, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Absolutely. So, some of that information is already available and we can certainly provide that, but, to your point about the work of the clinical lead, it's a comparatively recent appointment, so we'd be very keen to keep the committee updated on that work…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
So, I suppose there are two aspects to that. On the waiting lists aspect to it, if you look at the reduction in two-year waits over the last, I think, two years, the cohort in which that has reduced fastest is in paediatrics—children and young people…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
It's in development at the moment, certainly, but we might need to let you know separately, if that's okay.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
I'll ask one of my colleagues to—. We might need to write to you about that.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Well—. Again, I'll defer to Dawn in a moment, but the role of the children's Minister is to be the voice of children around the Cabinet table, effectively, and that is my experience of the conversations we have at Cabinet. I think of my own former role as…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Well, as you know—and I will ask Dawn Bowden to comment on this—policy responsibility sits in this portfolio, and funding happens, on the whole, through the local government budget. There are elements in this budget too, which go towards children's care…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
You're right to say that when there are specific policy developments put in place, children's rights impact assessments do take place in that context. In terms of the budgetary process, the process is a co-ordinated one. Assessing the impact of a budget is…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Could I just supplement my answer there? At the end of the day, what we are absolutely most interested in is the outcomes. So, ring-fencing is about inputs, isn't it, effectively? But what we are all, I'm sure, most interested in is outcomes and we have a…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Yes.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Sure.
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Well, I think that would be a challenging approach, Chair. The premise of the system that we have in Wales is that the Government sets the policy requirement for the health service, and the outcomes that it expects the health service to deliver, and the…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Well, I guess the answer to that is in a sense the same answer. We have the planning framework, which sets out our expectations of the system. This year we've tried to strike the balance between saying there are some absolutely key priorities that the NHS…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Well, we have a requirement that—. The way the budget works, as colleagues will know, is we delegate funding to NHS health boards and other organisations, and they then discharge that budget, spend that budget, allocate it to reflect population needs…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
You mean the risk of cuts in children's services at the expense of other services?
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Welsh Government Draft Budget 2025-26 - evidence session 1
Thank you, Chair, and thank you for the opportunity of giving evidence in relation to the health and social care budget. The budget for health and social care in the next financial year will have seen significant increases, which the committee will have seen…
, Plenary
Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Establishment of a school of dentistry in Bangor
I thank the Member for that. I will continue my point, which I hope will address some of his particular concerns. There are 22 dental practices across north Wales that are providing 220 urgent appointments on a weekly basis, and that provides urgent care for…
, Plenary
Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Establishment of a school of dentistry in Bangor
Yes, certainly.
, Plenary
Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Establishment of a school of dentistry in Bangor
The key opportunity, I think, will be the new general dental services contract, which a number of Members have alluded to, which I’m absolutely committed to delivering. And in answer to, I think, Janet Finch-Saunders, for the last 18 months now officials have…
, Plenary
Member Debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv): Establishment of a school of dentistry in Bangor
Thank you, acting Dirprwy Lywydd, and I welcome the opportunity to give an update on our work to reform dentistry in the NHS and to improve access in north Wales, following the Member for Arfon's recent short debate. I would like to start by noting a few…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS winter pressures
Well, as I said in my answer to James Evans, I've already spoken with the chair of the health board in relation to this question, and, at the same point, I've made funding available to the health board, as I mentioned in my earlier answer. The health board…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS winter pressures
I thank Lesley Griffiths for those questions. I share her surprise, I think, at the levels of vaccine uptake amongst staff, and they're quite considerably down on last year, even, so I think there is something that we certainly need to get to grips with…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS winter pressures
I thank Mabon ap Gwynfor for those questions. He was trying to differentiate between proactive and reactive approaches to tackling winter pressure challenges. What I think we saw over the last year was a Government operating very proactively to learn lessons…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS winter pressures
Thank you to James Evans, and welcome to the new portfolio. I agree with him. It absolutely is an honour to be in the health and social care portfolio. I am grateful to him for the measured way in which he put his questions at what is a very difficult time…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS winter pressures
We have also repeatedly emphasised that vaccination is one of the best ways to prevent the spread of flu, RSV and other common respiratory viruses. The flu vaccination programme began in earnest this year on 1 October and, for the first time, pregnant women…
, Plenary
Statement by the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care: NHS winter pressures
But first, Dirprwy Lywydd, I would like to place on record my thanks to NHS and social care staff, who've worked tirelessly over the Christmas period in often difficult circumstances. Dirprwy Lywydd, the NHS works throughout the year to plan for winter. We…
