Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, it is a matter of regret that certain cohorts of children will not be going back to school until after Easter, and that is the choice that you are taking, despite saying it is your No. 1 priority to get schoolchildren back to face-to face learning as quickly as possible. I was very specific in the way I asked the question about using the headroom that is available through the...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, in response to Russell George's question, you said that education and reopening of education was your No. 1 priority, and I think we'd all subscribe to that. But, regrettably, Ministers have confirmed that some year groups going back to school will not return to school until after the Easter break. So, if you're in years 7, 8, 9 or 10, you will...
Andrew RT Davies: And I hope that the Senedd will speak with one voice when it comes to amendment 1. And I think the best way to reflect on that, because I know the First Minister in his remarks around First Minister's questions was agitated, shall we say, that the leaders of the parties hadn't spoken about the vaccination roll-out—well, if he'd heard the statement earlier on in the afternoon, that thanks...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer, and I thank the First Minister for introducing this important debate to the Senedd today to reflect on the annual report and note its contents. The first amendment, I think, is wholly appropriate, and I'm pleased to hear about the First Minister's support for that amendment, paying thanks to everyone involved in the extraordinary endeavours both of the...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Minister, for your statement this afternoon, and I too want to join in putting thanks on the record to all of the teams of vaccinators, and everyone concerned with the roll-outs across the whole of Wales. The numbers have gathered pace week in, week out now, and it's pleasing to see progress being made on the targets that were set by the Welsh Government early on in the campaign....
Andrew RT Davies: Regrettably, in that answer, First Minister, I didn't hear you identify the plan to take services forward so that they can engage with some of those 3,500 people who've gone undiagnosed, as well as developing services across Wales to meet the challenge of the waiting times that I addressed to you in my first question. We do know that waiting times were a problem before the pandemic, where...
Andrew RT Davies: First Minister, it is a fact, as I identified in my opening remarks, that waiting times are large across the United Kingdom—I accept that—but here in Wales they are particularly acute, with one in five people on a waiting list from the whole population. And where my concern comes into play here is the urgency the Government is putting into this to have a plan of recovery out of COVID....
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. First Minister, I'd like to address the issue of waiting times in Wales, and I appreciate there are pressures on waiting times across the United Kingdom but, in Wales, for example, they're particularly acute, with 530,000 patients on a waiting list for starting treatment—the highest on record since data was first collected in this format since 2011. Two...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. I'd like to pay tribute to Captain Sir Tom Moore, who was born on 30 April 1920 in West Yorkshire. His mother and father ran a successful construction company. His father was deaf and the sense of loneliness that this condition made his father feel stayed with Sir Tom and become one of the causes he championed through the course of his life. He married his second...
Andrew RT Davies: Minister, public services across South Wales Central rely on annual budgets to be set, and at the moment—. And I do declare an interest, as a member of a local authority, the Vale of Glamorgan local authority. At the moment, councils and police authorities are setting their budget rates. The police and crime commissioner set an indicative rate of a 5.5 per cent increase, and the Vale of...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you.
Andrew RT Davies: You did, Presiding Officer. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer. Business manager, could I have a statement from the health Minister, please, in relation to the new variants that are currently being identified across the United Kingdom? I appreciate there's a vaccination statement later on this afternoon, but I don't think it is appropriate to mix the two up, to be honest with you, and a...
Andrew RT Davies: With respect, First Minister, I'd agree with you that one pollution incident is one too many, and as someone who is involved in the agriculture industry, I want to see an industry that has as clean a bill of health as possible. But I go back to the point that I've said to you; I've offered you examples where the Minister is on the record as saying that these NVZ regulations would not be...
Andrew RT Davies: I'd agree with your assessment, First Minister; there is some light at the end of the tunnel with some of the numbers that are moving in the right direction now, but we still have a very long, long way to go with this pandemic, and it is right that we adhere to the restrictions and we do all we can as we go into the spring. What concerns me greatly is when Government Ministers make...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer, and, with your permission, I'd just like to put on the record that our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the three fishermen who are still classed as missing off the north Wales coast, and our gratitude to the search and rescue teams who have been out tirelessly trying to give some comfort to those families in trying to seek out their loved ones. I'm...
Andrew RT Davies: Well, again, the First Minister doesn't look at the facts that are before him. Everything I've quoted him today are facts—about the Government's own commitment about 70 per cent of over-80-year-olds being vaccinated by the end of the week; the fact that that surgery in Barry identified that 350 people on their books over 80 and only 50 have been administered the shots; the difference...
Andrew RT Davies: You have not met your commitment, First Minister. Last week, you said quite clearly, and your health Minister said quite clearly—that was information offered by you as a Government—that everyone over the age of 80, 70 per cent of that cohort, would be vaccinated by the end of the week. I heard loud and clear what the response was, but you didn't give a clear answer. You have cleared that...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you, Presiding Officer. First Minister, last week there was much focus on the target of having 70 per cent of over-80-year-olds vaccinated. I heard your response to an earlier question this afternoon, but I think it is very, very important that we know quite clearly whether you've hit that target or not. You said last week that you will have day-to-day information in your possession...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that answer, Minister, and if you could provide us with a regular update as the progress and the vaccine roll-out goes forward here in Wales around these figures, because they're quite alarming—72 per cent in the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies papers. So, I think it's important that we try and allay any fears that might be pervading those communities to stop people...
Andrew RT Davies: Thank you for that answer, Minister. I just want to be clear: I was talking about the AstraZeneca vaccine, not the well-documented delays—
