Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:20 pm on 3 March 2020.
In terms of questions about businesses, there's absolutely no advice or suggestion that people should alter the way that they order goods within or outside the UK. That advice remains in place as it would have been before.
On 111, I'm happy to confirm that there is now an all-Wales coronavirus service through the free 111 number. That's a change that we've deliberately made to have a single source, a single number, so we're not trying to ask people to go to different places in different parts of the country.
There are already conversations taking place within the Government, and conversations are starting with employer organisations about either support that they might need, or indeed messages about how they're actually taking care of their own workforces as well. It's not just an issue for public services—there's a potentially more significant impact. One of the issues we discussed in our engagement across all four Governments are changes to the way that the statutory sick pay operates, because we don't want people to wait until the third day of being unwell before they then think they're going to take some time out of work. So, I think the UK Government are looking to act on that. The Secretary of State for Health and Social Care gave an indication of that when he was answering questions in the House of Commons with the Labour spokesperson today.
On legislation, as I said in the statement, we are looking at the possibility of legislation. If we were to need to legislate, bearing in mind the advice we've had from the four chief medical officers and from SAGE—a group I'll return to shortly. SAGE is not a herb in this instance—it is the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies—and that's a key resource providing scientific advice to the four UK Governments. If we were to see the sort of peak in the virus that is possible, that could be starting from about May/June, when you might see a peak. If we were to need emergency powers, then we'd need to have them in place before then, which would realistically mean that we would need to have passed that legislation before Easter recess in Parliaments across the UK. That means that, from our point of view, if we were to have a single piece of UK-wide legislation, we would have needed to have considered a legislative consent motion before we go into recess itself. So, there isn't a significant period of time, but in the conversations that I've had, both with the health spokespeople from the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru, I've indicated that, as soon as we're in a position to be more definitive about that, I'll confirm that. I'll make sure technical briefings are available. I've already offered the Chair of the health committee an opportunity to have a briefing with the Chief Medical Officer for Wales—a broader update on the position. And if we get to the position where we think legislation is the right answer, and we have the shape of it, then I'll try to make sure that a technical briefing is available from the chief medical officer and officials about what that Bill will contain and the rationale behind it as well. But again, to reiterate my point that the very clear expectation is that devolved powers remain the responsibility of Ministers in the three national devolved Governments.
Now, in terms of how to exercise those powers, then we're very clear that we want to be led by the science and the advice we get from the chief medical officer is about which powers may need to be exercised. Ultimately, Ministers still have to decide. And equally, when those powers are no longer required as well. But if there were to be legislation, I'm sure that people in all of the Parliaments in the UK would want to understand when powers would start, but also when they would end. In the Civil Contingencies Bill, for example, the powers need to be reviewed and renewed every seven days. That may not be appropriate if we do face a pandemic that may last several months. But there is a point there, and I expect it will come up properly in scrutiny as well. And the point is well made.
In terms of looking after our staff, well we have protective equipment for staff who are undertaking testing and treatment, and we have the appropriate protective equipment available for staff to continue to do so. We are taking seriously staff well-being, but also if there were to be a significant challenge, then if there are significant numbers of people in the workplace who are absent from work because they're unwell, that would affect part of our health service workforce as well. So, we are thinking through potential scenarios where, if there is reduced workforce, not just about the potential opportunity to reintroduce those retired health and care professionals who are willing to return, and what that means for a regulatory point of view, in terms of adding numbers. Because money may not provide us with lots of extra members of staff—it's actually about the willingness of people with the ability to return and to have the appropriate regulatory clearance to do so.
On primary care, you've already heard the First Minister indicate that we're already actively considering the potential to reduce some of the reporting arrangements, and that should be familiar. I think it was two winters ago that I decided to do so during winter for primary care to ease pressure. That gave them more time, and we're also able to have regular and understandable means for which they would continue to be paid a predictable amount on doing so.
In terms of your point about regular advice for people with chronic conditions who may need to attend, we're not at the point in time where those people need to behave differently, but we may get to the point where that is one of the things that we contemplate. Those people don't need to be concerned now, but should there be a more significant community transfer of coronavirus, we will need to consider and potentially to give further advice at that point in time.
Officials in each portfolio are working across the Government. We stood up our own emergency arrangements. The Cabinet had a briefing from me—we've mentioned it before, but there was a specific briefing yesterday. The Cabinet will be meeting again later this week to consider this specifically, and we'll look at arrangements between Ministers to effectively stand up our own emergency arrangements. I think the initials are EWCC, but to put it in more understandable terms, our own COBRA Cymru arrangements are ready to stand up as well.
I'd like to finish by thanking you both for your support and for your constructive approach in our previous conversations and here. There will be, of course, questions you will want to ask throughout the time, but I think it is important that we try to take an approach that is led by the evidence and stay as calm as we want the public to remain in the face of a novel threat to public health across the UK.