Eluned Morgan’s thirty-second session as first minister comes to a close.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds raises the topic of support for carers and calls for a commitment "to strengthening monitoring, data collection and enforcement to ensure all eligible care workers are receiving the real living wage, with transparent public reporting of progress".

Eluned Morgan replies, "as a weekend carer myself, I know how tough it can be - the emotional strain, the juggling act, the lack of time for yourself. So, I’m proud that the Welsh Labour government is backing unpaid carers with real support. From 20,000 short breaks to emergency help for over 11,000 carers this year, we’re making a difference, and working with carers to shape a national strategy that truly reflects their needs."

The latest care policy scorecard - by Carers Wales and the Bevan Foundation with support from Oxfam Cymru - can be found here, external

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Plaid Cymru MS Sioned Williams asks what action is the government taking to lower child poverty rates.

Eluned Morgan replies "Wales is the only country in the UK to provide free school breakfasts and free school meals for all primary school children - that’s worth £764 a year per child. On top of this, we give support to parents to pay for school uniforms and equipment. Our educational maintenance allowance of £40 a week is the most generous in the UK. We know that the best way for children to escape poverty is to support their parents into work, and this is now easier as we've expanded our offer on childcare. We are also supporting them through our employability programmes."

Sioned Williams refers to research on children's experiences of poverty by Save the Children Wales, ‘Power of Voice’, and a recent report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation on poverty in Wales.

She says "nothing has changed in two decades, and things are getting worse".

A target to eradicate child poverty in Wales by 2020 was scrapped in 2016.

Children are defined as living in poverty if they live in homes where the income of their household is less than 70% of the UK average.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Conservative Laura Anne Jones seeks "a statement on the Welsh government's recent restrictions on livestock movements from England into Wales".

Eluned Morgan says the policy is to continue the "successful efforts so far to try and stop bluetongue from taking hold and causing real harm to livestock and to farmers" but adds the "policy, of course, will be kept under regular review".

Laura Anne Jones says "a lot of farmers as well as livestock auctioneers and hauliers and the whole supply chain are scratching their heads at this Welsh government decision on this, hitting our farmers hard once again. When I visited Monmouthshire livestock market with my leader Darren Millar and Samuel Kurtz last week, the frustration at your government's knee-jerk move was palpable."

Since June 20, all animals moving from the current restricted zone (RZ) in England to Wales have needed a movement licence issued by the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) which confirms the animals have:

• a valid pre-movement test
• vaccination with the Boehringer Bultavo-3 vaccine (for cattle only)
• have no clinical signs of illness.

Spread by midges, bluetongue presents no threat to food safety or human health, but can have serious consequences for ruminant livestock like sheep and cattle.

A restricted zone in England - limiting the movement of animals - has continued to expand over recent months as the disease has spread.

From 1 July, the UK government has decided to designate the whole of England as an RZ, , externalwhich in practice means movement controls are lifted as the focus shifts to encouraging uptake of new bluetongue vaccines which alleviate the symptoms.

Image source, The Pirbright Institute

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says "last week, Policy in Practice published a report, funded by the Bevan Foundation, the Wales TUC, the Welsh Local Government Association and Community Housing Cymru, examining the impact of policy interventions designed to reduce poverty. Among all of the interventions modelled, the introduction of a Welsh child payment emerged as the most powerful and effective. It was predicted that it could reduce child poverty by nearly a quarter."

He therefore calls for a commitment to introducing a direct child payment - which is Plaid Cymru policy - to reduce poverty levels that he describes as "scandalously high".

Eluned Morgan replies "the best way to support children living in poverty is to make sure that their parents have good jobs. And we need to make sure that there are opportunities for them, which is why we've got a childcare support system that allows them to go back to work, which includes an allowance for people who are studying. That's not the case in England."

Rhun ap Iorwerth also says a "handful of Welsh MPs" are among the over 100 Labour MPs that are supporting a fresh effort to block the UK Labour government's planned changes to the benefits system.

The MPs have signed an amendment that would give them an opportunity to vote on a proposal to reject the welfare reform bill in its entirety.

The UK government plans to cut disability and sickness-related benefits payments to save £5bn a year by 2030.

Rhun ap Iorwerth asks if the first minister will "urge her members at Westminster to rebel, to protect disabled people in Wales and guard Welsh spending, or will she urge them to remain loyal to Keir Starmer?"

Eluned Morgan says "this is an issue that's causing concern to a lot of people in Wales and as you know, benefit reform is not devolved to Wales, but Welsh Labour will always be the party that wants to encourage and to support people back into work. We are the Labour Party, and we're not going to apologise for that, but on the other hand, it is important that we have fairness in the system and that we protect the most vulnerable on every occasion. We have made the case very clearly to the Secretary of State responsible, in terms of the impact that we think it will have on people in Wales. We have urged her to consider the case we have made, and obviously it will be up to the MPs to determine how they vote."

The welfare reform bill - called the Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment Bill - will include proposals to make it harder for disabled people with less severe conditions to claim personal independence payment (Pip).

Image source, EPA

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, says "back in April 2022, as the then health minister, you promised to eliminate two-year waiting times for NHS treatment by April 2023. You failed. In December, you promised to reduce the number of people waiting two years or more for treatment to 8,000 by the end of March. Yet, even against this poor target, and in spite of slapping your own backs with celebratory slaps and popping the champagne corks, you failed yet again. As if this was not bad enough, the figures actually show that the two-year waiting times actually got longer in terms of the number of people waiting in April, rising by 15 per cent in a single month."

