Eluned Morgan’s forty-ninth session as first minister comes to a close.

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Plaid Cymru MS Adam Price seeks the Welsh government's response to the Office for Statistics Regulation's review on mental health data in Wales.

Eluned Morgan replies, "the review was initiated as a result of proactive steps taken by Welsh government to maximise the value of official statistics. This reflects the government’s commitment to improving mental health data in Wales. We have made improvements to the way that people access mental health services, and the mental health and well-being strategy sets out an ambitious road map for how we will continue to improve."

Adam Price says "the report pictures a situation that is soberingly poor, with data either being limited or not available at all in key areas such as frequency, trends over time, outcomes, access and spend on the workforce, to such an extent that the report says that often users look to English data as some sort of proxy."

The review's findings, external included:

• "The current provision of data and statistics on mental health is limited. Users identified several areas where they either need more information, or the data simply do not exist."
• "There are several issues with the current data and systems. These include inconsistent approaches to data collection and entry and those inputting the data not being specialists in data entry."
• "The Welsh government’s planned core dataset aims to link data from different sources and will follow patients through their whole care journey. However, there are several barriers to its successful implementation across Wales, including funding and resourcing issues, a lack of suitable IT, and there being no legal mandate for health boards to adopt the new system."

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Plaid Cymru MS for Caerphilly, Lindsay Whittle, asks "what action is the Welsh government taking to tackle the corridor care crisis?"

Eluned Morgan says "none of us want to see our loved ones being treated in corridors, and we've made it clear that it's not something that is acceptable to the Welsh government. We're supporting health boards to drive down care in temporary spaces in hospital, including corridors, by helping them to expand clinical capacity, improve patient flow, and setting out ways for them to accelerate safe discharge pathways."

Lindsay Whittle says "the issue of corridor care in our hospitals, of course, is a deeply alarming indicator of the severe pressures facing the Welsh NHS. It represents a fundamental failure to uphold the dignity and basic comfort of vulnerable patients. I can name a number of individuals who have come to me, since I have been elected, who have experienced this unacceptable level of care in our health boards—one an old school friend, who sadly didn't make it."

Last year, nurses and doctors in Wales issued a joint petition calling on the Welsh government to end the "dehumanising" treatment of patients in hospital corridors.

Image source, PA Media

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Liberal Democrat Jane Dodds raises the issue of the financial challenges facing hospitality businesses.

She says, "we see in England a different approach to our pubs that are in crisis. The UK Chancellor is preparing her own response to this crisis, promising to work with the hospitality sector to limit rates. Yet here in Wales, the Welsh government plans to withdraw rate relief, despite the pressures on hospitality being far greater than they are in England."

She warns, "there is a real crisis in hospitality here in Wales. We will lose our pubs and therefore our communities and our villages will have a huge loss. Myself and the Welsh Liberal Democrats are demanding fundamental change to permanently extend and enhance hospitality relief."

Eluned Morgan replies, "I think it's wrong to suggest that there has been a lack of support from the Welsh government when it comes to hospitality. And just to give you a sense of the scale of what we do, since 2020 we've spent more than £1 billion in business rate support in retail, leisure and hospitality businesses in Wales, which is far more generous than it has been in England. Just to give a sense of what is happening after April, at least half the pubs in Wales will get help to pay their business rates bills and a quarter of them will pay no rates at all. Will we match what the UK government is doing in relation to business rates? Well, we can't say 'yes' or 'no' until they've published details of what they're going to do and whether we'll get a consequential."

James Evans - who has become an independent MS today after being sacked by Conservative leader Darren Millar - says "as someone who likes to go out for a pint myself in my own constituency on most weekends, a lot of those people in my constituency do tell me that the national insurance rise that was brought in by the UK Labour government is putting on severe pressure and staff shortages in the sector. You've talked before about two governments working in partnership together, so I'd just like to know: what power are you putting on the Westminster colleagues to try and get their national insurance contributions changed to support our hospitality businesses across Wales?"

Eluned Morgan does not address the question but instead replies, "it's lovely to speak to you, James, and it's lovely to think that you might be going out to the pub with your great friend Robert Jenrick, who we heard so much about on the telly. It is important, I think, for the people of Wales to recognise the stampede that is happening now from the Tory party to Reform."

She then lists the Conservatives in the UK who have defected to Reform.

She concludes, "Reform is just full of failed Tories, and I do hope the people of Wales are watching and recognise that all their promises, in relation to how they're going to reform this nation, will come to nothing, as did their promises in relation to Brexit."

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth refers to Eluned Morgan's admission that her own finance secretary Mark Drakeford's "interest has never been in the economy".

He says, "I am grateful, of course, to her for helping to underline where Labour has lost its way, but to be honest, I'm less interested in what she thinks of her colleagues and more interested in what she has done herself. When she stood for the leadership of the Labour Party in Wales in 2018, she promised that the economy would be her priority."

He lists some ideas from her prospectus which, he says, have not been implemented.

Eluned Morgan replies, "we are serious about the economy. There are more people employed in Wales today than there were last year. You’ve seen interest rates coming down, you’ve seen mortgages coming down, you’ve seen businesses that are able to invest more because of those cheaper mortgages, you’ve seen inflation coming down, you’ve seen energy bills lower. I’ll tell you what this government has done: 46,000 jobs. That is what we have helped to produce. One of the key moments since I became first minister was that investment summit - £16 billion of investment, 100,000 apprentices this Senedd term, 100,000 before that."

