Browse content similar to 23/09/2014. Check below for episodes and series from the same categories and more!
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Good afternoon and welcome to the programme and our weekly coverage | :00:22. | :00:24. | |
Later this afternoon, he'll be making a statement to | :00:25. | :00:31. | |
the Assembly on the outcome of the Scottish independence | :00:32. | :00:33. | |
referendum and the implications of the No vote on Wales. | :00:34. | :00:37. | |
Before that, he'll be quizzed as usual by AMs and I'm sure | :00:38. | :00:40. | |
someone will weave in the fallout from last week's referendum. | :00:41. | :00:44. | |
I've had a look at the order paper and he can also expect questions on | :00:45. | :00:47. | |
cancer services, public transport and the universal credit scheme. | :00:48. | :00:52. | |
Don't forget you can follow all the latest on Welsh politics | :00:53. | :00:56. | |
Time to go over to the Senedd now where the | :00:57. | :01:02. | |
Presiding Officer, Rosemary Butler, is opening proceedings. | :01:03. | :01:11. | |
Good afternoon. The first item this afternoon is questions to the First | :01:12. | :01:18. | |
Minister. Question one, Kirsty Williams. Will the Minister make a | :01:19. | :01:23. | |
stake and on the provision of health services in Brecon and Radnor ship? | :01:24. | :01:27. | |
Our priority is to ensure that all people in Brecon and Radnor shut | :01:28. | :01:33. | |
receive safe and sustainable health care and health care which is | :01:34. | :01:36. | |
delivered as close to home as possible. I have recently been | :01:37. | :01:44. | |
contacted by a clinician who looks after my constituents and he states | :01:45. | :01:48. | |
that on his recent ward round out of the 12 patients in his bed is five | :01:49. | :01:52. | |
were suffering from delayed transfers of care and five more when | :01:53. | :01:58. | |
you ring that edition. He put that down to inability of the local | :01:59. | :02:01. | |
social services department to provide timely packages of care at | :02:02. | :02:07. | |
home. I have also been contacted by constituents who want to get their | :02:08. | :02:12. | |
relatives at district hospitals back to community facilities but they | :02:13. | :02:14. | |
cant because there is a lack of beds. What can the Welsh Government | :02:15. | :02:18. | |
do to ensure that healthcare and social services and more in | :02:19. | :02:21. | |
alignment and that patients do not have to suffer because of the | :02:22. | :02:26. | |
inability to source packages of home care. The leader of the Liberal | :02:27. | :02:31. | |
Democrats will note this form is an important part of the Williams | :02:32. | :02:38. | |
commission. Delayed transfers of care were down in July and it's | :02:39. | :02:42. | |
important that local authorities look carefully at the packages they | :02:43. | :02:45. | |
provide so that people can go home. We want to make sure that people | :02:46. | :02:50. | |
don't spend more time in hospital than they need to and we expect | :02:51. | :02:55. | |
poets and every other local authority in Wales to deliver | :02:56. | :03:01. | |
service that people expect. We know that there are issues to be | :03:02. | :03:05. | |
addressed to improve the service local people. I welcomed the Health | :03:06. | :03:14. | |
Minister's decision earlier this year to commission a special review | :03:15. | :03:18. | |
of healthcare in Wales and they understand the Welsh Institute for | :03:19. | :03:22. | |
health and social care which has carried out the review is due to | :03:23. | :03:26. | |
report in the autumn. Are you able to provide an update on the steady | :03:27. | :03:33. | |
and I you able to indicate a timetable for your response to its | :03:34. | :03:42. | |
findings? The timetable has not changed to my knowledge. It is an | :03:43. | :03:47. | |
important study and we look forward to studying it in depth. The people | :03:48. | :03:57. | |
of Brecon and Radnor ship have their health provided by the Powys health | :03:58. | :04:03. | |
board which of course had an overspend of almost ?20 million in | :04:04. | :04:08. | |
the last financial year as a result of your labour government's NHS | :04:09. | :04:13. | |
