Written Assembly Questions tabled on 16 March 2015 for answer on 23 March 2015
R - Signifies the Member has declared an interest.
W - Signifies that the question was tabled in Welsh.
(Self identifying Question no. shown in brackets)
Written Questions must be tabled at least five working days before they are to be answered. In practice, Ministers aim to answer within seven/eight days but are not bound to do so. Answers are published in the language in which they are provided, with a translation into English of responses provided in Welsh.
To ask the First Minister
Leanne Wood (South Wales Central): What assessment has the Welsh Government made of the minimum time needed to ensure that votes at 16 are in place for the Assembly election in May 2016? (WAQ WAQ68481)
Answer received on 18 March 2015
The First Minister of Wales (Carwyn Jones): To have complied with the Electoral Commission’s recommendation that changes to rules relating to elections should be in place six months before the polls, the necessary Assembly Bill would need to secure Royal Assent by the end of September 2015 at the latest. No such Bill can however come forward until Parliament has legislated to devolve the necessary legislative competence to the Assembly, and there are no proposals for that to happen in the current Parliament.
Leanne Wood (South Wales Central): What discussions has the Welsh Government had with the UK Government to ensure that there is sufficient time to allow 16 and 17 year olds to vote in the Assembly election in 2016, following the powers outlined in the St David's Day Command Paper? (WAQ68482)
Answer received on 18 March 2015
The First Minister of Wales (Carwyn Jones): Together with you and the leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, I wrote to the Secretary of State about this matter earlier this year, before the St David’s Day Command Paper was published. Publication of the Command Paper does not change the position as set out in the Secretary of State’s reply, as the Paper relates to legislative proposals for the next Parliament.
To ask the Minister for Health and Social Services
Darren Millar (Clwyd West): What consideration has the Welsh Government given to extending the Wales Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme to all men over the age of 65 who are yet to be screened? (WAQ68488)
Answer received on 26 March 2015
The Minister for Health and Social Services (Mark Drakeford): The Wales Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Screening Programme (WAAASP) was launched in May 2013 and offers screening to male residents of 65 years-of-age in Wales. In January 2014, WAAASP established a Task and Finish Group to consider the implementation of the extension of the programme to men over 65 and living in Wales, who request AAA screening (self-referrals). The recommendations of that Group have been considered by the Wales Screening Committee and I expect to receive the Committee’s advice soon.
Lynne Neagle (Torfaen): What steps is the Welsh Government taking to ensure that patients in Wales continue to have access to appropriate clinical trials being run in England? (WAQ68489)
Answer received on 19 March 2015
The Minister for Health and Social Services (Mark Drakeford): As part of the treatment options offered to patients, we recognise that clinical trials have a significant and relevant role to play. This is because they have the potential to offer early access to the newest forms of treatment together with the highest standards of medical care.
Through continued investment in health and social care research and development, our aim is that Wales hosts and supports as many trials as possible in order to offer clinical trials opportunities to patients in Welsh organisations. However, on occasion, this may not be possible across all disease areas and we therefore support referrals to specialist expertise and centres that may be outside Wales.
Patients can be referred to trials through normal medical consultations. The National Institute for Social Care and Health Research (NISCHR) has a scheme to meet the research related treatment costs for patients irrelevant of setting and will continue to liaise with English organisations to agree these costs. (These costs are normally covered for commercially sponsored research).
Lynne Neagle (Torfaen): What steps is the Welsh Government taking to ensure that GPs receive training/guidance in making referrals to specialist CAMHS in Wales? (WAQ68490)
Answer received on 26 March 2015
Mark Drakeford: In April 2013, a Direct Enhanced Service (DES) giving GP practices the choice of one of five training topics each year for the whole team was introduced. One of the five topics was:
- Understanding the mental health needs of young people and local pathways and support, working with local CAMHS services.
This DES provides funding for primary care to undertake training where appropriate.
It is the responsibility of health boards to ensure effective referral pathways between primary and secondary care. Supporting this, in 2013, Welsh Government published professional advice for service planners, developed by a multiagency national expert reference group of practitioners working in the field of young people's mental wellbeing. While not limited to GPs it details how services should work together to address young people's mental ill-health and includes advice on the common presenting complaints, behaviours and conditions that may require specialist CAMHS involvement and guidelines and standards for referrals.
Eluned Parrott (South Wales Central): What complaints procedure guidance is issued to LHBs, given the case recently brought to your attention regarding a constituent who waited 2.25 hours for an ambulance and 4.5 hours at hospital to be examined by a doctor, to which I have still not received a substantive response from the LHB? (WAQ68491)
Answer received on 26 March 2015
Mark Drakeford: The Putting Things Right procedure was introduced in April 2011 and provides robust arrangements for investigating and learning lessons from all concerns, including agreeing from the outset the nature of the concern, being open when mistakes have been made, sharing reports and involving patients and families. An independent review of the process was undertaken last year and its findings published in July 2014. The recommendations are being taken forward both locally by health boards and NHS trusts and nationally through the National Quality Safety Forum.