Rhun ap Iorwerth makes a commitment that if his party forms the government after May's Senedd election, "in the first 100 days... we will set out our remit for the new development agency, getting to work straight away on creating jobs, helping businesses grow, creating new prosperity, because when I say I will do something in government, I mean it."

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Earlier today Darren Millar, leader of the Welsh Conservatives in the Senedd, kicked James Evans MS out of the group for telling him he was thinking about defecting to Reform UK. James Evans has been removed from the shadow cabinet and had the whip withdrawn making him an independent.

He raises the issue of timely treatment for cancer, and says "your targets for starting cancer treatment in Wales are still not being met, and this is four years since they were introduced."

He says four out of every 10 patients do not start their treatment within the 62-day target of cancer first being suspected.

Eluned Morgan replies, "we've developed a very comprehensive cancer plan for Wales. The statistics are improving. There have been improvements across many health boards, in particular since the pandemic, and we are committed to making sure that we see that people within Wales get the treatment that they deserve."

Darren Millar gives an example of a gentleman in his own constituency.

"He was diagnosed with prostate cancer. He went to see his GP way back in March of last year. It was 158 days from that point until he got access to the operation that he needed. He had that operation in August. He was being monitored by health professionals. Those health professionals picked up, becuase he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, a significant rise in his PSA levels at the beginning of January. They said, 'We need to treat you, becuase you've got a very aggressive prostate cancer.' He hasn't started treatment yet. He hasn't started treatment yet since being told that. Why? Because the health board is in absolute turmoil on your watch. It's in special measures. It has bungled the situation in terms of access to PET scans, which is what he needs before he can get the treatment plan sorted. Can you tell us, what is your message to this gentleman and the many others like him across Wales who don't get access to the treatment in the time that your government sets as a target?"

Eluned Morgan replies, "that is an unacceptable amount of time to wait, and I'm going to encourage you to get in touch with the health secretary [Jeremy Miles] to take up that particular individual case. We have put a substantial amount of additional funding into the NHS in Wales. We spend 12 per cent more on health and social care in Wales compared to England. That's higher than Scotland, higher than England, and higher than Northern Ireland. The general average waiting time in the NHS in Wales for treatment is 19 weeks, so we are seeing improvement when it comes to statistics in relation to health."

Image source, TfW

Plaid Cymru MS Delyth Jewell asks "what progress has the Welsh government made towards securing the devolution of rail funding from the UK government?"

Eluned Morgan replies, "compared to the previous Tory government, we've secured substantial additional funding from the UK government. But we're very clear that we expect them to go further and we want to receive our fair share of funding. When it comes to devolution of rail, our position remains the same: we want to see this happening, but devolution of rail without massive investment to make up for the years of underfunding, for over a decade under the Tories, would lead to us having to cut funding for other public services, like hospitals and schools, and we are not up for that."

Delyth Jewell says "Wales is owed billions from the high speed 2 line. We are owed billions more from Westminster because, not just HS2, but the Oxford to Cambridge line, the Northern Powerhouse Rail. These English projects have been designated as 'England and Wales'. Not an inch of these tracks will be in Wales, and yet we help to foot the bill whilst our railway lines go without that money. Think of all the stations we could reopen if we had the money we are owed".

Conservative Sam Rowlands says, "what we've heard in the question from Plaid Cymru is again their obsession with the constitutional arrangements, rather than delivering for the people of Wales. And one of those things that could be delivered, first minister, for the people of Wales, when it comes to transport here in Wales, is that the Conservative party committed to £1 billion of investment for the electrification of the north Wales mainline. When Labour came into power, they decided to scrap that straight away, which is terrible for the people of north Wales."

Eluned Morgan replies, "your party just made announcements and there was no substance behind them at all, we know that. Ask the people of Swansea, who were promised electrification. Did that happen? It never came. The same thing under the north Wales electrification."

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Image source, Senedd Cymru

Llywydd Elin Jones conducts a ballot to determine the names of members who may table questions to the first minister.

Labour's Julie Morgan raises the issue of accessibility of roads for disabled people.

She says, "many constituents have written to me and have come in to see me about the difficulties they face navigating the streets, either in wheelchairs, or with pushchairs, particularly due to pavement parking. Pedestrians are forced to move out onto busy roads in order to get around cars that are parked on the pavement and haven't left any space for them to get past. And, obviously, this is particularly difficult for wheelchair users, who may not be able to find a suitable dropped kerb near the parked car."

She calls for a ban on pavement parking.

First Minister Eluned Morgan replies, "I think we need to get the balance right, because there are people who have no option other than to park in front of their homes, and we need to make sure that they are involved. We need to make sure there's a lot of listening. We need to make sure that disabled people can get past on the pavement, not just disabled people, actually, but mums with pushchairs as well. So, I know that the UK government plans to give local authority powers to act against unnecessary obstruction of pavements, and, obviously, we will consider whether we want to go further to tackle these issues here."

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of Eluned Morgan’s forty-ninth session of First Minister's Questions.

The Siambr (Senedd chamber) has closed for renovations as work is underway on altering it to accommodate the 96 Members who will be chosen in the next Senedd election in May 2026.

So the 60 MSs are meeting in Siambr Hywel, the original debating chamber that housed the then National Assembly for Wales from 1999 to 2006.

The meeting is held in a hybrid format, with some members in Siambr Hywel and others joining by video-conference.

You can click on the play button above to watch the proceedings from 1.30pm.