English: At the start of the pandemic, health and care and wider public services were still recovering from a decade of austerity and you'll recall the very difficult choices that the Government and Members in supporting budgets have had to make in moving money around. The prioritisation of the health service I believe was the right thing, but that caused real difficulties for local government in every part of the country as it meant a reduction in local government income. Just because the cuts that they had to deal with weren't of the scale that colleagues in England had to face, they were still nevertheless incredibly difficult and left our public service partners in a less-than-even-handed manner than you'd want them to; the resilience they had was less than it should have been. The same with the police, of course, who have been key partners in the pandemic response with a significant reduction in the workforce and front-line policing as well. So yes, we were more vulnerable than I would have wanted us to be at the start of this pandemic. Despite that, what we have seen from local public service leaders is a real willingness to work together and it's a real plus that it's drawn health and local government together with other partners because of the necessity, and I believe that's good ground for those people to work together. We disagree on whether there should be a significant reorganisation of health and social care responsibilities. My view is that's the wrong thing to do - with an unfinished pandemic - to have a big reorganisation. But I do think that there are good grounds to not just praise the response of health and local government together, but to want to build on that in the sort of joint working that we have frankly found not as easy as we'd wanted to on the scale and the pace we want to see for the transformation that is still needed to make sure that health and social care are a genuinely sustainable system working with each other.
Welsh: Ar ddechrau'r pandemig, roedd iechyd a gofal a gwasanaethau cyhoeddus ehangach yn dal i wella ar ôl degawd o gyni ac fe fyddwch yn cofio'r dewisiadau anodd iawn y bu'n rhaid i'r Llywodraeth ac Aelodau eu gwneud wrth gefnogi cyllidebau ar gyfer symud arian o gwmpas. Credaf mai blaenoriaethu'r gwasanaeth iechyd oedd y peth iawn, ond achosodd hynny anawsterau gwirioneddol i lywodraeth leol ym mhob rhan o'r wlad gan ei fod yn golygu gostyngiad yn incwm llywodraeth leol. Er nad oedd y toriadau y bu'n rhaid iddynt ymdopi â hwy ar y raddfa y bu'n rhaid i gymheiriaid yn Lloegr ei hwynebu, roeddent yn dal i fod yn anhygoel o anodd serch hynny ac roeddent yn rhoi ein partneriaid yn y gwasanaethau cyhoeddus mewn sefyllfa lai teg nag y byddech yn ei ddymuno; roeddent yn llai cadarn nag y dylent fod. Yr un peth gyda'r heddlu, wrth gwrs, sydd wedi bod yn bartneriaid allweddol yn yr ymateb i'r pandemig gyda gostyngiad sylweddol yn y gweithlu a phlismona rheng flaen yn ogystal. Felly, roeddem yn fwy agored i niwed nag y byddwn wedi dymuno i ni fod ar ddechrau'r pandemig hwn. Er gwaethaf hynny, yr hyn a welsom gan arweinwyr gwasanaethau cyhoeddus lleol yw parodrwydd gwirioneddol i gydweithio ac mae'n fantais wirioneddol fod hynny wedi tynnu iechyd a llywodraeth leol ynghyd â phartneriaid eraill oherwydd yr angen, a chredaf fod honno'n sail dda i'r bobl hynny gydweithio. Rydym yn anghytuno ynglŷn ag a ddylid ad-drefnu cyfrifoldebau iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol yn sylweddol. Yn fy marn i, dyna'r peth anghywir i'w wneud - gyda phandemig yn dal i fynd rhagddo - cael ad-drefnu mawr. Ond rwy'n credu bod sail dda nid yn unig i ganmol ymateb iechyd a llywodraeth leol gyda'i gilydd, ond i fod eisiau adeiladu ar hynny yn y math o gydweithio y gwelsom mewn gwirionedd nad oedd mor hawdd ag y dymunem ei weld ar y raddfa a'r cyflymder rydym am ei weld ar gyfer y trawsnewid sydd ei angen o hyd i sicrhau bod iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol yn system wirioneddol gynaliadwy sy'n gweithio gyda'n gilydd.