. | |
extra resources we have put into the NHS, ?570 million will assist in | :13:20. | :13:25. | |
that. People also need to go to the right A in terms of the condition | :13:26. | :13:28. | |
may have. That means making sure that people go to the right AMD Mac | :13:29. | :13:40. | |
-- A in the first place. The organisation is being taken forward | :13:41. | :13:43. | |
across Wales. But also there is a responsibility of all of | :13:44. | :13:48. | |
individuals. Many people go when they don't need to. Speaking to | :13:49. | :13:56. | |
consultants on my own hospital, it accounts for between one third and | :13:57. | :13:59. | |
one half of cases they see are people who shouldn't be there in the | :14:00. | :14:02. | |
first post. Because they have been to a GP and they have said there is | :14:03. | :14:07. | |
nothing wrong so they go to A People need to accept a level of | :14:08. | :14:14. | |
discipline. I don't see the point in telling people... In order to | :14:15. | :14:22. | |
minimise the tragic occurrences which have happened in the past | :14:23. | :14:27. | |
year, it is important that resources are there. First Minister, the | :14:28. | :14:36. | |
Williams commission report has helped to showing a very concerning | :14:37. | :14:39. | |
light on public services in this country. The commission confirmed | :14:40. | :14:44. | |
that public service performance in places is poor and patchy and too | :14:45. | :14:50. | |
complex and lacking in ambition. Do you accept this verdict? It talks a | :14:51. | :14:59. | |
little about the Government. It is concerned mainly with local | :15:00. | :15:01. | |
government and other public services. The reality is, if you | :15:02. | :15:07. | |
look at the report, it talks about situations where some public service | :15:08. | :15:13. | |
bodies see regulation and inspection as a burden or something to be | :15:14. | :15:18. | |
resisted. The reality is it is about services and the public. You are in | :15:19. | :15:33. | |
charge of public services in Wales and what can be said about local | :15:34. | :15:38. | |
Government can be applied to our National Health Service. There are | :15:39. | :15:43. | |
many people affected by poor public services. We have just heard about a | :15:44. | :15:49. | |
patient who laid for 40 minutes waiting for an ambulance while his | :15:50. | :15:53. | |
wife watched him die. Surely you would agree that this is something | :15:54. | :15:59. | |
that should never ever happen in our country. I agree with that but in | :16:00. | :16:03. | |
relation to the Williams commission, I will remind her that | :16:04. | :16:08. | |
her party did not come forward for the idea of a commission like this, | :16:09. | :16:20. | |
and I do await now what hope he will be on the Williams commission. I | :16:21. | :16:33. | |
reiterate the point... There needs to be a level of cross party | :16:34. | :16:39. | |
support. I want to talk to the other leaders to establish how much of | :16:40. | :16:43. | |
that is possible. This is a major change to local Government and I | :16:44. | :16:49. | |
would like to see this done on a basis of cross-party agreement. I am | :16:50. | :16:55. | |
interested in reaching a consensus with you but I would content you are | :16:56. | :17:00. | |
not starting the process in the correct manner. This morning, a | :17:01. | :17:16. | |
woman there was clearly a capacity issue. Rather than centralised and | :17:17. | :17:22. | |
cut services further which would put pressures on ambulances and A | :17:23. | :17:33. | |
departments, why don't you back our proposals to increase doctor | :17:34. | :17:39. | |
recruitment? I would be in a better position to support you if the | :17:40. | :17:44. | |
doctors themselves supported you. They do not. If you look at what | :17:45. | :17:48. | |
doctors are saying, the vast majority of them says there needs to | :17:49. | :17:54. | |
be change and yet you keep on opposing change. They will say to | :17:55. | :17:58. | |
you, doctors will say to you that the difficulty is throughput of | :17:59. | :18:03. | |
patience, you cannot create a situation where there are more | :18:04. | :18:09. | |
coming through the hospital unless you have a service that is more | :18:10. | :18:14. | |
centralised. Unless you are prepared to ignore the advice of doctors, | :18:15. | :18:21. | |
then you cannot create a Shangri-La situation that you want. We want a | :18:22. | :18:25. | |
sustainable help service based on the guidance that doctors themselves | :18:26. | :18:31. | |
