Morgan and measures

From the BBC:

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has outlined plans for new Welsh laws on child poverty, affordable housing and home care charging over the next year.

The assembly government's plans also include laws to help children with learning needs and to suspend the right to buy council homes in some areas.

He said he wanted "to make a practical difference to the people of Wales".

The Labour-Plaid Cymru administration intends providing "more support to children and families experiencing poverty".

A duty is to be imposed on public agencies to demonstrate what they are doing to end child poverty and to "provide free childcare places and other early years' services in specified areas".

The range of children and young people with additional learning needs, who can appeal to the special educational needs tribunal for Wales, is to be extended in the legislative programme.

A "fairer and more consistent approach" to home care charges is to be introduced along with a measure to ensure local bodies work together to improve public services.

The assembly government also intends to allow local councils to apply to temporarily suspend tenants the 'right to buy' homes where there are housing shortages.

Approval from Westminster is still needed for the housing measure and ministers are also seeking to gain a series of other further powers from Parliament.

These would allow them to give extra support to carers, put a statutory duty on local authorities to promote culture and allow further education colleges to award foundation degrees.

Mr Morgan said the legislative programme was "for the sake of making a practical difference to the people of Wales".

He said everyone involved in using the assembly's new procedures had been on a "steep learning curve".

"It's been a learning curve for this assembly as a scrutiny and legislative body, its been a learning curve for us as ministers, it's been a learning curve for our civil servants and lawyers as well.

"But it shows that, on that steep learning curve, Wales is growing up as a nation and this body, which represents it, is growing up as a democratic, legislative body as well".

To date, only one measure has gained royal assent. Last Friday to be precise. That's one measure a year.

Happy Birthday

Translation of a post by Vaughan Roderick:

Forgive me for neglecting this blog for a few days. I've been up to my ears due to the coalition's birthday.

That isn't especially a good excuse but if the First Minister were to choose to take things easy this week nobody would blame him. Rhodri isn't a healthy man at the moment, struggling against one illness or another. Nonetheless he has insisted on coming to the Senedd for a news conference and First Minister's Questions. In the words of one Labour member this was the only week in the year where it wasn't possible for Rhodri to stay in bed. After all it is exactly a year since Mr Morgan was treated for his heart and he's determined to ensure that questions about his health won't cast a shadow over the week's celebrations.

Perhaps Rhodri's illness was responsible for the way he misunderstood a series of questions by journalists in the news conference. I asked him, for example, if the coalition would survive a change in the Labour leadership next year refering, of course, to his resignation and the possibility that somebody unacceptable to Plaid Cymru, Huw Lewis, say, succeeds him. Rhodri's response was to ponder what an early departure by Gordon Brown could have on politics in the Bay. Nobody tell Gordon.

In the meantime if I were in Alun Cairn's shoes I'd be enraged from reading this story regarding inappropriate comments made by a Conservative Lord:

A spokeswoman for Conservative leader David Cameron said: "This was not an appropriate thing to say and it was absolutely right that he apologised to the House." She said he would not be sacked from the front bench over the comments.

Double standards by any chance?

Fashion

Translation of a post by Vaughan Roderick:

As in every other field there are fashions in the world of politics and those fashions tend to turn in circles. Everything that appears daft and old fashioned at one point in time is sure to be re-embraced at another point in time - except perhaps the "bubble perm".

It was interesting to see this article in The Times which suggests that there is a substantial change happening in the business world. It suggests that the increase in the cost of raw resources is convincing companies to return to the idea of integrated business, ie a company that owns every step of the production process and every aspect of the business. Companies were generally like that at one time. Almost every oil company for example owned the oil fields, the refinery boats, and the petrol stations as well as the chemical plants. For years if not decades now fashion has been against such companies. Subsidiary companies were sold and all kinds of marginal work was contracted out to other businesses.

As happens almost without exception, the private sector influenced the public sector with large and small duties that used to be completed internally being transfered to private companies. If the wheel is turning in the business world then sooner or later the new philosophy will penetrate our politics. The other day the Conservatives described Rhodri Morgan's government as an old fashioned, centralist, socialist government. But I wonder? Is Rhodri, perhaps for the first time ever, ahead of fashion?

Pampering the First Minister

Translation of a post by Vaughan Roderick:

It's a dangerous thing to leave documents lying around! What is this that has landed on my desk? Interesting.