cuts. What assurances can you give the people of reckoning and | :04:14. | :04:19. | |
Radnorshire and the way the country that the resources which are | :04:20. | :04:21. | |
available to the NHS are sufficient to meet their needs? The Ambulance | :04:22. | :04:28. | |
Service is in crisis, waiting lists are spiralling out of control and | :04:29. | :04:31. | |
cancer patients cannot access the tropes they need. If you look at the | :04:32. | :04:41. | |
figures for Powys in July of this year, we see the referral to | :04:42. | :04:51. | |
treatment times shows that no patient will -- waits in excess of | :04:52. | :05:00. | |
36 weeks. The people of poets have health care which is provided well | :05:01. | :05:05. | |
for them both by endless providers and Welsh providers. We want to make | :05:06. | :05:11. | |
sure as we look towards the budget that many in Wales in terms of | :05:12. | :05:14. | |
health spending continues to grow. We will be in a position where | :05:15. | :05:17. | |
health spending will spearhead remains above that of England as it | :05:18. | :05:27. | |
has always been. To return to real services for constituents in Brecon | :05:28. | :05:32. | |
and Radnorshire, one of the problems with there being no District General | :05:33. | :05:37. | |
Hospital in the county is the reliance on community services. As | :05:38. | :05:42. | |
we weigh up the report you are about to receive, how can you assure the | :05:43. | :05:47. | |
government's responses one that actually develops community services | :05:48. | :05:53. | |
and maintains them because in West Wales it is fine to deal with some | :05:54. | :05:57. | |
of the cats happening in hospitals but you must have those community | :05:58. | :06:01. | |
services in place to take up the slack? The study has been welcomed | :06:02. | :06:12. | |
by everybody involved in the sector in mid Wales and we are looking | :06:13. | :06:19. | |
forward to see what that case will be. We expected to be completed by | :06:20. | :06:26. | |
the end of this month and once the results are available the outcomes | :06:27. | :06:30. | |
are available, the Minister will consider those outcomes. Will the | :06:31. | :06:38. | |
First Minister make a statement on his priorities for transport in West | :06:39. | :06:43. | |
Wales over the next 12 months? We have introduced a range of actions | :06:44. | :06:46. | |
to improve transport and we are continuing to drive -- provide | :06:47. | :06:55. | |
support for bus services and in April of course be officially opened | :06:56. | :07:00. | |
the A4707 between Saint clears and red roses. I recently met | :07:01. | :07:12. | |
constituents who are calling for a bypass to deal with some of the | :07:13. | :07:16. | |
traffic congestion going into the town from the direction of Cardigan. | :07:17. | :07:21. | |
Your predecessor acknowledged difficulties of using the roads in | :07:22. | :07:24. | |
this part of Fishguard so will you as a government commit to | :07:25. | :07:29. | |
considering proposals that would resolve these problems, including | :07:30. | :07:32. | |
the creation of a bypass in the area given that we are now to receive | :07:33. | :07:39. | |
another round of European funding? I know the road well and that is bend | :07:40. | :07:46. | |
on one part of the road near the harbour. I would imagine it would be | :07:47. | :07:53. | |
a major project to create a bypass but having said that, I will ask the | :07:54. | :08:01. | |
Minister to consider the demand for a bypass in that part of Fishguard. | :08:02. | :08:27. | |
What is the government's policy on roundabouts on dual carriageway is | :08:28. | :08:31. | |
because questions have been raised on access to the new road you have | :08:32. | :08:34. | |
just ancient between Saint clears and red roses. There is concern that | :08:35. | :08:42. | |
people may be travelling at great speed on that route and it could | :08:43. | :08:49. | |
cause accidents. It is of course usual to have roundabouts on all | :08:50. | :08:58. | |
roads but not on motorways. As regards that road in particular, the | :08:59. | :09:02. | |