give. You want to ignore that. Where doctors say a service is unsafe, you | :18:32. | :18:35. | |
want to ignore that. That is not sustainable. I look forward to | :18:36. | :18:43. | |
working with Plaid Cymru and other parties with a view on getting a | :18:44. | :18:47. | |
consensus on the way public services are delivered in Wales. Kirsty | :18:48. | :18:57. | |
Williams. First Minister, in your programme for Government, which you | :18:58. | :19:02. | |
are very fond of referring to, you list a whole series of targets that | :19:03. | :19:07. | |
you will use to measure NHS performance. On Sunday, you said it | :19:08. | :19:13. | |
is difficult to see what the justification is for them and that | :19:14. | :19:17. | |
there was no logic for them. If there is no logic to them, what were | :19:18. | :19:22. | |
you doing including them in your programme for Government less than | :19:23. | :19:27. | |
three years ago? Because they exist. If you look at the clinical | :19:28. | :19:31. | |
reasoning for the targets, that much is true. When I went around | :19:32. | :19:38. | |
hospitals in the summer, doctors said, if you have targets with | :19:39. | :19:42. | |
regard to A, we have people who come here, have spent 13 hours in a | :19:43. | :19:49. | |
end E but the alternative is to keep them in hospital for longer. I am | :19:50. | :19:55. | |
aware that revisiting the targets without reaching some of them... | :19:56. | :20:05. | |
What I said was I would like to see us reach some of those targets and | :20:06. | :20:10. | |
then consider whether they need to be changed. Let's look at one | :20:11. | :20:14. | |
target. You promised that you would improve access and patient | :20:15. | :20:19. | |
experience by ensuring rapid investigations and treatment. Our | :20:20. | :20:27. | |
work waits for scams, endoscopy is no longer important or is it the | :20:28. | :20:32. | |
fact the number of people waiting eight weeks for diagnostic services | :20:33. | :20:36. | |
has trebled in the last two years? Is that one you are planning to meet | :20:37. | :20:43. | |
or ditch? There have been challenges. We are confident the | :20:44. | :20:49. | |
extra resources going into the NHS will help to meet those challenges. | :20:50. | :20:54. | |
It is not just that target. You do not routinely meet your ambulance | :20:55. | :21:01. | |
response time targets, A targets and the number of people waiting | :21:02. | :21:05. | |
more than nine months for treatment, that has hit a new time high. If you | :21:06. | :21:11. | |
are saying those things are not important any more in our NHS, how | :21:12. | :21:16. | |
are you going to measure your Government 's performance in running | :21:17. | :21:21. | |
the health service and which one of those are you planning to meet and | :21:22. | :21:25. | |
which ones are you planning to ditch? We plan to meet them all. | :21:26. | :21:31. | |
This is not a situation you need to Wales. England misses its target as | :21:32. | :21:39. | |
war. The reality is, when it comes to cancer treatment times, the | :21:40. | :21:43. | |
situation is the same in Wales as it is in England. That is not to say | :21:44. | :21:53. | |
there cannot be improvement. These figures are important. That is why | :21:54. | :22:00. | |
the health minister has outlined how he intends to see the health service | :22:01. | :22:04. | |
improves in terms of the resources he puts in but there cannot be | :22:05. | :22:09. | |
improvement without structural change. One cannot run without the | :22:10. | :22:17. | |
other and for those parties who oppose all or any change in the NHS, | :22:18. | :22:23. | |
despite an occasions independent panels of doctors saying there has | :22:24. | :22:28. | |
to be change, I have to say that to them the NHS will not improve as | :22:29. | :22:31. | |
long as those parties hold those positions. Can the Minister make a | :22:32. | :22:42. | |
statement on his priorities for the NHS in 2014? We continue to improve | :22:43. | :22:49. | |
the quality, sustainability of the NHS. Do you agree there is a crisis | :22:50. | :22:53. | |
developing deepening in the Welsh NHS, particularly our round other | :22:54. | :23:00. | |
emergency care. In December, people were told not to attend Morrisons | :23:01. | :23:09. | |
A Department. Unless there was absolutely necessary. In January, | :23:10. | :23:16. | |
another hospital had to cancel operations because of pressures on | :23:17. | :23:23. | |
beds. Wrexham was described as being log jammed. And we have heard about | :23:24. | :23:28. | |
