Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, this is a scheme designed for major events. We took the precaution of having collected information from the clubs involved in advance of making a decision as to what they thought the loss of income would be if they had to play behind closed doors, and I can assure the Member that £3 million is not a drop in anybody's ocean, and we are confident it is sufficient to be able to...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, Mike Hedges makes a very important point that sadly, very sadly, there are some Governments around the world who have simply wilfully refused to take those actions that would protect their populations, and the results are there for anybody to see. The new regime beyond Christmas will put new obligations on employers—not front-line workers, but the managers of premises—to make...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, in relation to the timeliness of business support, our aim is to use some of the mechanisms we used earlier in the pandemic. So, these will be payments that will go direct to businesses without the need for a complex application process, although there will be a separate sum of money where application can be made for people whose circumstances are beyond what the reliance on local...
Mark Drakeford: —offered—
Mark Drakeford: Okay. I think I'll—. I hope I was explaining that there are some inevitable trade-offs when you have a fixed workforce and you ask them to take on another major programme, like a vaccination programme that's going to offer a booster to everybody eligible in Wales before the end of this calendar year. The good news is that you have concentrated that effort into a very short period, and then...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, apologies for the fact that I'm scanning the information that I have in front of me, and I can't put my eyes on the figure of people in hospital in Wales at the moment, but that figure is available. It is a modest number at the moment, but I know that Russell George will have seen the figures from London and from Manchester of the very rapid rises there have been there in the last...
Mark Drakeford: I thank Hefin David for those questions, Dirprwy Lywydd. Opening hours are unchanged; close-contact services will reopen after Christmas and will have to operate now within the new regime. Driving tests are not under the control of the Welsh Government, because they are set by a UK agency. Driving lessons can continue in Wales, but there have to be proper mitigations, because it is inevitable...
Mark Drakeford: The model is also having to be calibrated against changing evidence in relation, for example, to a length of stay. So, it may be that people who become ill with omicron recover more quickly and therefore are in hospital for less time, and that would have an impact on the scenarios that the model sets out. So, we will publish the model, but it is even more provisional at the moment than it...
Mark Drakeford: I'd like to thank Adam Price for those questions.
Mark Drakeford: I thank him both for his very regular participation in the briefing sessions we're able to provide, alongside Rhun ap Iorwerth, but also for his indication at the start of what he said about general support for the need for precautionary and proportionate actions to be taken to protect people in Wales. We will publish the modelling; we publish the TAC advice we get regularly, often alongside...
Mark Drakeford: Can I say that I think the debate about the severity of omicron does miss the point, to an extent? The sheer numbers of people who will fall ill with the omicron variant means that even if it were to be less severe, that will not stop the huge increase in demand that there may be there from people falling ill. One of the deputy chief medical officers for England explained it at a COBRA...
Mark Drakeford: Llywydd, can I thank the leader of the Welsh Conservatives for those very constructive questions, and for his very regular participation in the briefings that we're able to offer him and other senior spokespeople? I'll do my best to rattle through quite a lengthy set of questions as fast as I can. The measures we have put in place are designed to flatten the curve and to protect lives and the...
Mark Drakeford: We now have a population that is largely vaccinated, and the booster is being rolled out rapidly in all parts of Wales. And now, we have the protection that comes through using lateral flow tests, lateral flow tests that we have all got used to using and that are widely available. And, nearly two years since the pandemic began, every one of us has learned a great deal about how we can protect...
Mark Drakeford: The Chief Medical Officer for Wales is writing to everyone on the shielding list to offer them tailored advice about staying safe and protecting themselves from the omicron variant. We strongly advise anyone to take extra precautions to protect themselves, because nobody wants to be ill over Christmas. This year, the safest Christmas will, indeed, be a smaller Christmas. The single most...
Mark Drakeford: Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I was explaining that, because of the speed of change, we have moved to a weekly cycle of Cabinet meetings. Since the health Minister last updated the Senedd, the Cabinet has met four times in a week to consider the latest public health advice, and I've also held discussions over that week with the Prime Minister, the First Ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland,...
Mark Drakeford: Today, that situation has changed markedly and the approaching storm is bearing down upon us. The very latest figures show that there are now 941 confirmed cases of omicron, and that number is rising, and it is present now in every area of Wales. Omicron is already the dominant variant in England and Scotland, and it is only a matter of time before it overtakes delta as the dominant form of...
Mark Drakeford: Thank you, Llywydd, for this opportunity to address the Senedd about the fast-moving omicron variant of coronavirus and the rapidly evolving public health situation. It's been just over a week since the health Minister updated Members before the Senedd broke for recess. When she spoke to you, there were 32 confirmed cases of omicron and the overall coronavirus case rate in Wales was high but...
Mark Drakeford: Our recently refreshed nature recovery action plan re-enforces our commitment to biodiversity. We have also provided £9.8 million to support organisations in addressing biodiversity through protecting land and marine sites and £14 million through the Local Places for Nature and the sustainable management scheme.
Mark Drakeford: In line with the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, public services boards are locally accountable, through the local authority scrutiny committees, on how effectively they are improving well-being in their area. Audit Wales and the Future Generations Commissioner for Wales have published reports relating to public services boards.
Mark Drakeford: Thank you very much, Llywydd—[Inaudible.]