Minister will write to you directly on that point. We now move to | :09:03. | :09:08. | |
questions from the party leaders and first the leader of Plaid Cymru, | :09:09. | :09:13. | |
Leanne Wood. Events in Scotland and the response of the UK parties has | :09:14. | :09:19. | |
created a new context for debate on the constitution in these islands. | :09:20. | :09:22. | |
Is it your view that the time has now come to go further on tax powers | :09:23. | :09:29. | |
for this National Assembly and you agree that a referendum on income | :09:30. | :09:35. | |
tax powers is now not necessary? Referendum is necessary but I do | :09:36. | :09:39. | |
agree the current suggestion in the Wales Bill is now consigned to | :09:40. | :09:48. | |
history. I'd do think that is great scope now to look once again at the | :09:49. | :09:53. | |
tax varying arrangements of the devolved administrations as a whole | :09:54. | :10:00. | |
and to go beyond the Wales Bill. It is interesting that you want to keep | :10:01. | :10:08. | |
the referendum in place. I've listened very carefully to what you | :10:09. | :10:11. | |
had to say in recent days on the question of home rule for Wales. | :10:12. | :10:16. | |
It's important to establish how your suggestion of home rule differs from | :10:17. | :10:23. | |
the current arrangements in the Selkirk proposals for further | :10:24. | :10:26. | |
devolution. I wonder if you could tell us, do you for example support | :10:27. | :10:30. | |
the devolution of the criminal justice system to this National | :10:31. | :10:35. | |
Assembly in the near rather than the distant future? Or do you support | :10:36. | :10:40. | |
for example the removal of the upper limit on energy powers? What it is | :10:41. | :10:49. | |
acted as home rule lookalike you? The issue of powers has been dealt | :10:50. | :10:53. | |
with separately and the Wales Bill must progress through Parliament. I | :10:54. | :10:57. | |
would like to see the whole of part one implement it and the whole of | :10:58. | :11:02. | |
part two and Wales' and offending dealt with. I will envisage the | :11:03. | :11:08. | |
convention looking at the structure of devolution within the UK and that | :11:09. | :11:14. | |
would mean they would need to be a meeting of all four administrations | :11:15. | :11:17. | |
and the way forward would need to be agreed. It is not sufficient for the | :11:18. | :11:25. | |
whole thing to be done in Westminster without there being | :11:26. | :11:29. | |
proper input from Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland. Things have | :11:30. | :11:39. | |
changed and I have to say to members that if I had said three months ago | :11:40. | :11:42. | |
I was in favour of home rule but things have changed and I have not | :11:43. | :11:47. | |
in silent in terms of my view on what the future should hold. I | :11:48. | :11:49. | |
welcome the indications you have given today on a possible change in | :11:50. | :11:56. | |
pace and the fact you want to go beyond the silk recommendations in | :11:57. | :11:59. | |
terms of powers for Wales. In that spirit would you be prepared to work | :12:00. | :12:04. | |
with me and the other party leaders to agree a joint Wales position on | :12:05. | :12:11. | |
securing meaningful new powers from the UK Government by or during the | :12:12. | :12:18. | |
next assembly term? I am prepared to work with all parties to do that. We | :12:19. | :12:24. | |
did it before the 2011 referendum. I am aware of Plaid Cymru's view but I | :12:25. | :12:33. | |
don't know what the view of the leader of the Welsh Conservatives is | :12:34. | :12:36. | |
on this issue. As a bare minimum we need to see plus one -- part one and | :12:37. | :12:43. | |
part two addressed and we need to see the structure of the UK's | :12:44. | :12:51. | |
constitution changed. The idea that the Secretary of State for Wales | :12:52. | :12:54. | |
should be able to veto any bill from this chamber is wrong and the idea | :12:55. | :12:58. | |
that Wales should not have control over its own energy resources is | :12:59. | :13:03. | |
also wrong to my mind. It's also wrong that even if this is a | :13:04. | :13:07. | |
theoretical possibility that it is possible in law for the UK | :13:08. | :13:13. | |
