English: Thank you, Minister, for your statement. Anybody would think there was an election brewing, because this statement very, very clearly puts your ideas of having a social care tax into the long grass, and I'm not surprised at all that you've kicked it there. However, looking back at the inter-ministerial group report, it has most certainly laid the foundations for a Labour social care tax through their workings, and I'm here to say that the Welsh Conservatives will not tax the elderly to provide for social care. We believe it is the right of elderly people to be provided with the care that they need and deserve, and we know there is money in the system, but it's just not the clear-sighted planning and drive to solve this issue. So, I cannot agree with your other comment that you've buried in that statement about introducing a levy in the longer term. However, I do agree that the social care sector is fragile, and swift action must be taken, and I do agree that we are facing a demographic challenge. It's a welcome challenge - a long life is to be celebrated - but it is a challenge nonetheless. I have read the LE report, and it's really interesting, and I think that there's an awful lot there that we should take away from it and use to build on a potential solution. But what I would like to know and understand is, over the past workings of the inter-ministerial group, how much time have they looked at the 'how' and the potential cost of directing us all to healthier lifestyles. We've talked a lot about the fact that poverty, obesity, substance dependency, smoking, alcohol, lack of exercise, during our lives, from child to older adult, will actually be the influences that influence the quality of our later years, and those are where we need to spend time and tackle, rather than just saying, when you get there and you're not in great shape, 'You're going to have to pay for your care.' So, I'd be really interested to know what they've looked at in those terms. Do you also, I'd like to know, agree with the principle that paying for social care should be a shared risk across our nation in the same way that we pay for our NHS, because if we're only going to say, 'We're just going to make you when you get older to pay for social care', I just believe that fairness is going out of the window? You also speak of the need to improve care staff terms of pay. I totally agree, and the Welsh Conservatives have an aggressive plan to recruit and empower care staff, to pay them an absolute minimum of £10 an hour, and more with training and responsibilities. So, how will you in the short term look to recruit and empower care staff, because you say that this is a short-term problem as well as a long-term plan? When looking at the proposals put together by Gerry Holtham, they effectively meant that you could end up paying more tax just as you were retiring and your income drops. Did the ministerial group look at the issues that would affect Holtham's calculations, such as unemployment, because I think that's actually a really key plank, and I'd be really interested to know if LE also reviewed that? You mention a need for cross-party involvement in order to be able to bring this forward over the longer term, and I don't necessarily disagree with that, but please could you also outline how older people and a broad range of their representatives will be able to be involved in true co-production of any new policy? Finally, in my view, until budgets are totally pooled within social care and healthcare, you are having an uphill battle for the true integration of health and social care, and, in my view, at some point somebody has absolutely got to bite that bullet and make that happen, because that is what will drive it, because money is king in public services and that's what will drive that integration and make this kind of decision making and decision planning much, much easier and far more cohesive. Thank you, Minister.
