21 September 2021 , Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Future approach to optometry services
… their licence in their practices. Any initiative like this that will help the NHS tackle the long waiting lists must be supported. I must also pay tribute to the strides made since the development of a Welsh eye … Wales. We must return to a service that responds to the symptoms of sight loss in a timely manner, because many conditions can be treated if they're caught in time . While the onus is on the patient …
3 October 2023 , Plenary
Statement by the Minister for Economy: Closure of UK Windows & Doors Group
… writing to the DWP seeking urgent support. I know the Welsh Government's ReAct+ scheme is ready and waiting , if workers need support seeking new employment. And the leader of RCT council, Councillor Andrew Morgan, is in the … workers who may have to work in different industries? The announcement couldn't have come at a worse time . There are real fears among workers about paying for food and energy bills. I understand the discretionary assistance fund …
24 January 2022 , Petitions Committee
New Petitions
… willing to change its position, if the medical advice changes. I think now it's a matter of waiting for that medical advice to change, so I can't see what more the Petitions Committee can … least the report, to the petitioner, just so they can see what was raised at the time as well …
8 December 2021 , Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Mental health services
… health board, and indeed the Welsh Government and the decision making of the Welsh Government at that particular time . When the health board was placed into special measures, we were told, with great fanfare, that within 100 days … health board was removed from special measures, in spite of the fact that there were still huge challenges waiting to be addressed in terms of mental health care, and many of the failings that had been identified …
14 January 2026 , Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: The Senedd election
… nation: our precious NHS on an unsustainable footing, creaking under the pressure of a waiting list backlog that has grown by approximately 200,000 since the last election alone; a stagnant economy for too long that ranks among … its worst-ever PISA scores, and a fifth of Welsh children are classified as functionally illiterate by the time they reach secondary school. And the journey of Welsh devolution was not only stopped in its tracks by the …
20 March 2024 , Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Health and Social Services
… Well, thanks very much, Gareth. This is something that I've focused quite a lot on during my time as health Minister. It wasn't a condition that I was terribly aware of before, but I'm now … been looking at what happens after they're diagnosed and how quickly people are treated. Obviously, there are waiting lists for various things, but the waiting list, once it has been diagnosed, is no longer than for other …
10 May 2023 , Plenary
Debate on the Petitions Committee Report—'From Five to Four? P-06-1247 Support trials of a four-day week in Wales'
… sorry that Alun Davies is disappointed; he might get even more disappointed by the time I've finished. But I'd like to thank the committee for—[Interruption.] I'd like to thank the committee for the report … four-day week, we would see fewer and fewer people being seen. We have people on waiting lists who cannot get operations, so we would have fewer operations being done if the NHS operated on a four-day …
8 November 2023 , Plenary
Short Debate: Can carers afford to care?
