Category: Press Releases

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 29 November 2022.

On Tuesday, the Senedd met to discuss the completion of the first of four stages in passing the a new social partnership Bill.

The Welsh Conservatives have criticised the proposed Bill arguing that its purpose and aims are unclear and much of the policy is already in place, meaning more red tape that will require considerably more public sector working hours to produce overlapping paperwork.

Outside bodies who will be affected by this legislation have said they find the proposed Bill confusing and unnecessary, stating that it will likely increase their workloads without providing any new benefits.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Social Partnership Minister, Joel James MS said:

“The Labour Government has completely failed to communicate what problem it is trying to solve in creating this Bill.

“Considerable expense will be incurred at the tax payers expense for another pointless Welsh Government Bill that does not have any measurable outcomes, and like the Future Generations Bill the Government has no way of enforcing these legal obligations.

“I think this government is wasting time on this superfluous legislation whilst ignoring the real needs of businesses, which is the upskilling staff and working with businesses to create market conditions for them to flourish.”

Speaking in the debate, Joel described this legislation as “another red tape tick box exercise” adding that it would only “increase already considerable administrative workloads”. Joel also noted ‘several serious flaws’ within the proposed Bill. Placing a ‘statutory requirement on public bodies to reach consensus with trade unions’ means trade unions have another tool to disrupt the work of public bodies if their demands are not met.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 29 November 2022.

On the 11th of October this year, £2 million was allocated to improve conditions in A&E departments across Wales by the Health Minister. Money that the First Minister admitted, at FMQs, was not making a difference yet. Mark Drakeford also revealed the median wait time in A&E was 2 hours and 50 minutes, seemingly touting this as a success as opposed to a figure that needs addressing.

Commenting on the exchange, Welsh Conservative Leader Andrew RT Davies MS said:

“In October, £2 million was announced to improve the conditions of A&E waiting rooms, this was meant to be rolled out and ready for the Winter months. The First Minister admitted to me today that the money isn’t even out the door.

“It is clear that conditions are particularly bad at the Heath Hospital, which we saw over the weekend. Wales’ largest A&E department saw vomit near the entrance and a pile cigarette butts on top of the bins.

“The First Minister seemed to bat away those criticisms and blame ‘a significant minority’ of patients for these issues. In my view the Labour Government need to pull their finger out and address these basic issues and tackle the substantial waiting times in our health service.

“We need to get Doctors and consultants into A&E departments across Wales to meet the staffing baseline as set out by the Royal College of Emergency Medicine. Mark Drakeford could not answer the question whether or not that baseline was being met, which we argue would make our Hospitals safer.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 29 November 2022.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 29 November 2022.

The Welsh Conservatives have written to North Wales’ Police and Crime Commissioner expressing concern over “hostile” tactics to display opposition to second homes in the area.

It was reported today that holiday homes on Anglesey have been plastered with posters saying ‘Wales is not for sale’ by campaigners who want council tax increased on second homes.

Commenting on her letter, Shadow Minister Janet Finch-Saunders MS, who speaks on housing for Wales’ main opposition party, said:

“I am worried about campaigners are adopting hostile tactics to show their opposition towards second homes in North Wales because the last thing we need is this escalating into what we saw Meibion Glyndwr do in the 1980s.

“Whilst the frustration that house prices are going up in the area, making it harder for locals to buy property, are legitimate, the answer is to build more houses, not trespassing and defacing private property with aggressive campaign material.

“That’s why I have written to the PCC – so we can ensure the law is upheld and that protest remains peaceful and legal. People should not be afraid to sell or buy property because of antagonistic rhetoric from pressure groups.

“There are many issues facing Wales’ housing market, like Labour not building half the homes needed to keep up with demand, so let’s make sure we fix the causes rather than attack the symptoms of the Labour Government’s failure.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 26 November 2022.

Commenting on the announcement that new biosecurity and housing requirements will be implemented for poultry and captive birds in Wales, Samuel Kurtz MS, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Rural Affairs, said:

“I and the farming unions have called for this housing order for over a two weeks, so I’m pleased that finally Welsh Government have used their common sense and implemented these necessary changes.

“Avian Flu is rightly a matter of serious concern. This disease does not respect borders nor traditional biosecurity methods, so our efforts to tackle this virus must be targeted, pre-emptive and proactive in response, hence my call for a housing order over a fortnight ago.

“These new measures should now provide additional shielding for commercial poultry, protecting the industry from wild birds. I just hope the Minister’s delay in implementing the changes hasn’t negatively impacted Welsh businesses.

“The Welsh Government must now turn their attention to supporting the poultry industry from further financial hardship, without further delay.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 25 November 2022.

Labour’s health minister in Cardiff Bay has been accused of being missing in action at a point of severe NHS pressure.

Baroness Morgan has only made three statements in the Senedd since the summer recess ended in September, one of the lowest total for any minister. No further statements are scheduled for her for the rest of the year.

It comes as the Royal College of Nursing prepares to strike before Christmas at a time when over three-quarters of a million people are on an NHS waiting list, the worst ambulance response times on record, and the longest A&E waits in Britain.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Russell George MS said:

“Given the parlous state of the NHS following an attitude of delay and deterioration, I really am surprised how little we are seeing of the Health Minister.

“It is no wonder we have to drag them into the Chamber though topical questions and opposition debates to get answers when we get so little proactive planning to scrutinise.

“When we consider it was the last health minister who said it would be ‘foolish’ to public an NHS recovery plan during the pandemic and this one is refusing to negotiate pay with nurses, we should not be surprised to see the record waits patients and staff have to deal with daily.