Guidance for Briefing the First Minister

Well, well, well. How does onr brief Rhodri, I wonder - or prepare a speech for him? Well it's clear that the First Minister's eyes aren't as good as they used to be.

Text should be in Arial 14, double spaced and provided in a clear plastic document wallet. For nearly all events, the opening and closing points should be in Welsh. For local events in Welsh speaking areas, or for any events which attract a high level of Welsh interest, the entire speech should be translated into Welsh.

But remember

The First Minister does not use power point.

Well somehow that isn't surprising. This is more of a shock:

If the speech is less than 10 minutes 6-10 bullet points should be sufficient.

Now come on. Is Rhodri able to make a speech that lasts less than ten minutes? He has a few sentences that last longer than that!

Whatever, whay about a bite to eat?

Establish the dress code e.g. black tie/lounge suit. Include information on those guests that will be seated at the same table as the First Minister. Dietary requirements: His meal should not include sauce or gravy, pie-crusts etc. He also doesn't like prawns.

No prawn sandwiches for Rhodri when watching the football then! It's lucky there's no prawn industry in Wales!

Labour crisis could affect Rhodri's plans

From this week's Golwg:

The Labour Party’s financial crisis could affect when exactly the First Minister will resign. Rhodri Morgan has already announced he intends to quit the job in September 2009 around his 70th birthday.

But in a special interview with Golwg, he aknowledges that the date could change and it could be sooner or later than that depending on the date of the next general election.

“That’s one thing that could knock it one way or another” said Rhodri Morgan. “There would be no money left for the Labour Party to run an internal election if they had spent all the money on a general election.”

Perhaps Welsh Labour will be tempted to take Adam Price's advice, and declare independence from a failing and bankrupt British Labour Party, just as the Catalan Socialists did? Rhodri admits in the same interview that a similar break in relations with Westminster was the best thing that ever happened to his career:

"The biggest favour ever done for me, although unconsciously, was Tony Blair refusing to pick me as a member of the team in the Welsh Office right at the start in 1997.

"The response of the Welsh people was so ferociously against the decision...and so I became the people's choice, some kind of undeserving hero.

"So i'm still very grateful to that I wasn't made a minister, or I would just have been another minister, part of the 'machine politics'. It's part of the great ironies of politics."

FMQs: Rhodri smartens up

Rhodri Morgan has finally had his hair cut and found something decent to wear. Well done Rhodders!



Last week's unruly mop, blue shirt. stripy tie and charity shop blazer was something truly horrendous to behold.

Scrutiny of FM dissappears down the Memory Hole

Some strange goings on over at the Senedd TV website. Yesterday I covered some aspects of the Assembly European and External Affairs Committee's scrutiny of the First Minister. Today I thought I'd watch it again to follow up on the suggestion that the extra £40m Wales is to receive due to the rise in value of the Euro will be handed back to Brussels.

I distinctly remember the First Minister saying that the extra cash was good news. So I thought I'd check.

Unfortunately the Committee's webcast has been replaced by the Communities and Culture Committee's meeting.

I wonder why?

Welsh subsidies and Lisbon plan C

Speaking this morning to the Assembly's European and External Affairs Committee, Rhodri Morgan explained the implications the Irish No vote has for Wales:

"There's a very specific issue for Wales, that is the subsidiarity provisions which were built into the proposals which have been ratified now in the UK because I understand the House of Lords completed its procedures last night and voted positively for a third reading for the European treaty's Bill, it therefore only requires royal assent.

You might say "well yes well, it might have royal assent, but on the other hand that doesn't mean very much because the Irish 'No' vote means it's impossible for Ireland to ratify it and if Ireland doesn't ratify it then you might as well not have the UK ratification either because it's got to be ratified by all 27 countries".

As regards the specific Welsh aspects and Welsh Assembly and Welsh Assembly Government aspects, namely the subsidiarity provisions, they could of course be achieved without the great five-act-play Lisbon Treaty.

So, if the 27 governments of Europe in responding to the Irish 'No' vote go for the plan C, although they say there is no plan C -and no doubt there was no plan C but there'll have to be a plan C now perhaps- they could say "okay well look, can you take out the bits of the treaty that don't require the five-act-play and just simply implement those so that you get something out of the huge process of trying to make the European Commisson and Council and Parliament and everything work more efficiently, and therefore it could implement probably about 30 or 40 percent of what was in the treaty rejected by the Irish people without having to have these big treaty negotiations.

