Eluned Morgan’s thirteenth session as first minister comes to a close.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Cardiff Parkway Developments

Former first minister Vaughan Gething calls for lessons to be learned from the length of time taken to make a decision on a proposed new mainline station into Cardiff.

He says "one of the areas that we could improve on is the time it still takes to make major planning decisions, to provide greater speed and certainty for investors. The first minister will recall the unresolved Cardiff Parkway issues that I've raised with her as an example of what should not happen and the need to learn lessons".

Eluned Morgan replies, "I know you are impatient for an answer in relation to Cardiff Parkway and once the consultation is closed then obviously a decision will be made as soon as possible".

Cardiff's Labour council granted planning permission for Cardiff Parkway station and business park in St Mellons in April 2022, with the decision called in for a Welsh government review by that October.

The first minister also says "we're exploring a wide range of options to accelerate planning decisions made by ministers and local planning authorities, and we're going to formulate these into a delivery plan. There's additional money gone into planning."

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Plaid Cymru MS Llyr Gruffydd asks "what is the Welsh government doing to ensure timely access to health services for residents in north Wales".

The first minister points to an additional £7.3m allocated to tackle Betsi Cadwaladr health board's longest waits for planned care and diagnostics, on top of the £34 million made available to the health board to "drive planned care recovery".

Mr Gruffydd says "only 27 per cent of residents in north Wales have access to NHS dental services in north Wales, a figure that has declined year-on-year for a decade, and will decline further from the end of March".

He calls on the Welsh government to ensure that "at least young people under the age of 18 can continue to receive NHS dental services wherever they are in north Wales".

The first minister replies, "you're quite right that it's important that we do ensure that there is access, and free access, in terms of dental services which is available to children particularly, and of course, we're in a situation now where there is a lot of procurement happening, so 94 per cent of dental work in north Wales is now coming under the new dental arrangements and that has ensured that 80,000 people have been able to receive an appointment as a result of those new arrangements."

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth lists a number of issues on which he claims Labour has u-turned and "ditched" policies.

He says, "let's not forget who's really suffering on Labour's watch: older people struggling after losing the winter fuel payment; users of substandard transport systems, who know what the HS2 billions owed to Wales could achieve; and pensioners hit hard by Labour's backtracking on their women-against-state-pension-inequality promise."

The first minister replies "this establishment here has responsibility for scrutinising me on areas where I have influence and power directly. And lots of those areas, which you touched upon, are areas where it is the UK government that has to make those decisions."

On waiting lists, Rhun ap Iorwerth says "as health minister, she promised that nobody would be waiting longer than 12 months for treatment in most specialities by the spring of this year. Now it's that no more than 8,000 will be waiting over two years by April. Based on December's numbers, even those figures are going in the wrong direction."

The first minister replies "we've seen ia 66 per cent reduction in two-year waits since March 2022".

She warns of serious consequences if the Welsh government cannot pass its budget in the Senedd.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Darren Millar, in his second session of FMQs as leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, refers to the fact that the Welsh Ambulance Service declared a critical incident at the end of December.

He says, "we know that 340 patients were waiting for an ambulance response, and yet an ambulance couldn't be despatched because over half the fleet was outside the hospital front doors across the country. I met with the chief executive of the Welsh ambulance service just yesterday, and he told me that around 1 in 10 patients statistically suffers harm or even death as a result of an ambulance delay."

He asks "how many deaths does the Welsh government estimate are attributable to ambulance delays over the past 12 months?"

The first minister does not directly answer that question.

She replies that the critical incident came to an end as soon as possible and there was "huge additional demand" across the 999 service - "50 per cent more than the same period in 2023-24" - and extensive hospital handover delays.

Image source, Getty Images

Eluned Morgan says she is "very concerned" at the operation of eHarley Street, stating several MSs have approached her about the matter.

She says there will be "consequences" if things don't improve, and adds it is "absolutely unacceptable not to pay people".

Safety, staffing and supply concerns at surgeries managed by eHarley Street were revealed by BBC Wales last year.

The partners who run the surgeries and eHarley Street have said they had invested nearly £400,000 into the practices and were committed to addressing "challenges".

Brynmawr Medical Practice is contracted to two GPs, the same two GPs run eHarley Street, a GP management company based in Leicestershire that supports nine Welsh practices.

Welsh surgeries linked to eHarley Street are:

• Brynmawr Medical Practice
• Blaenavon Medical Practice
• Pontypool Medical Centre
• Bryntirion Surgery, Bargoed
• Tredegar Health Centre
• Aberbeeg Medical Practice
• Gelligaer Surgery, Hengoed
• Lliswerry Medical Centre, Newport
• The Corporation Road Surgery, Cardiff.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Conservative Peter Fox asks “what assessment has the Welsh government made of the reasons for the increase in the number of patients using private healthcare in Wales?”

First Minister Eluned Morgan replies that the national data from the Private Healthcare Information Network indicates all areas of the UK saw an increase in admissions for private healthcare in 2023 compared to 2022.

She says "the common UK challenge of long waiting times is likely to be a key factor behind this increase".

Peter Fox says "waiting lists have been spiralling further out of control, hitting a new record after nine months of consecutive increases. This dire situation is forcing many people to pay for their healthcare following years of - painfully, often - waiting for an appointment".

The first minister points out that there are only 172 private beds in Wales and says that less than 1% of the population of Wales use private facilities.

Last November the Welsh health secretary said private healthcare will be used to reduce long waiting times in the NHS.

Jeremy Miles said £50m allocated to tackle the problem will be given to health boards to provide more treatments, tests and outpatient appointments.

He promised 16,000 more people will be treated by the end of March 2025, with private hospitals used where necessary.

Image source, Getty Images

Labour’s Julie Morgan highlights the problems faced by people with an allergy to pea protein.

She says "my constituent has described to me how hard it is to go to restaurants, as restaurants are not required to provide customers with the full ingredients list of their food".

First Minister Eluned Morgan replies, "I know the Food Standards Agency, which of course is the organisation which has responsibility for food safety in relation to labelling in England and Wales—they’re developing strengthened guidance for food businesses, including restaurants. At the moment, you can go into a restaurant and they can tell you orally what the situation is in terms of what’s in the food, but there’s a suggestion it should be written down."

Pea allergy is triggered by specific proteins in peas. The immune system mistakenly identifies these proteins as harmful and produces antibodies to neutralize them. This process leads to the release of histamines, causing allergy symptoms. The key allergenic proteins in peas are vicilin and legumin.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Eluned Morgan’s thirteenth session of First Minister's Questions - she today equals the number of sessions answered by her predecessor Vaughan Gething.

The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.

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