Parliament to abolish this place without reference to the people of | :13:14. | :13:17. | |
Wales. That cannot be right in the 21st-century. The leader of the | :13:18. | :13:23. | |
Welsh Liberal Democrats, Kirsty Williams. 18 months ago I challenged | :13:24. | :13:27. | |
UN figures that show that some patients were awaiting up to five | :13:28. | :13:32. | |
and a half hours in the back of ambulances outside a handy | :13:33. | :13:35. | |
departments. You said you were assessing the needs in terms of what | :13:36. | :13:41. | |
must be done. Last week we saw the tragic consequences of such delays. | :13:42. | :13:45. | |
Could you outline what you have done in the last 18 months to resolve | :13:46. | :13:50. | |
this situation? I urge members not to pre-empt the enquiry that will | :13:51. | :13:56. | |
take place after the events of last week and my condolences go to the | :13:57. | :14:00. | |
family. It is not quite as straightforward as it seems. I am | :14:01. | :14:05. | |
pleased with the fact that we have seen an improvement in ambulance | :14:06. | :14:11. | |
response times and I expect that improvement to continue. | :14:12. | :14:18. | |
In The most recent figures show that your further away than ever meeting | :14:19. | :14:24. | |
your accident and emergency targets. Do you anticipate that the | :14:25. | :14:33. | |
Welsh National Health Service will ever meet your accident and | :14:34. | :14:38. | |
emergency targets while you are First Minister? One of the things | :14:39. | :14:50. | |
that is the lead sometimes when people are talking about waiting | :14:51. | :14:57. | |
times is that this does not refer to people waiting for treatment, it is | :14:58. | :15:01. | |
waiting time between arriving and leaving hospital. There will be | :15:02. | :15:06. | |
occasions but sometimes practitioners have to keep people in | :15:07. | :15:13. | |
to waste for tests -- wait for tests. It is important that people | :15:14. | :15:24. | |
do not have too spend an inordinate amount of time in accident and | :15:25. | :15:28. | |
emergency and most people are in and out within four hours but there will | :15:29. | :15:32. | |
always be people who will spend more time in accident and emergency | :15:33. | :15:43. | |
awaiting results. It was said the delayed transfers of care would be | :15:44. | :15:46. | |
tackled with a new urgency that they are up and what they were last year | :15:47. | :15:51. | |
which means fewer beds for people who need to be there for clinical | :15:52. | :15:54. | |
reasons which can lead to longer waiting times in accident and | :15:55. | :16:00. | |
emergency departments and subsequently more ambulances | :16:01. | :16:02. | |
queueing outside accident and emergency waiting to discharge their | :16:03. | :16:06. | |
patients. When will you see that there will be dramatic improvements | :16:07. | :16:13. | |
in delayed transfers of care? She is correct that figures are up and | :16:14. | :16:20. | |
better this time last year but they are down from the previous month. A | :16:21. | :16:25. | |
number of actions have been identified at local and national | :16:26. | :16:28. | |
level which need to be taken forward. There are ways now to | :16:29. | :16:34. | |
ensure more collaborative working between health and social services | :16:35. | :16:38. | |
to reduce the number of delayed transfers of care and we expect is | :16:39. | :16:44. | |
that act is rolled out to decrease further. First Minister, last | :16:45. | :16:55. | |
January you said that we want a sustainable health service based on | :16:56. | :16:59. | |
the guidance of the doctors give. Last week many of us would have seen | :17:00. | :17:03. | |
the report by the petition medical Association that says it faces | :17:04. | :17:08. | |
imminent meltdown. Their key recommendation was that the Welsh | :17:09. | :17:13. | |
government should commission a enquiry into all National Health | :17:14. | :17:18. | |
Service services throughout Wales. Doctors have given their advice. | :17:19. | :17:25. | |
When will the government acts? The difficulty is that the British | :17:26. | :17:27. | |
Medical Association are not consistent in the messages they | :17:28. | :17:33. | |