… the relatively low take-up of carers needs assessments, which you mentioned again in your speech, and the waits experienced by many unpaid carers who have accepted the offer of an assessment. The report makes clear that professional … also accept that those who do want an assessment are often not able to get it in a timely way. Some of this is to do with the shortage of social workers to do assessments, and one …
18 June 2025 , Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: M4 relief road
… need to contain that congestion and persuade people that there are alternative ways of travelling at busy times , particularly journeys to work and to schools. These are the easiest journeys to predict and to enable people … upgrade those rail lines, and we need to see rapid progress on this front, because we have indeed waited five years with the plan in place, but without the money to go ahead with …
24 May 2023 , Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: NHS Dentistry
… most striking thing was that it was impossible to provide a figure for how many people were on waiting lists for NHS dental treatment. That is a lack of data on the most basic level that you can … talking about existed long before the pandemic, and the Government failed to resolve those problems at that time . And what’s frustrating, in looking at some of the obvious problems, is that we’re looking at things that …
9 May 2024 , Finance Committee
Review into the operations, processes and investigations carried out by the Public Services Ombudsman for Wales: Evidence session
… you, for making the time this morning to come and talk to us. It's a challenging time and I appreciate that this sort of level of scrutiny is very difficult, but hopefully it'll put you … provide us with the final terms of reference when they are published? The committee's intention is to wait for that report, but as I mentioned earlier, if we could get updates on how that is coming along …
2 December 2021 , Health and Social Care Committee
Impact of waiting times backlog on people who are waiting for diagnosis or treatment: evidence session with organisations representing people with different health conditions
… around their waiting list support service. They’re creating that single point of contact system for people on waiting lists that provides that advance information signposting and services around well-being there, because I think it’s really … again between the health board and the patient themselves, and it gives them those resources. So, around the time frame for their surgery, providing that single point of contact. That’s really important. And that somebody knows who …
22 November 2022 , Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership: Fire Service training and capacity to broaden the role
… They only have access to two or three hours training per week—a small fraction of their whole- time colleagues—yet they must maintain the same skills to the same level. That risks asking too much of these … years, and in the tragic loss of life at Grenfell Tower and elsewhere. I am not prepared to wait for tragedy to trigger action here. Whilst we remain committed to a broader role for firefighters, we cannot ask …
13 November 2024 , Plenary
90-second Statements
… was opened in Ystradgynlais. This wonderful hall was built from the miners’ pennies and cost them at the time £9,000. The opening ceremony was followed by a week of celebrations, including a grand production of 'The Bells … studio. It has a cinema, showing all the latest films, and it hosts events like— wait for it—an Abba live tribute band, and has a variety of workshops and activities. It also boasts the Josef Herman Art …
3 February 2026 , Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government: More Homes
… retired, was the head of Dwyfor District Council, which was looking after the council houses at the time , and my grandfather was one of the people who built the houses in Liverpool. So, I think that we all … But it is important to reiterate the astonishing truth that one in every 14 households in Wales is waiting for a social home, and that one in every 215 households is trapped in temporary accommodation. So, in that …
18 May 2022 , Plenary
Debate on the Climate Change, Environment, and Infrastructure Committee report: Report on the Welsh Government’s marine policies
… raised that, and I think it is something that we've been grappling with for a long, long time , and we would all wish to be further ahead than we are at the moment. I'm glad … from our predecessor committee report on marine policies, nothing's changed, frankly, or at least we're still waiting for the recommendations to really be addressed. The blue carbon agenda is a huge agenda, significant in locking …
8 June 2021 , Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
… realistic grant offer or to open up fully, as, at this rate, it's only a matter of time before we'll have to close.' And the general manager of a wedding venue near Llangollen e-mailed yesterday … receive any further news until the next review on 21 June. Wedding venues, suppliers and couples just cannot wait that long. Welsh businesses will suffer. We've all experienced bookings cancelling and moving their bookings to England for …
22 March 2022 , Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
… have access to the internet, so it's important that people can see their doctor in a timely manner in a way that meets their needs. Secondly, Trefnydd, could I request an urgent statement regarding services at the … That particular story involves a constituent's 99-year-old mother, who has since, sadly, passed away. She waited over eight hours for an ambulance to arrive with a broken hip. She then was forced to wait outside …
18 March 2025 , Plenary
Business Statement and Announcement
… and sometimes don't even turn up, causing many young people who want to get to school to wait hours each side of school in the wet and the cold. I don't know if I have … day. I believe we have a responsibility to provide safe, reliable transport to schools, and especially at a time when we're trying to tackle soaring absenteeism, unreliable transport just isn't helping. I'm well aware …
22 March 2023 , Plenary
Welsh Conservatives Debate: Minister for Health and Social Services
… Sadly, in particular for my residents in north Wales, these concerns have proven to be true, time and time again. In north Wales, we now see a health board back in special measures; a £122 million fraud investigation … see the results of the nettle not being grasped, with one in four people currently on a waiting list for treatment, compared to one in eight in England. One in eight people are waiting over 52 weeks between …