We think subsidiarity could be part of such a package if that's the strategy they go for. If they don't go for that strategy, well, you know, we don't know how they're going to work it...but it will be...very much seen as an Irish obligation to come up with what is the Irish answer to the problem that Ireland has caused to the other 26 countries...that's as we understand it...by October...maybe they will have thought of something that is a strategy that does not involve having another Irish vote -I can't see that happening again as happened to the Nice Treaty in 2004- and doesn't involve changing the treaty in order to make it less likely to create a No vote and then submitting the whole thing for ratification all round Europe...so the plan C seems more likely to me.

Miliband and Murphy have 'no idea' sas Morgan.

Speaking to the Assembly's European and External Affairs Committee this morning, the First Minister mentioned a video conference he had with David Miliband and Jim Murphy yesterday morning, where it was revealed that the UK Government has no idea yet how to respond to the Irish No vote:

"David Miliband and James Murphy made it perfectly clear they have no response as yet on what to do in reply to the No vote of the people of the Irish republic"

According to Rhodri Morgan, none of the 27 member states has as yet any strategy to solve the Lisbon Treaty crisis. It seems that the ratification process is continuing because EU leaders have no idea what else to do.

Gavin and Rhodri

Translation of a post by Vaughan Roderick:

There was a time when Wales was famous for its nicknames. That isn't a surprise perhaps in a country where so many of us share a handful of surnames.

On the whole the custom hasn't reached the Assembly. Apart from Jane "Peaches" Davidson, Mark "Swiss Tony" Isherwood and Jane "Jabba" Hutt very few members have nicknames. The source of Mr Isherwood's and Ms. Hutt's nicknames are obvious enough. It seems that the Sustainability Minister's nickname derives from a complaint by an MP that she is to be seen in almost every conference and every official opening "...she'd probably turn up for the opening of a tin of peaches of she was asked!"

One who has evaded a nickname until now is the First Minister. "Rhodri" was enough. Why then have a few wags started refering to him as "Uncle Bryn"?

Well look here. Is there any likeness between Rob Brydon's character in Gavin and Stacey and our First Minister? I'll leave it for you to decide.

Wel edrychwch yn fan hyn. Oes 'na ryw debygrwydd rhyfedd rhwng cymeriad Rob Brydon yn Gavin a Stacey a'n Prif Weinidog? Fe wnâi adael i chi farnu.

Finger on the button

Translation of a post by Vaughan Roderick

O dear. Rhodri Morgan has just explained why he pressed the wrong voting button during last week's debate. I was a debate regarding a proposal by Peter Black whereby the Liberal Democrats wished to present a request for the right to legislate to change the voting system for Welsh local elections. aathis was rejected with the overwhelming majority of Labour members voting against it. Rhodri was one of the two Labour members who voted in favour of the proposal. Now it seems that he did so accidentally. "You have to to accept the responsibility for making mistakes and I made a mistake" he said. A "computer malfunction" was the First Minister's explanation - a problem similar to Janet Jackson and Justin Timberlake's "wardrobe malfunction" possibly!

This doesn't answer the question raised by Mike German, namely "why reject the proposal?" After all Peter Black's proposal didn't mean there would be any change in the voting system. Giving the right to the Assembly to change the system was the intention. Mike German's point is a fair enough one. If Labour are serious about transfering full legislative powers to the Assembly then why is the Party opposing a proposal to transfer a small part of those powers?

But Labour members are not the only ones with double standards in this field. We are always hearing about the need for full legislative powers. There is endless discussion about the timing of a referendum. But it's possible for the Assembly to rquest the right to legislate on any sublect at any time. How many members then have put forward their names for the ballot to decide who will present a request this month? Not one. Look at this:

Measures Ballot: 11 June 2008
No requests presented

there we are then. Not one member of the Assembly can think of any subject where it would be useful to have legislative powers. Remember that the next time one of them bleets about how restricted the present powers are.

Doh!

Okay, it was a free vote, but it turns out that Rhodri Morgan and Jane the Hutt voted in favour of introducing a PR voyting system to local government by accident.

The First Minister's excuse was that he thought he was voting for something else. What then? Free fish and chips for the elderly?

The search for intelligent life continues...

Morning Pickings

The Guardian: Senior officers attack 42-day detention plan.