give. In March, they said that the data demonstrates clearly that Welsh | :17:34. | :17:41. | |
hospitals deliver worse outcomes in English hospitals is a wicked | :17:42. | :17:51. | |
slander. Doctor Mark Porter, the chairman of the BMA council said | :17:52. | :17:58. | |
that the government were being fundamentally dishonest of their | :17:59. | :18:02. | |
funding of the National Health Service. When you have such | :18:03. | :18:06. | |
conflicting statements, which ones do you believe? First Minister, I | :18:07. | :18:14. | |
think that emphasises how important this reporters they have brought | :18:15. | :18:19. | |
forward. Very often when they have wanted to as an opposition, they | :18:20. | :18:25. | |
have criticised as and do not take a political position on this. They | :18:26. | :18:30. | |
listen to their members and the act. The BMA says that the NHS in Wales | :18:31. | :18:34. | |
has a culture of not listening which is a widespread problem across the | :18:35. | :18:40. | |
NHS institutions which poses a significant threat to patient | :18:41. | :18:46. | |
safety. The current arrangements for raising concerns do little to | :18:47. | :19:03. | |
reassure the doctors involved. When can he see that safety and clinical | :19:04. | :19:07. | |
excellence will be at the forefront of safety? When I came to live in | :19:08. | :19:14. | |
Cardiff, I lived in a House with six medical students. A lot of them are | :19:15. | :19:19. | |
consultants and general practitioners now. I spoke to a few | :19:20. | :19:23. | |
of them over the weekend and not one of them agreed with the comment that | :19:24. | :19:29. | |
was made. I am unimpressed by an organisation that calls for an | :19:30. | :19:32. | |
enquiry into its own members which is exactly what the BMA has done but | :19:33. | :19:36. | |
I think it is important that it is consistent and what it says and that | :19:37. | :19:41. | |
where it has concerns it may want to address those concerns to the | :19:42. | :19:44. | |
government first rather than putting them in the media. This is the usual | :19:45. | :19:49. | |
flippancy and arrogance that we see from this First Minister. He has a | :19:50. | :19:54. | |
comprehensive report that is looking at the NHS and its entirety was as | :19:55. | :20:00. | |
an organisation that when they felt the need to criticise us as our | :20:01. | :20:04. | |
party are any of the other parties, they have criticised then offered | :20:05. | :20:08. | |
the view that the software for the Welsh NHS. They have brought former | :20:09. | :20:13. | |
attribute that says an independent enquiry is required in order to look | :20:14. | :20:20. | |
at all aspects of the Welsh NHS. The other highlighted that the Welsh NHS | :20:21. | :20:25. | |
faces imminent meltdown. They have highlighted the doctors feel | :20:26. | :20:30. | |
sanctions will be taken against them if they raise legitimate concerns. | :20:31. | :20:38. | |
When, First Minister, will you bring forward such an independent | :20:39. | :20:43. | |
enquiry? You are prepared to listen to some clinical advice but when it | :20:44. | :20:46. | |
does not suit you you're not prepared to listen to what is good | :20:47. | :20:55. | |
for the NHS in Wales. If he has evidence of doctors being | :20:56. | :20:57. | |
suppressed, let him bring it forward rather than making cheap | :20:58. | :21:05. | |
allegations. The reality of the situation is that his party has been | :21:06. | :21:08. | |
described as fundamentally dishonest by the BMA. Why should we disbelieve | :21:09. | :21:15. | |
them in that regard? Let us not be naive about this. That I paid | :21:16. | :21:19. | |
discussions taking place. The BMA says it wants to be listened to. Why | :21:20. | :21:24. | |
then has not appear that any of the pay negotiations | :21:25. | :22:11. | |
cancer in Wales? -- bowel cancer. We have a proactive screening programme | :22:12. | :22:19. | |
for bowel cancer. Only three health boards in Wales have undergone | :22:20. | :22:21. | |
accreditation further endoscopy units. | :22:22. | :24:02. | |
accreditation further endoscopy Quite often trains are late and very | :24:03. | :24:07. | |