“Labour need to get a grip on the NHS and stop breaking all the wrong records.”

Morgan’s three statements put her behind the ministers for Education, Climate Change, Economy, and Finance and Local Government. She is equal with the Minister for Social Justice and the Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport.

Latest NHS figures show:

• 23% of the population on a waiting list, but the number of people waiting over two years is now 57,284 despite such waits having been virtually eliminated in England and Scotland.
• 1-in-4 Welsh patients waited over a year for treatment, but only 1-in-20 do so in England.
• The median waiting time in Wales was 21.8 weeks compared to 14 in England.
• A third (33.4%) of patients had to wait over the four-hour target to be seen in A&E last month. In England and Scotland, the equivalent figure in both was 31%.
• Only 48% of responses to immediately life-threatening calls arrived within eight minutes – the worst rate on record (beating last month’s 50%). The target of 65% of red-calls reaching their patient within eight minutes has not been reached now for over two years.
• Two-thirds (66.7%) of amber call patients – which include strokes – took over an hour to reach, with only 19% arriving within 30 minutes.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 25 November 2022.

The Labour Government has taken six weeks to send a ministerial representative to the Menai Bridge since it was forced to close in October.

Lee Waters, Deputy Minister for Climate Change, will visit the bridge that links Anglesey to mainland Britain on 30th November after it was shut down for essential maintenance work.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Transport Minister Natasha Asghar MS said:

“Lee Waters is so obsessed with punishing motorists with his default 20mph speed limits, congestion charges, and the roadbuilding freeze, it hardly surprises me that it has taken him so long to pay residents affected by the Bridge’s closure a visit.

“But it isn’t just motorists that are affected by Waters’ laziness – the failure to maintain the bridge over time will have a huge impact on businesses who miss out on crucial trade, see deliveries delayed, and employees stuck in traffic.

“Work on the bridge should not have been left to get worse over time and the Labour Government needs to be far more regular with maintenance of the bridge when the reasons behind the closure are resolved.

Conservative Ynys Môn MP Virginia Crosbie added:

“The Menai closure is not only impacting Ynys Môn but all of North Wales, especially considering the impact this will be having on the haulage industry with Holyhead being a major shipping port.

“Sadly, I am not surprised that a Labour minister in Cardiff Bay has taken so long to visit because we see so little from them when it comes to helping North Wales. Indeed, Labour’s neglect of our part of Wales is why we’re in this position in the first place.

“I hope this will now change and we can get the bridge open and Ynys Môn moving again.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 25 November 2022.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 24 November 2022.

A series of newspaper articles in recent months have called into question their safeguarding policies. The National Lottery Community Fund has since suspended future payments to them and the Department for Education has removed it from its mental health and wellbeing resources for schools.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative Shadow Education Minister, Laura Anne Jones MS said:

“I am glad to see that public bodies as well as the UK Government, in recognition of these controversies, are cutting ties with Mermaids.

“The Labour Government, here in Wales, have yet to see sense and are keeping the contact information for Mermaids on Wales’ digital learning centre, the Hwb. Labour have serious questions to answer about their stubborn persistence in partnering with this group.

“Supporting children must be a top priority, but clearly, this organisation is wholly unfit and should not be trusted to safeguard vulnerable young people or to receive taxpayer cash to provide so-called ‘diversity training’.”

Mermaids is an advocacy group that claims to support gender variant and transgender youth and provides ‘inclusion and diversity training’.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 24 November 2022.

Following the publication of a review of how Bridgend Council’s children services department handled the case of murdered five year-old Logan Mwangi, Welsh Conservative Shadow Social Services Minister Gareth Davies MS said:

“What happened to Logan was a tragedy that should never have happened and might have been prevented if the failures identified in this report were avoided.

“Not only do we see a reluctance to escalate Logan’s situation in the face of obvious evidence and agencies working in silos, not sharing information, but understaffed departments that prove our concerns about high dependency of agency workers leading to cases like this are vindicated.

“The report also shows the Council being quick to blame Covid for some of its shortcomings, but it does suggest that the Labour Government’s guidance was not clear or responsive enough to allow social workers to properly safeguard vulnerable children during the pandemic.

“It is clear that in addition to Bridgend Council implementing the report’s recommendations, we need a Wales-wide review of children’s services which, sadly, Mark Drakeford continues to block despite Wales being the only UK nation not undertaking one and having the UK’s highest rate of looked-after children.”

Welsh Conservative research recently uncovered that Bridgend Council spent £1,147,354 on agency social workers in the year Logan was killed. The Party argue that permanent staff are needed to build relationships with families and observe cases over time. One of the observations of the report was:

“In order to robustly understand the family dynamics, practitioners need to have sufficient time to undertake assessment sessions, opportunity to undertake observational sessions and sufficient time to reflect and analyse the information gathered… [There was an] absence of consistent experienced staffing across agencies.”

According to Freedom of Information responses, 376 agency social workers were employed by Welsh councils last year at a cost of £20,423,189. This is an increase from 365 for £18,522,072 in 2020/21 and 279 for £16,149,980 the year before. Already since April this year, £1.8m has been spent on 143 such staff but the cost is likely to far exceed this over the course of a whole year.

The reliance of local authorities on agency social workers has become a significant area of concern in recent months after a council that admitted it failed to prevent the murder of toddler Star Hobson has a serious staff retention problem in its children’s services.

Bradford Council spent £12.3m on agency staff in the last year – representing a doubling of its spend since the 16-month-old girl died on 22 September 2020. It also has the highest spend in the country.