As government whips intensify their efforts to avoid a defeat on the plan in the Commons on Wednesday, senior members of the Association of Chief Police Officers (Acpo) have raised doubts about the measure. Their claims will come as a blow to the government, which has highlighted police support for the plans without making any reference to the presence of sceptics in senior ranks

The Independent: Victory on 42 days will not halt bid to oust Brown.

"Forty two days is a sideshow," one former minister insisted. "The tide is moving against him. The view of many backbenchers is that he has got to go. They want it to happen – but they still fear the consequences of making it happen."

The Herald: Salmond to set up oil fund study

The First Minister announced yesterday that the Scottish Government is to commission a study of the benefits of an oil fund for Scotland, after the revelation that a fund for the UK was considered by the Treasury in the 1970s.

Alex Salmond argued that with as much oil to come from the North Sea as has been extracted, and with the high price of oil, a fund is "an attractive and compelling idea for Scotland now and into the future".

The Scotsman: Scotland's economic standing hit as slowdown 'gains moment'

The latest data from the authoritative Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) survey shows Scotland has dropped from eighth to tenth in the table of UK's 12 nations and regions.

According to the figures, produced for Royal Bank of Scotland, in May Scotland was only just above the output index for the East Midlands of England and Northern Ireland.

Daily Post: Wales and Scotland discuss Euro 2016 bid

WALES could play host to the cream of European football if a joint bid with Scotland to host the Euro 2016 football championships comes off.

Wales’ First Minister Rhodri Morgan and his Scottish counterpart Alex Salmond are to hold talks with the football associations of both countries.

The move would include eight Scottish stadiums hosting matches and four in Wales.

A tale of two Rhodris

There is no denying the logic to Adam Price's recent remarks in Golwg.

The Welsh press is in a dire state. Welsh papers, whether in English or Welsh, are -to put it kindly- amateurish and bland, and it is indeed difficult to envisage the commercial success of any journalistic venture in print. Nor is there any denying that the future lies online.

Nevertheless, we were made a promise, and that promise has been broken. There is no escaping that fact, no matter how much Adam Price or Rhodri Glyn Thomas attempt to change the context.

Risky or no, as Dylan points out, the price the Assembly would have had to pay for establishing a Welsh language daily is a small one in comparison with other ventures.

The Heritage Minister will have to explain himself, and better now than on the eve of an election. I see no reason why he cannot be frank and open about the matter. Can you?

Another Rhodri, one with much more to explain and possibly even less inclination to do so, is of course the First Minister. The Treasury figures revealed by Eurfyl ap Gwilym are only the latest in a series of figures, statistics and reports that damn Welsh Labour and Rhodri Morgan. There can be little doubt at this late stage that Labour has been 'winging it' for the past nine years in Cardiff Bay.

The only thing Rhodri seems to be good at is giving things away.

FMQs

Rhodri Morgan gave his usual performance today, with his trademark complacency, lack of urgency, and incoherent defensive whinings. Treasure figures. indicating unambiguously that the Welsh economy is the worst in the UK are, according to the First Minister, opent to interpretation and, incredibly, demonstrate that Wales is doing quite well, thanks very much.

Questions to the FM were peppered with the predictable pointless sycophantic statements from lacklustre Labour AMs, today's prize going to Rosemary Butler. Her "question" consisted of a plee for Morgan to praise the Labour controlled Newport Council. Rhodri was, of course, more than willing to comply (It's not like there are any by-elections due there anytime soon. Oh wait, there are).

The First Minister is well past his sell-by date, a fact we are reminded of every time we watch him on a Tuesday afternoon.

Thursday Thoughts

From the Western Mail:

Labour should consider offering free party membership to youngsters in a bid to encourage teenagers to get involved in politics, counsel general Carwyn Jones has suggested.

Is this the beginning of Carwyn's own personal manifesto as prospective party leader?

As ideas go it hardly seems the result of a brainstorming session. When I was at Ysgol David Hughes our year had a mock general election in an effort to awaken interest in politics. If I remember correctly the Lib Dems won a landslide victory. But the thing was that a fair amount of us were already interested enough in politics, in fact there were more of us (from those interested) able to say "I support the X Party" than there were floating voters. I'd be inclined to conclude that apathy set in after leaving school.