Welsh: Diolch, Gweinidog, am eich datganiad chi. Fe fyddai unrhyw un yn meddwl fod yna etholiad ar droed, oherwydd mae'r datganiad hwn yn amlwg iawn yn gohirio eich syniadau chi am fod â threth gofal cymdeithasol ac yn ceisio anghofio amdanyn nhw, ac nid wyf i'n synnu o gwbl eich bod chi wedi gwneud felly. Serch hynny, wrth edrych yn ôl ar adroddiad y grŵp rhyngweinidogol, mae hwn yn sicr, drwy eu gwaith nhw, wedi gosod sylfaen ar gyfer treth gofal cymdeithasol y Blaid Lafur, ac rwyf i yma i ddweud na fydd y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig yn trethu'r henoed i ddarparu am ofal cymdeithasol. Rydym ni'n credu mai hawl pobl oedrannus yw cael y gofal haeddiannol sydd ei angen arnyn nhw, ac fe wyddom ni fod yna arian yn y system, ond ni cheir yma'r cynllunio clir na'r ymdrech ddigonol i ddatrys y broblem hon. Felly, nid wyf i'n gallu cytuno â'r sylw arall y gwnaethoch chi ei gelu'n ddwfn yn y datganiad hwn ynglŷn â chyflwyno ardoll yn y tymor hwy. Eto i gyd, rwy'n cytuno bod y sector gofal cymdeithasol yn fregus, ac mae'n rhaid cymryd camau'n fuan, ac rwy'n cytuno ein bod ni'n wynebu her ddemograffig. Mae honno'n her i'w chroesawu - mae oes hir yn rhywbeth i'w ddathlu - ond mae'n her serch hynny. Rwyf wedi darllen yr adroddiad gan LE, ac mae hwnnw'n ddiddorol iawn, ac rwyf i o'r farn fod llawer iawn ynddo y dylem ni ddysgu oddi wrtho a'i ddefnyddio ar gyfer llunio datrysiad posibl. Ond yr hyn yr hoffwn i ei wybod a'i ddeall yw, yn ystod gwaith y grŵp rhyngweinidogol yn y gorffennol, faint o amser a roddwyd i edrych ar y 'sut' a'r gost bosibl wrth ein cyfeirio ni i gyd tuag at ffyrdd o fyw sy'n fwy iach. Rydym ni wedi siarad llawer am y ffaith mai tlodi, gordewdra, dibyniaeth ar sylweddau, ysmygu, alcohol, diffyg ymarfer corff, yng nghwrs ein bywydau ni, o oedran plentyn hyd at yr oedolyn hŷn, fydd y dylanwadau sylweddol ar ansawdd ein blynyddoedd diweddarach ni. Dyna'r maes y mae angen inni dreulio amser yn mynd i'r afael ag ef, yn hytrach na dim ond dweud, pan fyddwch chi wedi cyrraedd oedran teg ac nid ydych chi mewn cyflwr da dros ben, 'Mae'n rhaid ichi dalu am eich gofal.' Felly, fe fyddai'n dda iawn gennyf i glywed beth maen nhw wedi bod yn edrych arno o ran hynny. A ydych chi hefyd, hoffwn i wybod, yn cytuno â'r egwyddor y dylai talu am ofal cymdeithasol fod yn risg a rennir ledled ein cenedl ni yn yr un modd ag yr ydym ni'n talu am ein GIG? Oherwydd os ydym yn dweud, 'Rydym ni am wneud ichi dalu am eich gofal cymdeithasol pan fyddwch chi'n hyn', dyna ddiwedd ar unrhyw degwch yn fy marn i. Rydych chi'n sôn hefyd am yr angen i wella telerau cyflog staff gofal. Rwy'n cytuno'n llwyr, ac mae gan y Ceidwadwyr Cymreig gynllun cadarn iawn i recriwtio a grymuso staff gofal, i dalu isafswm absoliwt o £10 yr awr iddyn nhw, a mwy gyda hyfforddiant a chyfrifoldebau. Felly, a ydych chi am geisio recriwtio a grymuso staff gofal yn y byrdymor, oherwydd rydych chi'n dweud mai problem fyrdymor yw hon yn ogystal â bod yn gynllun i'r hirdymor? Wrth edrych ar y cynigion a gyflwynodd Gerry Holtham, roedden nhw i bob pwrpas yn golygu y gallech fod yn talu mwy o dreth yn syth ar ôl ichi ymddeol ac fe fyddai eich incwm chi'n lleihau. A edrychodd y grŵp gweinidogol ar y materion a fyddai'n effeithio ar gyfrifiadau Holtham, megis diweithdra, oherwydd rwyf i o'r farn fod honno'n elfen wirioneddol allweddol, mewn gwirionedd, ac fe fyddai hi'n dda iawn gennyf gael gwybod a wnaeth LE adolygu hynny hefyd? Rydych chi'n sôn am yr angen i gynnwys cytundeb trawsbleidiol i allu cyflwyno hyn dros y tymor hwy, ac nid wyf i'n anghytuno â hynny o reidrwydd. Ond a wnewch chi amlinellu hefyd sut y bydd pobl hŷn, ac ystod eang o'u cynrychiolwyr nhw, yn gallu bod â rhan wrth gynhyrchu unrhyw bolisi newydd ar y cyd mewn ffordd sydd o werth gwirioneddol? Yn olaf, yn fy marn i, hyd nes y caiff y cyllidebau eu cyfuno'n llwyr o fewn gofal cymdeithasol a gofal iechyd, fe fydd yna frwydr galed i integreiddio gofal iechyd a gofal cymdeithasol ac, yn fy marn i, fe fydd yn rhaid i rywun wynebu'r ffaith honno er mwyn i hynny ddigwydd. Dyna wnaiff ysgogi hynny oherwydd yr arian sydd yn ben ar wasanaethau cyhoeddus a dyna fydd yn ysgogi'r integreiddio hwnnw ac yn gwneud y dull hwn o wneud penderfyniadau a chynllunio penderfyniadau yn llawer, llawer haws ac yn llawer iawn mwy cydlynol. Diolch, Gweinidog.