Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:45 pm on 27 June 2023.
Andrew RT Davies
Conservative
1:45,
27 June 2023
Thank you, Presiding Officer. In your earlier answers, First Minister, to questions, you seemed to blame all of the ills of Wales on the UK Government. One of the figures that came out last Thursday was quite clearly an area that you have complete control of, and that is the increase in NHS waiting times. An extra 6,000 people were added on the pathway list; now, nearly 750,000 people in Wales are on a pathway. We also saw a miniscule drop in those waiting two years or more; in excess of 30,000 people are waiting two years or more. One in five people who are on an NHS pathway here in Wales are waiting one year or more—one year or more to see themselves progress on those waiting lists. What hope can you give to those individuals who are waiting two years or one year, and those who have been added to the waiting lists time and time again, as each month passes by, that these lists will decrease and that by the end of the year we will see the elimination of the two-year waits here in Wales?
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.