Tag: Welsh Conservatives

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 9 November 2022.

Andrew RT Davies has said Labour have left the Welsh taxpayer ‘holding the bag’ on Cardiff Airport, as flight numbers from the airport drop.

His comments come as Labour’s Deputy Climate Change Minister refused to set a date for the resumption of the direct bus service between Cardiff Airport and Cardiff City Centre.

Third quarter figures for 2022 show that flights from the airport were down by 52% compared with the equivalent period in 2019.

Commenting, Andrew RT Davies said:

“When Labour ministers purchased Cardiff Airport in 2013, they were making an investment with the hard earned money of taxpayers in Wales.

“But since then, it’s been a turbulent time, with passenger numbers under pressure and a failure to give the airport a competitive edge.

“By failing to provide adequate transport links to Wales’ capital city, Labour are setting the airport up to fail, and taxpayers are the ones left holding the bag.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 8 November 2022.

Labour leader, Keir Starmer will not be attending the Qatar World Cup, stating that this was ‘the position of the party’. However, Labour’s most senior elected politician, First Minister Mark Drakeford will be attending.

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

“Labour’s inconsistency on this matter is clear for all to see. The Labour leader isn’t going to Qatar, but the First Minister is. The response from the Leader of the House, as to why Starmer is wrong and Drakeford is right, was that Starmer has the luxury of playing to the gallery. This is no way to conduct serious politics.

“What is right, is that the Welsh Government is represented in Qatar, fulfilling their role of promoting Wales abroad and in particular, to highlight employment rights abuses.

“I hope that the Deputy Sport Minister will reverse her decision to boycott the Wales-Iran game. We feel that sending a female Minister will send that vital message, that here in Wales, men and women are wholly equal.”

The press release issued by Welsh Conservatives on 8 November 2022.

Commenting on the news that the M4 through Newport has been closed 310 times so far this year as a result of crashes, breakdowns and debris, Welsh Conservatives Shadow Minister for Transport, Natasha Asghar MS said:

“It is painfully clear that Labour ministers have no solutions when it comes to alleviating congestion on the M4.

“Three and a half years ago, the First Minister took the unilateral decision to waste £157 million and scrap the M4 relief road, choosing to provide no viable alternative to congestion in Wales. This decision firmly slammed the door on investment in Wales proving that, under Labour, Wales is closed for business.

“When will Labour ministers stop their needless war on motorists and invest in the infrastructure that Wales is crying out for?”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 8 November 2022.

According to a NAHT union survey of 670 schools, pressures on school budgets could mean significant staff cuts across Wales.

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

“Schools in Wales need proper support from the Labour Government, sorely lacking at present. School budgets are stretched enough from ever increasing demands on them from the Welsh Government, with no or little money to follow those directives.

“Wales has already seen a 10% fall in teacher numbers since 2011, which represents 4,000 fewer teachers despite there being 7,000 more students. Further staff cuts would add to the growing pressures faced by schools and would be a kick in the teeth to teachers, having worked hard and done so well during the Covid pandemic.

“Labour have critically underfunded education in Wales for too long. They hold the levers of power, with education devolved, they have no one to blame but themselves.”

The majority of schools in Wales report that they will have to make redundancies next year:

More than a third (38%) of schools say they will go into deficit this year, unless they make further cuts.

Just 5% of schools say they will be able to pay their costs next academic year (23-24) without going into deficit – meaning more than 9 in 10 schools won’t be able to balance their budgets without drastic action.

Around three quarters (73%) say they will have to make teaching assistants redundant or reduce their hours

More than half (61%) say they are looking at reducing the number of teachers or teaching hours

Close to half (48%) of schools said they would be forced to reduce non-educational support and services for children next year. This means cutting back on vital services such as counselling, therapy and mental health support.

Over half (56%) said they would have to reduce spending on additional targeted interventions for pupils requiring additional support. This means pupils needing extra help or those with ALN may not get the support they need.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 7 November 2022.