He asks, "after 26 years of Labour government here in Wales, are you proud of your party's record on the NHS?"

Eluned Morgan replies, "we have seen an 86 per cent fall in those long waiters, and it is making a difference. That situation, in relation to what happens at this particular time of year, is not something unique to Wales, it happens all over the country. What's happened since then is we've announced an extra £120 million to again bring down those waiting lists. We know that this is a No.1 priority. Let's be clear, it's only Welsh Labour that's going to protect and invest in the NHS."

Darren Millar says he has seen a prevention of future death report by a coroner in Pontypridd, addressed to the first minister, concerning a woman who died in March 2022 aged 89 after falling and waiting 14 hours for an ambulance.

Darren Millar explains "the case concerns an elderly lady, Valerie Hill, who lay on the floor for 14 hours waiting for an ambulance, following a fall in a care home. She later went on to die in hospital and the coroner concluded that that delay in the ambulance turning up likely contributed to her death. But he made it clear, first minister, that this is not an isolated case. He highlighted multiple similar reports in recent years all painting the same grim picture: acutely unwell patients waiting hours for help with ambulances unable to respond because crews were stuck outside hospitals unable to hand over patients. And tragically, the coroner cites the deputy chief executive of the NHS in Wales in his report, admitting that what happened to Valerie Hill could still happen to other patients today."

On 17.2.22 Eluned Morgan wrote (then as Minister for Health and Social Care) to the chairs of all health boards in Wales, to say: “The volumes of people waiting excessive periods for transfer from ambulance vehicles to the care of staff in emergency departments, in particular, has reached intolerable levels….I am concerned about the level of tolerance to such delays a require you to take greater ownership of this issue as a priority….the current situation cannot continue”.

Darren Millar asks "will you listen to the voices of those NHS professionals and the voices of those who have lost their loved ones needlessly and declare a health emergency here in Wales so that we can finally get to grips with the crisis engulfing our NHS that is costing people their lives?"

Eluned Morgan replies, "we take the coroner's advice very, very seriously. I've met the coroner, in particular, in north Wales, on a number of occasions because we do need to learn the lessons and to protect people. What I can tell you on the issue with ambulances, as you well know, is that a lot of it is related to delayed transfers of care. You talked specifically about this instance in terms of a failure to turn up at a care home for a while. I don't want to talk about individual cases, but what I can tell you is that there has been massive investment in support for care homes to make sure that they can respond well - investment including St John Ambulance as a first responder who can go in there. We've put in extra funding in order to make sure that people can be picked up."

She also refers to an announcement this week about a five-year Welsh Ambulance Services fleet strategy. More than 140 new ambulances and vehicles will be part of the first phase.

Image source, Google

Plaid Cymru MS Mabon ap Gwynfor calls for a commitment for a bypass for Llanbedr, Gwynedd.

The Labour Welsh government axed plans for a Llanbedr bypass in 2021, citing concerns about climate change.

Mabon ap Gwynfor says "it was a plan, if implemented, and if the funding was in place, that could be operational by 2027. There is no excuse as to why that cannot proceed, apart from the fact that you’re not funding it".

Eluned Morgan replies "a working group has been established between Cyngor Gwynedd and the Welsh Government and Transport Wales to consider the options that are available to deal with transport problems in Llambed. We've already given £0.5 million to Cyngor Gwynedd to continue with the design development."

She then acknowledges that Mabon ap Gwynfor was right to correct her that the place in question is Llanbedr not Llambed (Welsh for Lampeter, an abbreviation of Llanbedr Pont Steffan in Ceredigion).

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Llywydd Elin Jones conducts a ballot to determine the names of members who may table questions to the first minister.

Conservative Altaf Hussain - previously a consultant orthopaedic surgeon - asks "what assessment has the first minister made of the effectiveness of NHS spending in delivering better outcomes for patients?"

He says "it is frustrating to see increased investment not translating into better outcomes. First minister, despite millions poured into tackling NHS waiting lists, the numbers of people waiting for treatment continues to climb. It is clear that extra funding is not working. We are spending significantly more per person than other UK nations, yet our patient outcomes are worse, and every health board is struggling financially."

He adds "this is not about how much we put into the NHS, but how we spend it".

First Minister Eluned Morgan replies, "in Wales, we have an older, sicker and poorer population, and there are consequences to that. But for you to suggest that the extra funding isn’t making a difference, I think, is a travesty. The longest waits today, for example, are 86 per cent lower than they were at their peak. We are absolutely moving in the right direction. Do we have more work to do? Of course we do—of course we do. But we do have a situation where over 2.5 million people have appointments with the NHS in Wales very single month."

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Eluned Morgan’s thirty-second session of First Minister's Questions.

The Siambr (Senedd chamber) has closed for renovations until March 2026, as work is underway on altering it to accommodate the 96 Members who will be chosen in the next Senedd election in May 2026.

So the 60 MSs are meeting in Siambr Hywel, the original debating chamber that housed the then National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2006.

The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in Siambr Hywel and others joining by video-conference.

You can click on the play button above to watch the proceedings from 1.30pm.