cramped and quite often in poor condition which is totally | :24:08. | :24:11. | |
unacceptable. I know last week there was some discussion during your | :24:12. | :24:17. | |
question time on the future rail franchise arrangements. What impact | :24:18. | :24:20. | |
do you think these blue experiences will have on any future rail | :24:21. | :24:27. | |
franchise in Wales and additionally what work will be done on the South | :24:28. | :24:31. | |
Wales Metro project to make sure that we get the travelling | :24:32. | :24:37. | |
conditions passengers right? She raises up perfectly valid point and | :24:38. | :24:39. | |
we're stuck under franchise arrangements made previously which | :24:40. | :24:45. | |
have not consistently serve the people of Wales well. We want to | :24:46. | :24:50. | |
ensure in the next franchise there are frequent services and the | :24:51. | :24:52. | |
rolling stock is of sufficient quality as well and also to see more | :24:53. | :24:59. | |
frequent services will stop you will further Minister for economy and | :25:00. | :25:03. | |
signs and transport show her enthusiasm for the South Wales Metro | :25:04. | :25:10. | |
project and moving that forward from Aberdare and other Valley | :25:11. | :25:15. | |
communities should see cleaner and better and faster transport. First | :25:16. | :25:22. | |
Minister, the Metro project which you just close your answer on, is a | :25:23. | :25:27. | |
vital part of the transport infrastructure for the future in | :25:28. | :25:33. | |
south Wales. What is your take at the moment on how the discussions | :25:34. | :25:39. | |
are progressing and what can we look forward to in the future? There have | :25:40. | :25:46. | |
been no discussions with the Welsh office, it is the Wales Office. The | :25:47. | :26:01. | |
issue is this, I have noticed a difference in tone with the new | :26:02. | :26:08. | |
occupant of the Wales Office and I welcome that. He has said he is | :26:09. | :26:11. | |
looking to see a solution which we all want to see, a solution that is | :26:12. | :26:17. | |
fair and lovers, and it is hope of all involved that we see the project | :26:18. | :26:25. | |
are livered. If I can echo the comments made previously, the | :26:26. | :26:30. | |
valleys must see DTD improvements from the investment in rail. In | :26:31. | :26:37. | |
2011, the deputy minister for transport said he was announcing | :26:38. | :26:45. | |
plans to reopen the rail passenger line from Aberdare which was closed | :26:46. | :26:51. | |
50 years ago. The closure has meant the loss of an important transport | :26:52. | :27:00. | |
link of people in the Canon Valley. Important work was taken as his | :27:01. | :27:03. | |
office term came to an end shortly after that. That appears to be in | :27:04. | :27:08. | |
very little development and progressing this passenger service | :27:09. | :27:13. | |
since then. Can you offer any hope to the people of the Canon Valley | :27:14. | :27:19. | |
that the service will be reinstated, or visit deemed not to be at | :27:20. | :27:30. | |
priority now? It has been right to say that we've seen progress on the | :27:31. | :27:37. | |
rail and we are seeing improvements on the line between Wrexham and | :27:38. | :27:42. | |
Saltney Junction and we will of course continue to review for the | :27:43. | :27:47. | |
reopening. The line are still there because it was serving to a colliery | :27:48. | :27:50. | |
and it is something that we will keep an review because you're good | :27:51. | :27:51. | |
record on reopening reliance. I'm a friend of the Archbishop | :27:52. | :28:01. | |
of Canterbury. What exactly does it entail, | :28:02. | :28:04. | |
this job? There aren't many mums who'd | :28:05. | :28:11. | |
let their sons run off to join the circus. | :28:12. | :28:14. | |
Welcome to Keele University. You can't just get things by asking. | :28:15. | :28:16. | |
I can. Is Tony Benn in today? How do you fancy coming to | :28:17. | :28:21. | |
work for me? Kit man. I've always wanted to be happy. | :28:22. | :28:24. | |
'..in the network premiere...' So I decided to be. What's the Neil | :28:25. | :28:28. | |
Baldwin Football Club? My own team. | :28:29. | :28:34. |