MS ‘could have travelled to Mars and back’ in time it took him to get answer from Welsh Government

A Senedd Member has said that he could have travelled to Mars and back in the time it took him to get an answer to a question from the Welsh Government

Rhun ap Iorwerth, Plaid Cymru’s Health spokesperson, sent a letter to the Health Minister in September 2020.

He has now been answered – nine months later and by a different Health Minister, after Eluned Morgan replaced Vaughan Gething in the role following May’s Senedd election.

“Getting a Ministerial response shouldn’t take longer than a trip to Mars,” Rhun ap Iorwerth said.

The Ynys Môn Senedd Member added that waiting months for a reply to a question wasn’t uncommon, as he had also faced a seven-month wait for another message sent in December which was only answered this month.

‘Affront’

Rhun ap Iorwerth said that the delay made holding the government to account “even more important but twice as difficult.”

“In September 2020 I wrote to the Health Minister about a Public Health Wales data breach. To receive a response nine months later is clearly unacceptable,” he said.

“And this is far from being an isolated incident. Last December I wrote to the minister at the time on the issue of vaccinating health care workers. The response I have only now received is of little value.

“This ‘better late than never’ approach to answering correspondence is an affront to scrutiny. Holding the government and ministers to account during the pandemic is more important than ever, but twice as difficult.

“We’ve had two national lockdowns, a Welsh general election and a new Health Minister in the time it’s taken to respond to this letter and that simply isn’t good enough.”