cancellations of operations in North Wales. Would you agree that your | :23:29. | :23:33. | |
record-breaking NHS budget cuts are not helping the situation that you | :23:34. | :23:39. | |
are cutting the NHS budget too far, too fast to coin a phrase, and is it | :23:40. | :23:44. | |
now a matter of regret for you that you do not have a national | :23:45. | :23:49. | |
comprehensive winter NHS plan, unlike the UK Government, and what | :23:50. | :23:52. | |
action are you taking to sort this out? He talks about a winter plan, | :23:53. | :24:00. | |
there is a winter planned that is working. A and E figures are worse | :24:01. | :24:11. | |
than ever in England! The reality is that he stands up in this chamber | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
and he says, that where a advice is given to people, that they should | :24:18. | :24:24. | |
not attend A departments and less in an emergency, his advice is | :24:25. | :24:31. | |
wrong. People should not be going to A unless there are genuine | :24:32. | :24:48. | |
emergencies. The reality is it is quite right people should not attend | :24:49. | :24:55. | |
A unless it is in an emergency. We have put extra resources into the | :24:56. | :24:59. | |
NHS. This compares to his party which has cut the NHS in England by | :25:00. | :25:07. | |
?20 billion. They call those cuts efficiencies. Because if you call | :25:08. | :25:15. | |
them efficiencies, they are not cuts. We see departments struggling | :25:16. | :25:20. | |
in England. In Wales we approach this with honesty. We have put more | :25:21. | :25:26. | |
re-sources in and we have an NHS that properly benefits the people of | :25:27. | :25:31. | |
Wales not one that is hampered by the cuts in London. First Minister, | :25:32. | :25:42. | |
one of the reasons that ambulances queue outside A is often there is | :25:43. | :25:49. | |
a lack of beds on the wards and that is because beds are blocked as there | :25:50. | :25:52. | |
is a lock of provision in the community. With the exception of | :25:53. | :25:58. | |
Powys yesterday because the Williams commission did not recommend the | :25:59. | :26:05. | |
amalgamation of health services there, how are you in 2014 going to | :26:06. | :26:12. | |
direct health boards and local authorities to amalgamate budgets | :26:13. | :26:17. | |
and services much better then they are doing at present? That is a very | :26:18. | :26:25. | |
strong message. It is important they work as closely together as possible | :26:26. | :26:29. | |
and if we are talking about social services, we are talking about care | :26:30. | :26:35. | |
services, not adoption. The message has been conveyed to the local | :26:36. | :26:40. | |
health boards and to the local councils, that it is important they | :26:41. | :26:45. | |
collaborate in order to ensure that the citizen is given the best | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
service possible. Last term I raised with you the fire safety | :26:52. | :27:00. | |
requirements that had to be put in place in one hospital. Since your | :27:01. | :27:04. | |
intervention towards the end of autumn, that work has been put in | :27:05. | :27:10. | |
hand. But my question is particularly in the context of your | :27:11. | :27:14. | |
health Minister's statement with regard to the NHS concentrating more | :27:15. | :27:19. | |
on the areas we can deliver good rather than delivering harm, would | :27:20. | :27:25. | |
it not be prudent to consider investing further in that recognised | :27:26. | :27:31. | |
centre of excellent is, particularly as it could potentially reduce the | :27:32. | :27:36. | |
burden of cost for expensive and ever escalating drug bills for pain | :27:37. | :27:42. | |
relief? These are matters for the local health board. I am sure they | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
would want to invest in such a way that services are delivered better | :27:48. | :27:51. | |
and efficiently. I am glad to hear that following your question in the | :27:52. | :27:55. | |
assembly chamber that work seems to be beginning in your constituency. | :27:56. | :28:04. | |
It was reported last week that many small businesses are paying the | :28:05. | :28:06. | |
doubled the business rates they should be paying. What actions will | :28:07. | :28:14. | |
be Welsh Government be taking to support the watch high Street in | :28:15. | :28:25. | |
2014? Our framework demonstrate an emphasis on the regeneration of the | :28:26. | :28:31. | |
high Street in Wales. This includes a town centre loan fund, members | :28:32. | :28:38. | |
