Best wishes for 2020 to all Leader readers.
I had a useful meeting in North Wales with Kevin Hyland OBE, who was the UK's first Independent Anti-Slavery Commissioner. Kevin is now Ireland’s representative on the Council of Europe's ‘Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings’ (GRETA). Although 7121 potential victims were reported to the UK-wide Modern Slavery Helpline during 2018, Kevin quoted new figures showing that there were only 42 convictions for human trafficking in the whole of the UK last year, with almost zero in Wales. Despite the Modern Slavery Act 2015 introducing maximum life sentences for perpetrators and enhanced protection for victims, there is an apparent failure on the ground to treat this as a serious crime and undertake serious intelligence gathering.
I also met Anglesey social enterprise ‘Menter Môn’ for a catch-up on their ‘Morlais’ tidal stream energy project, which aims to develop the Crown Estate’s designated ‘West Anglesey Demonstration Zone’ located off the west coast of Holy Island.
Health policy is a devolved matter in Wales and NHS Wales is in the hands of the Welsh Government, which also decides how much of its Budget is spent on health.
Four out of the seven health boards in Wales are in special measures or some sort of targeted intervention.
In North Wales, Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) is in its fifth year of special measures, under direct Welsh Government control.
Wales saw its worst A&E waiting times figures on record published just before Christmas, despite lower attendance figures. Only 74.4 percent of patients were seen within four hours. The worst performing hospital was Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, with just 57.5 percent of patients seen within four hours.
BCUHB was the worst performing Health Board when it came to 12-hour waits, with almost 10 per cent waiting more than 12 hours.
As my colleague, Angela Burns AM, the Shadow Minister for Health, stated, “The Welsh Labour Government, and the Health Minister, have repeatedly shown themselves to be incapable of managing NHS Wales. Their records on health in Wales requires an urgent appraisal before the country lurches from a health crisis to a disaster”.
As Shadow Local Government Minister, I will be challenging the Welsh Government over its provisional Local Government Settlement announced on December 16, where North Wales has four of the bottom five authorities in terms of funding increases, with Wrexham receiving the third lowest and Flintshire the fourth lowest settlement.
If you need my help, please email [email protected] or call 0300 200 7219.
