National Assembly for Wales

The NHS Wales Joint Commissioning Committee oversees the provision of non-emergency patient transport services to meet the needs of local populations on behalf of health boards. We recently invested over £2.5 million to support the service to provide additional capacity at evenings and weekends to enable eligible people to access appointments.

Our investment in cutting-edge cancer research in Wales, including the dedicated Wales Cancer Research Centre, Wales Cancer Biobank and the Advanced Neuro Therapies Centre, continues to support Welsh researchers to contribute to the UK and global efforts to better diagnose and treat different forms of cancer, including brain cancers.

We are focused on delivering jobs and growth across South Wales Central. This includes working with UK Government to focus on growth across the industrial strategy, such as developing city and growth deals, a local innovation partnership and an industrial strategy zone to support equitable, sustainable growth.

The Welsh Government is consistent in supporting new sustainable renewable energy projects, including onshore wind, to boost UK energy security, create valuable jobs and attract new green industries to Wales. Developers need to involve communities to deliver projects, with the impacts of projects considered through the planning system.

National planning policy provides a robust framework for ensuring agricultural land is protected for productive use, whilst also balancing the need to take into account the nature and climate change emergencies we face. It seeks to ensure there are no unacceptable adverse impacts caused by renewable and low carbon energy projects. 

Colleagues have raised this issue with me in debates in the Senedd. The revision of policy must be evidence based. In plenary on 4 June I invited Members to provide any evidence to justify a review.