Commenting on research surrounding the implementation of 20mph zones in Wales, Welsh Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport, Natasha Asghar MS said:

“Introducing 20mph speed limits should be decided by local councils and for places such as outside of schools and playgrounds. The research is far from conclusive with studies having shown that 20mph limits could have a detrimental impact on issues such as public transport as the tight timetable that many busses run on could be affected.

“Labour have already admitted that this policy will come at an astonishing cost of £4.5bn to the Welsh economy, proving they are doing everything possible to stunt growth in Wales.

“Labour ministers need to stop imposing dogmatic and restrictive measures on road users in Wales and focus on making sure Wales has a public transport system fit for the 21st century.”

The press release issued by Welsh Conservatives on 4 November 2022.

The Welsh Conservatives have re-iterated their call on the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay to do away with fax machines in the NHS to modernise the ageing digital systems in the health service.

The call comes as the UK’s communications regulator Ofcom consults on changes to telecoms rules that could formalise its obsolescence.

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

“Wales has longest NHS waiting times in Britain and one of the aspects holding us back is the lack of modernisation – we are an analogue being in the digital age.

“Behaviours and lifestyles have changed significantly since devolution and it’s about time we had a health service that reflected this through innovation, which is why we should use Ofcom’s consultation as an opportunity to make what is quite a modest leap into the future.

“That does not just mean doing away with outdated fax machines but adapting digital systems wholescale, as we have outlined in our NHS tech bundle. This will level-up the delivery of Welsh healthcare with other UK nations as well as make it more efficient in its own right.

“It is essential the Labour Government get on with this so that NHS Wales can better serve the patients and staff in ways it should have been doing for years.”

In September, the Party called on Labour ministers to ramp-up efforts to modernise NHS digital systems after its outdated nature is damaging efforts to deliver effective healthcare in Wales.

In addition to abolishing the use of fax machines to move to a fully digital system, the NHS Tech Bundle would include:

• Requesting another UK nation for an ‘off-the-shelf’ software system to replace the increasingly unreliable Cancer Network Information System Cymru (CaNISC), so outdated it has caused outages where doctors couldn’t access cancer patient files;
• Fully rollout e-prescribing across NHS Wales, something that was already introduced in England and Scotland since 2005 and 2009, respectively; and
• Develop an NHS Wales app so, like patients in England, people in Wales can access health records, order prescriptions, contact a health professional, and manage appointments.

In 2022, fax machines are still being bought because of a lack of progress in sharing electronic patient records. The Health and Social Care Committee heard the following evidence as part of its report into hospital discharges:

• “We have just bought a fax machine for the new hospital. For heavens’ sake. What are we doing? GPs fax referrals into the emergency unit. I never see it. Why is that not e-mailed to me? Because I can’t deal with the emergency information if the emergency information doesn’t get to me” (Dr Karl Davis of the British Geriatrics Society)
• “In other parts of the UK, they’ve now given care providers NHS e-mail addresses, which enables records to be transferred more easily and more securely. It’s something we’re in conversation about in Wales, but it hasn’t happened yet. So, it might be something that you want to recommend as part of the system changes.” (Mary Wimbury, Care Forum Wales).

The press release issued by 3 November 2022.

Ambulance response times have reached life-endangering heights as new data shows just how long Welsh patients are having to wait for one.

A Freedom of Information request from Senedd Conservatives uncovered a breakdown in ambulance response times for September 2022, revealing that 73 red-calls for life-threatening emergencies took over half an hour to be reached, with one taking over an hour.

30 of these occurred in North Wales’ Betsi Cadwaladr Health Board (HB), which is also where the hour-long wait occurred. Dyfed’s Hywel Dda HB had 17 patients waiting between 30 and 60 minutes.

That month saw only 50% of red-calls reach their patient within eight-minutes – the worst on record – against a 65% target set out by the Labour Government in Cardiff Bay, not reached for two years.

However, there was worse to come in relation to amber calls. These are not classified as life-threatening, yet include very serious conditions such strokes.

4,046 amber patients had to wait over three hours to reach the scene for ambulances to reach the scene. Of these, 1,310 took over five hours, meaning 9% of amber calls in Wales took over 360 minutes to arrive at the scene.