But that was at the end of the Cold War. Now we live in different times. Welsh universities that were once fertile ground for political parties and pressure groups are now home to a generation interested in more selfish things, such as getting a worthwhile job.

I think Bob Piper touched upon another reason for political apathy in a post last Tuesday. When it comes to political choices...

You can have any colour you want, as long as it is black, as Henry Ford put it.

Whereas in England the three mainstream parties struggle for posession of the centre ground, here in Wales the four mainstream parties seem to struggle for posession of the centre-left.

There are of course a lot of possitive aspects to the consensus politics we have seen in Cardiff Bay. The problem is that if all the parties are in general agreement then floating voters don't exactly get the impression that their vote will make a difference.

But returning to Carwyn and his prospects of becoming our next First Minister -is this a man who can engage the Welsh public? Or is 'more of the same' all that he can offer?

If I can make a comparison between Cardiff Bay and Westminster, whereas PMQs is a weekly highlight in politics, FMQs is, well, dull. Hardly anyone ever comments on it in the Welsh blogosphere. In fact the last time I can recall commenting on anything our First Minister had to say in the Senedd was just before the Assembly elections, despite the fact that -believe it or not- I never miss FMQs, unless I'm on holiday.

Just look at the most recent FMQs. When responding to Nick Bourne, Rhodri Morgan resembles more a child throwing its toy out of the pram than a statesman, and you can hardly accuse Nick of ever having mauled the First Minister. Yet this man is considered to be the Assembly's most 'charismatic' member!

Of course, Carwyn is considered to be the 'coalition's candidate'. But bearing in mind that the Welsh Labour Party voted massively in favour of the One Wales agreement, is not every prospective Labour leader obliged to continue the red-green partnership? Even Huw Lewis?

Talking of leadership hopefuls, when will Eluned Morgan make her move? One would suppose that the new leader will be an AM. Rhodri is expected (by some) to leave the Senedd altogether once he steps down, which would present Eluned with an opportunity to take his seat in a by-election. The trouble is that A) she could lose and B) it is assumed that by then Rhodri's successor will already have been chosen. Unless of course Eluned is presented with a different by-election opportunity before then...

Rhodri should face the music

With both Gordon Brown and Wendy Alexander in serious trouble, Rhodri Morgan has been having quite an easy ride in comparison, despite the bloodbath on May 1. With the defeat of Red Ken in London, Rhodri Morgan is now the only Labour politician outside of Westminster who actually leads a government. But unlike Westminster, Holyrood and London City Hall, lthe Welsh First Minister seems to have been let off the hook.

However, with both Peter Hain and Lynne Neagle ready to blame Welsh Labour for the hammering it received on May 1, how long will it be before the Welsh media start putting pressure on Rhodri to take some responsibility for the local election debacle?

Personally I think the underlying message in Hain's remarks to Adrian Masters yesterday is one that rings true, and to some degree is coherent with those voiced by Normal Mouth in his Golwg column. But whereas Hain believes that modernising Welsh Labour is a means to regain its hegemony in Wales, Normal Mouth suggests that the Party leave behind any such illusions of grandeur.

I agree with the latter interpretation, but Hain is right to say that Wales is leaving Welsh Labour behind, and that the Party has to adapt itself to the reality of 21st Century Wales.

Rhodri still has a year to go before he steps down. That shouldn't excuse him from making some attempt at addressing these matters.

Still, at the end of the day this is Labour's problem, not mine.

Weekend Poll: Rhodri To Go?

ITV's Sharp End recently suggested there's some talk that Rhodri Morgan should step down this year rather than next year. I don't see any real logic to this myself, and the only examples of such 'talk' that I've come across are a couple of anonymous comments on the Welsh blogosphere, which makes me wonder about ITV standards more than anything else. Still, I've placed a poll in the sidebar on whether Rhodri should stay or go. You decide.