will be aware of a cap on a high street support campaign launched in | :28:39. | :28:44. | |
autumn. I welcome the cup in business rates you mentioned but | :28:45. | :28:49. | |
your own high-street strategy is now some seven months late. How about | :28:50. | :28:53. | |
adopting some of the Welsh Conservative policies that were | :28:54. | :28:57. | |
announced in the vision for our high street in the meantime? There is | :28:58. | :29:03. | |
some common ground here. We want to see high streets thrive and that is | :29:04. | :29:07. | |
why we announce the loan scheme. That has been brought forward. | :29:08. | :29:16. | |
Officials are also working with a small task group to support our high | :29:17. | :29:21. | |
streets which were launched this autumn and the Minister announced | :29:22. | :29:26. | |
business rate relief schemes which will benefit town centres by | :29:27. | :29:30. | |
encouraging construction and speculative developments. The | :29:31. | :29:40. | |
business rates cuts will help that. First Minister, I am pleased that | :29:41. | :29:45. | |
you acknowledge there is a crisis facing many of the high streets in | :29:46. | :29:49. | |
Wales at present and the one thing that impacts up on their image is | :29:50. | :29:56. | |
empty shops, so would you consider working with local authorities to | :29:57. | :30:01. | |
see how these could be filled? Possibly with businesses that can't | :30:02. | :30:05. | |
afford to have large premises or prominent premises at present. The | :30:06. | :30:10. | |
second thing is parking. Do you believe you could be creative with | :30:11. | :30:18. | |
parking? That is something for all local authorities in Wales. In terms | :30:19. | :30:24. | |
of those businesses, I think it is possible for local authorities to | :30:25. | :30:28. | |
work with businesses to consider whether it would be possible, for | :30:29. | :30:31. | |
example, to secure a month for a business without having to pay | :30:32. | :30:39. | |
rates or rent just to see if they can be sustainable and then if they | :30:40. | :30:45. | |
are they would then have to pay those costs and it would give the | :30:46. | :30:48. | |
opportunity to some people who perhaps don't want to start a | :30:49. | :30:53. | |
business and be tied into some sort of contract, just to see if there is | :30:54. | :30:56. | |
a market for them in terms of what they are selling. One problem we | :30:57. | :31:03. | |
should consider is, in my opinion, the high-street must rethink the way | :31:04. | :31:11. | |
it works. Most high-street customers are at work when those shops are | :31:12. | :31:17. | |
open. They close at 5:30pm, for most people here there is very little | :31:18. | :31:24. | |
shopping happening in the week. People tend to go to shops which are | :31:25. | :31:29. | |
open later. We should also consider the opening hours of high-street | :31:30. | :31:33. | |
stores in order to draw people in during the evenings and not only | :31:34. | :31:41. | |
during the day. First Minister, what evidence do you have the Welsh | :31:42. | :31:46. | |
government's to reducing smoking in cars is having any positive impact? | :31:47. | :31:57. | |
We have also commissioned study of primary and secondary school-age | :31:58. | :32:00. | |
children's exposure to second-hand smoke in cars. The results will be | :32:01. | :32:12. | |
available later this year. 80% of the public want smoking percent, -- | :32:13. | :32:20. | |
smoking in cars with children banned. Passive smoking can lead to | :32:21. | :32:27. | |
asthma, chest infections and even cot deaths. In the past two years, | :32:28. | :32:33. | |
Jordan have suffered while we are waiting. Isn't it time, First | :32:34. | :32:42. | |
Minister, to put children's rights to good health above so called | :32:43. | :32:47. | |
personal freedoms and ban smoking in cars which Jordan passengers? That | :32:48. | :32:56. | |
option is available to us. If the voluntary approach does not work, we | :32:57. | :33:03. | |
will legislate. The First Minister will be aware that every year in | :33:04. | :33:10. | |
Wales many young people are introduced to smoking from peer | :33:11. | :33:16. | |
pressure. When do you think you could look at this once again? Most | :33:17. | :33:21. | |
people would like this band to be in place. Could you reconsider | :33:22. | :33:28. | |
legislation to outlaw smoking in cars with children? We all know, | :33:29. | :33:38. | |
anecdotally, what the situation is. The point I would make is this. Of | :33:39. | :33:44. | |