This was most acute in North Wales, with 1,169 waiting over three hours, 423 of these waited over five hours. For other health boards, Gwent’s Aneurin Bevan HB recorded 753 amber calls taking over three hours, while four of the other five had 400-600 such waits.

The revelations come after a Welsh Conservative debate where they called for an end to the system where strokes are not considered for red-call ambulances dispatches.

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

“The crisis affecting Welsh hospitals extends far beyond the buildings themselves as a shortage of beds and staff means overcrowded A&E departments and queues of ambulances outside, resulting in unacceptably long waits for emergency vehicles, something people do not ask for lightly.

“None of this is the fault of hardworking ambulance technicians but poor planning from the Labour Government – do not forget that the last health minister said it would be ‘foolish’ to publish a plan for recovery while the pandemic was still on-going. Now we are all paying the price.

“To generate faster ambulance responses, we must tackle the causes of the delays at source – this means less congested A&E departments and making progress on the treatment backlog, where one-fifth of the Welsh population lie – with winter war rooms and surgical hubs.

“This is the cost of Labour, and now Mark Drakeford needs to get a grip on the NHS and stop breaking all the wrong records.”

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 1 November 2022.

The Leader of the Opposition has called for private messages between Labour Government ministers and officials in Cardiff Bay to be disclosed to the UK-wide Covid inquiry.

Commenting, Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies MS said:

“In order for the inquiry to achieve its purpose of delivering answers to those who lost loved ones, lost their businesses, and lost valuable hours of education during the pandemic, it is essential that we get as much transparency as possible.

“This must extend just beyond decision-makers in Westminster, so that people in Wales can hold leaders in Cardiff Bay accountable too. We need to see how ministers interacted with civil servants, the health boards, and Public Health Wales to get the full picture.

“We always wanted a Wales-specific inquiry as there would be no doubt this would happen as there would be no threat of Welsh Government actions being overshadowed, but without one we are writing to the Chair to ensure our joint ambition of equal scrutiny across the UK is maintained.

“I look forward to hearing back from Baroness Hallett on the assurances we have sought.”

Welsh Conservative leader Andrew RT Davies MS has written to inquiry Chair, Baroness Hallett, asking her to ensure demands made of the UK Government are also made to the devolved administration.

It was reported today that the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson and some of his senior officials will be required to submit some of their WhatsApp messages to the inquiry. Davies has asked if similar requests will be made of ministers and officials in the Welsh Government.

He added: “this would ensure that the four governments within the United Kingdom are scrutinised on a level-playing field and that people in the devolved nations see accountability being applied equally, principles I know you [Hallett] are passionate about upholding”.

The call comes as the UK-wide coronavirus inquiry begins its evidence collection. The Welsh Conservatives have long backed calls from the Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru group for a Wales-specific inquiry given concerns that the Labour Government’s actions will be overshadowed.

The press release issued by the Welsh Conservatives on 28 October 2022.

The Welsh Conservatives have called on Labour ministers to invest more into the GP estate improving facilities for training.

Commenting, Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew RT Davies MS said:

“While we welcome the pay increase for GPs in Wales the simple fact is that doctor retention in Wales is far too low.

“For 25 years, successive Labour Governments have run our NHS into the ground, demoralising staff and hurting patients.

“We desperately need Labour ministers to invest more capital into the GP estate so that doctors have the space they need to train the next generation of GPs in Wales.”

The press release issued by Welsh Conservatives on 28 October 2022.

Commenting on the news that Labour’s housing crisis in Wales is forcing more people into temporary accommodation, Shadow Minister for Housing, Janet Finch-Saunders MS, said:

“What Labour ministers in Cardiff Bay forget is that there is a price that the people of Wales are having to pay for their housing crisis.

“It’s clear that Labour’s plan to end homelessness is just more empty rhetoric. Labour had the opportunity to take radical action after the pandemic and instead, chose to waste £100 million on more politicians in the Senedd.

“Labour ministers need to get a grip on the scale of the crisis, build more homes across Wales, reverse anti rent legislation, and take responsibility for their failings.”