Nid da lle gellir gwell*

Yesterday Vaughan Roderick and Betsan Powys both blogged about the Llywydd's dig at the Welsh Affairs Select Committee, a subject which Rhun ap Iorwerth brought up last night on Dragon's Eye:

Rhun ap Iorwerth: You've voiced your concern today about scrutiny of legislation, Welsh legislation, it's a new phenomenon, by the Welsh Affairs Committee of MPs. What do you think is wrong?
Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Well, in the House of Lords the Legislative Competence Orders as they're called, or the requests for proposed powers by order for the Assembly, that is scrutinised by the Constitutional Committee in the House of Lords and they do it very effectively. In the House of Commons it is not scrutinised by the equivalent committee, it is scrutinised by the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. The Secretary of State has sought to have more joint scrutiny but it appears to me that the Welsh Affairs Select Committee have not been moving very quickly on that matter. Of course that's a matter for them, but I think the Justice Committee as a constitutional committee would be more appropriate.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Do you think it's a deliberate act on the part of the Welsh Affairs Committee?
Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Oh you'll have to ask them.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: What's your hunch?
Dafydd Elis-Thomas: All I'm saying is that there may be a more effective way of doing it. They tend to want to double scrutinise and look at policy and look at measures because they have a policy interest as Members of Parliament.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Well yes these are the Members of Parliament for whom legislation affecting Wales is most relevant, of course, why not then?
Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Well it's not for them to make legislation. What we are seeking are the powers, that is what the issue is about. That's a constitutional matter and therefore I think that's more appropriately addressed by the Justice Committee, the constitutional committee of the House of Commons.

Today's Western Mail presents us with the First Minister's view on the LCO process:

“It’s still early days to give a verdict on how easy it is to get a legislative competence order and subsequent measures to work, but certainly it’s far too early to say ‘It’s not going to work very well, therefore change it’ almost before it’s had a chance to produce anything at all.

“It’s been specifically devised for Welsh circumstances and it of course creaks a bit at the beginning – anything that parties at both ends have got to get used to is going to creak. But I think with a bit of goodwill, and once we’ve had three or four, then I’m sure that people will lose their fear and get a bit of customer practice into it, because the British system almost invariably works by customer practice rather than by legalistic or formulaic ways.

“As to the question as to whether you can devise a better system – well, history will tell whether you can devise a better system. But I think we can see a lot of promise in the legislative competence order and measure system.”

Asked whether he felt there was a reluctance in the UK Government to use LCOs and so they were sitting on them for lengthy periods of time, Rhodri came up with another classic Morganism:

“These are new animals in the Whitehall and Westminster zoo and as a result they’re bound to poke at them a few times to find out exactly what they do, what they’re for, what are those hind legs for, what are those forelegs for,” he said.

“We’re bound to have that, but that’s the area where the creaking is caused by the newness, not by the fact that it’s a defective piece of machinery or there’s something wrong with the machinery. It’s just simply because it’s new.”

Well it might be early days, but a quarter of the Third Assembly's term has passed and it's increasingly evident if it wasn't clear already that the LCO process is being dragged down by devosceptic Welsh MPs. The Llywydd is right: the Justice Committee would handle these matters far more effectively and with an objectivity that Welsh MPs simply do not possess. It's all very well for the First Minister to ask us to give the system more time, knowing that in 12 months time he'll be able to wash his hands of the matter completely and leave the mess for his successor to sort out.

*Welsh saying: It isn't good if you can do it better

Morgan promises NHS miracle

The western Mail reports that the NHS in Wales is to undergo an "industrial revolution". Hopefully this doesn't mean that we'll have to go down a mineshaft in order to get any treatment.

First Minister Rhodri Morgan has outlined his vision for a “first-rate” health service in Wales, as the nation today celebrates St David’s Day.

The leader called the NHS “the pride of the nation and the envy of the world” as he unveiled his blueprint to revamp equipment and facilities, and to train staff to the highest levels.

The article, written by a certain Madeleine Brindley, is nothing short of a Welsh Labour press release. Timed to coincide with the Conservative conference in Llandudno? Surely not.

Writing exclusively for the Western Mail, First Minister Rhodri Morgan said, “A first-rate health service fit and able to meet the ever-changing demands of the 21st century is vital.

“My ambition is to create a new revolution in healthcare to match the industrial revolution that swept Wales in the 19th century, providing facilities, equipment and highly-trained staff fit for the future.

“The Welsh Assembly Government is investing in more equipment, more staff, and new types of treatment centres to ensure that the needs of patients are properly met.

“At the same time we are keen to tackle the causes of ill health as well as curing the symptoms.

“Education about a healthy lifestyle needs to go hand-in-hand with first class treatment facilities and skilled medical staff to ensure that as we celebrate the diamond anniversary of the NHS we have a Wales fit for the future.”

It certainly is ambitious, Rhodri, especially as you only have a year left in the top job...