course adults have a freedom to do as they wish in their own cars but | :33:45. | :33:49. | |
when there are children in the car, the children can't make their own | :33:50. | :33:55. | |
decisions. That personal freedom of adults to impose smoking on job and | :33:56. | :34:03. | |
is not something I would support. Simon Thomas. What plans does the | :34:04. | :34:12. | |
First Minister have to re-establish surgery services at hospital? I know | :34:13. | :34:21. | |
the board attempted to do this and someone was offered the post in June | :34:22. | :34:26. | |
last year but they declined it. Since then, unfortunately, the Royal | :34:27. | :34:35. | |
College has said that they would not support having a specialist | :34:36. | :34:37. | |
consultant at present because they don't believe that the model of the | :34:38. | :34:43. | |
hospital is adequate with regards to national standards. Those are the | :34:44. | :34:51. | |
reasons such treatment is not available right now but there is no | :34:52. | :34:55. | |
answer to the question of when we will see it. The situation was to be | :34:56. | :35:01. | |
temporary nine months ago and looks to continue over the next year. | :35:02. | :35:06. | |
Temporary measures are introduced and then may become permanent. There | :35:07. | :35:12. | |
were 300 people attending a public meeting ten days ago in Aberystwyth | :35:13. | :35:19. | |
and they voted unanimously to re-establish this treatment. When | :35:20. | :35:21. | |
will we see the treatment re-established? At present, the | :35:22. | :35:29. | |
Royal College says there are not sufficient numbers of patients to | :35:30. | :35:34. | |
secure the service. As I understand it, only to Mac to three -- to -3 | :35:35. | :35:54. | |
are available. Once they had left, there was nobody left so there was a | :35:55. | :36:00. | |
problem because of the fact because of the way they undertook surgery | :36:01. | :36:07. | |
there which didn't match with the most modern ways of doing things. | :36:08. | :36:11. | |
There was nothing wrong with the way they did things but it wasn't the | :36:12. | :36:14. | |
practice in other hospitals in Wales. So the young doctors there | :36:15. | :36:22. | |
could not be trained to undertake the surgery. If the college changes | :36:23. | :36:33. | |
its mind or standards that nobody can appoint a Doctor in hospital | :36:34. | :36:42. | |
when the doctor say they can do that. The recent meeting in | :36:43. | :36:53. | |
Aberystwyth focused on this kind of surgery but no one from the meeting | :36:54. | :37:01. | |
was from the health board. All health boards should be as | :37:02. | :37:07. | |
accessible to the possible to people they serve. The health board, I | :37:08. | :37:14. | |
understand, has said to those who organised the meeting that they are | :37:15. | :37:17. | |
more than happy to answer any questions sent to them as a result | :37:18. | :37:21. | |
of it. No such questions have yet been sent. I share the concerns | :37:22. | :37:28. | |
expressed by members about the lack of engagement by the health board | :37:29. | :37:31. | |
and the challenges that this decision presents to patients. One | :37:32. | :37:37. | |
challenge is the transport cost to get to the other alternative centres | :37:38. | :37:41. | |
for their treatment. I wonder what engagement the Welsh government has | :37:42. | :37:47. | |
had with the health boards to ensure it is supporting patients who need | :37:48. | :37:50. | |
support with finances towards those transport costs so they can access | :37:51. | :37:58. | |
treatment. The reality of the situation is that where you have the | :37:59. | :38:03. | |
Royal College saying the establishment of a particular | :38:04. | :38:08. | |
service would not be safe, no politician, surely, with then try to | :38:09. | :38:12. | |
establish that service. It has nothing to do with money. A lot is | :38:13. | :38:17. | |
to do with the throughput of patients. You cannot increase the | :38:18. | :38:22. | |
number of patients in a department unless you centralise the service. | :38:23. | :38:29. | |
The number of patients affected is small. For those affected, it is an | :38:30. | :38:34. | |
issue, I understand that, but we are talking about between two and three | :38:35. | :38:40. | |
patients per month. Will the First Minister make a statement on the new | :38:41. | :38:47. | |
work connections initiative? Supported by ?9 million from the | :38:48. | :38:53. | |
