First Minister Mark Drakeford answers MSs' questions, for the third time in 2023.
The third FMQs of 2023 comes to a close.
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The Senedd will once again be lit tonight in the blue and yellow colours of Ukraine’s flag as a sign of solidarity with Ukraine and its people.
Image source, Senedd CymruThe first minister calls on the UK government to "step back from the precipice" over their plans to scrap EU-era laws copied over to UK law after Brexit.
The government's Retained EU Law Bill will see thousands of laws expire automatically after December, unless they are specifically kept or replaced.
The first minister says the Bill "poses really significant risks to the Welsh Government and to this Senedd".
Image source, Getty ImagesVascular services "are not working" for patients in Arfon, says Plaid Cymru MS Siân Gwenllian.
She refers to a constituent "who has suffered terribly because of fundamental and very serious errors by the vascular unit at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd".
The first minister replies, "over the coming weeks, a number of reports will assist the board in the necessary work of improving vascular service for patients in Arfon. That will include a recent re-inspection of the service by Health Inspectorate Wales and the report commissioned through the board’s own vascular quality panel."
Conservative Tom Giffard says "I'm sorry to say that Swansea suffers from the largest number of drug-related deaths in Wales, with nearly 200 people dying of drug misuse over the last five years... Overall in Wales, drug-related deaths have jumped by 44 per cent over the last year."
He says "the substance misuse delivery plan is failing to deliver for those who need it the most".
The first minister does not accept the substance misuse delivery plan is failing.
He explains, "He's right to say that drug-reported deaths in the last year, for which figures are available, rose in Wales, as they did in every part of the United Kingdom, but they fell in Swansea. So, that's an important thing to recognise as well. I do accept that there are particular challenges in the Swansea Bay area, and we need a full commitment from all members of the area planning board in that area to bringing about improvement."
The Crown Estate should be devolved to Wales, says the first minister in response to Plaid Cymru's Llyr Gruffydd.
But he adds "with the current UK government, there will be no opportunity, I don't think, to move ahead with that idea".
Llyr Gruffydd says "King Charles said last week that he was eager to see a percentage of the Crown Estate's profit used for broader public good. Now, many of us would argue that all of the income of the Crown Estate should be used for the broader public good. It's a policy for many of us to devolve the Crown Estate."
In Scotland, the estate was devolved in the wake of the 2014 independence referendum.
What's owned by the Crown Estate in Wales?
Image source, Getty ImagesThe Crown Estate owns 65% of shoreline and riverbeds in Wales, as well as the surrounding seabed
Plaid Cymru leader Adam Price calls on the first minister to accept that the NHS in Wales is in "crisis".
The first minister acknowledges that the NHS in Wales is under "enormous pressure".
Mark Drakeford is in a "state of denial" with "complete disconnection" from how Welsh NHS services are struggling on the ground, Adam Price says.
He urges the first minister to admit there was a crisis to reflect the "seriousness and the urgency of the challenges".
Mr Drakeford says a "psychodrama solution" would not help.
The Plaid leader asks Mr Drakeford why Labour was "prepared to declare the NHS to be in crisis everywhere else apart from here in Wales, where you have responsibility and have done so for over 25 years".
The first minister says that despite all the challenges facing the health service it "manages every single day to reach thousands and thousands of people who, if the health service wasn't there, would never have access to the services that they need".
Adam Price
Andrew RT Davies, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd refers to "deeply troubling allegations" in the BBC Wales Investigates programme.
A former head of Welsh women's rugby said she had considered suicide because of a "toxic culture" of sexism at the WRU.
Mr Drakeford says the Welsh Government "has made it clear" to the WRU that it wants to see see "urgent and transparent action" to help restore confidence in the organisation.
The union “occupies a place in Welsh public life that it needs itself to recognise”, the first minister adds.
The government would “continue to be in a challenging, where necessary, conversation with them to make sure that a future is set out for the Welsh Rugby Union that commands the confidence of all of those who are players of the game and who want to see it have a successful future”.
Andrew RT Davies says the Senedd’s sports committee should consider how it can support “those on the receiving end of this treatment” and work with the WRU to introduce safeguards.
Mr Davies also asks about a report that revealed only 62% of NHS buildings in north Wales were “operationally safe”. The buildings are owned by the Betsi Cadwaladr health board which spent years under Welsh Government control.
At Abergele Hospital, only 15% of the building meets health and safety standards, the report says.
“Why has this situation developed and will you apologise for it?” Mr Davies asks.
Mr Drakeford says “compliance issues” had been found by surveys on 30-year-old buildings, but that call for repair work “exceeds our ability to fulfil that demand”.
Capital funding for the NHS – the money for buildings and infrastructure – was going from £335m this year to £375m next year, Mr Drakeford says, adding that funding had been squeezed by the UK government and the amount the Welsh Government can borrow has been frozen since 2016.
“Where does the member think the money comes from to do the things he suggests,” he asks.
Andrew RT Davies
The Llywydd (presiding officer) Elin Jones conducts a ballot to determine the names of members who may table questions to the first minister and Welsh ministers. Each member may enter their name into a ballot.
Mark Drakeford is challenged by Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds over recent ambulance waiting statistics.
First Minister Mark Drakeford replies, "record levels of demand have placed real pressures on ambulance response times, with lengthy delays for some patients. Nevertheless, in December - the most difficult month - the service responded to the highest ever number of red calls within the eight-minute target."
The ambulance service received a record number of "red" life-threatening calls in a month in December.
Of these 5,469 calls, only 39.5% received a response within eight minutes - a record low.
This beat the previous month's low of 48%, with the target being 65%.
Image source, Getty Images
Jane Dodds
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the third session of First Minister's Questions in 2023.
The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in the Siambr (Senedd chamber) and others joining by video-conference.