European social fund, the 17 million new work connections project is | :38:54. | :38:56. | |
helping people in North Wales to find employment and training | :38:57. | :39:04. | |
opportunities. It will come to an end at the end of February and it | :39:05. | :39:08. | |
has been extreme a ported assisting disadvantaged people to find work | :39:09. | :39:12. | |
but we still don't know what will replace it. Does the First Minister | :39:13. | :39:21. | |
accept that gap between the programme and whatever replaces it | :39:22. | :39:27. | |
could be detrimental from the view of finding a deployment for the most | :39:28. | :39:29. | |
is advantage people and Willie commits to announce plans for a new | :39:30. | :39:39. | |
scheme as quickly as possible? The authorities themselves are looking | :39:40. | :39:41. | |
at proposals to make sure that individuals can continue with the | :39:42. | :39:45. | |
project. We are looking to see how they can put other resources in | :39:46. | :39:49. | |
place at with this programme. Having said that, we want to ensure that | :39:50. | :40:02. | |
the plans for the European fund for 2014 /2020 have been considered by | :40:03. | :40:09. | |
May of this year. You will be aware of the working links programme that | :40:10. | :40:12. | |
runs concurrently with the new work connections programme. When this | :40:13. | :40:21. | |
ends, it is possible for people that have been on the new work | :40:22. | :40:31. | |
connections initiative to seek help from working links. Have you worked | :40:32. | :40:34. | |
with the UK Government to see how they could assist in that regard | :40:35. | :40:38. | |
Eschenbach of course, the working links programme has the same | :40:39. | :40:42. | |
objectives of getting people back into work and providing training for | :40:43. | :40:47. | |
them and support, particularly where they may have particular needs are | :40:48. | :40:53. | |
problems which must be addressed. Yes, the Minister has been working | :40:54. | :40:57. | |
with the UK Government on this. There has been a recent meeting. | :40:58. | :41:03. | |
Will the First Minister provide an update on the regress of enterprise | :41:04. | :41:15. | |
ons? We will report further progress in May of this year and on an annual | :41:16. | :41:23. | |
basis thereafter. Thank you. The Finance committee's report into | :41:24. | :41:27. | |
enterprise zones published in December last year alluded to what I | :41:28. | :41:32. | |
can only describe as an air of mystery describing where we are with | :41:33. | :41:38. | |
regards to those enterprise zones. The report says it is difficult to | :41:39. | :41:44. | |
be 100% clear about the influence of strategic objectives of enterprise | :41:45. | :41:46. | |
zones because the Welsh government has hitherto failed to make those | :41:47. | :41:52. | |
objectives public despite having them in their files. Would you agree | :41:53. | :42:01. | |
with the finance committee that the first recommendation of that report | :42:02. | :42:03. | |
should be fulfilled and all non-commercially sensitive | :42:04. | :42:09. | |
information should be published so scrutiny can run its course? There | :42:10. | :42:14. | |
is no mystery surrounding the success of our enterprise zones. We | :42:15. | :42:26. | |
have assisted 60 S N Es. This contrasts with his party's | :42:27. | :42:31. | |
stewardship of enterprise zones in England. It seems that 11% of those | :42:32. | :42:41. | |
54,000 jobs promised will be delivered. In order to help keep | :42:42. | :42:53. | |
track of progress, over the next year we will publish performance | :42:54. | :42:59. | |
indicators and targets for 2014-15. This will happen in spring of this | :43:00. | :43:03. | |
year and we are more than happy to be scrutinised on the success of | :43:04. | :43:11. | |
Welsh enterprise zones. There we are. The clock has beaten | :43:12. | :43:15. | |
us again and we'll have leave First Minister's Questions there, but | :43:16. | :43:18. | |
don't forget that you can see more coverage of the National Assembly | :43:19. | :43:20. | |
online from BBC Wales's Democracy Live page at | :43:21. | :43:22. | |
bbc.co.uk/walespolitics. That's it for today. We'll be back at the same | :43:23. | :43:27. | |
time next week with more coverage of First Minister's Questions. For all | :43:28. | :43:34. | |
the latest news, don't forget to watch Wales Today later at 6:30 on | :43:35. | :43:36. | |
BBC Resort. Said back and relax as you | :43:37. | :44:28. | |
get the ball rolling for seven days of live action. -- setback. | :44:29. | :44:32. |