Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 17 March 2020.
First Minister, I've previously raised the impact that coronavirus could have on Wales's social care sector with you. As the threat of the virus increases, it's more important than ever that those providing care to people living in care homes have access to the latest guidance and advice available. You quite rightly said that Wales's social care sector is dominated by small owners of one or two residential care homes and that getting messages out to people is a bigger challenge when you have larger numbers of people involved and people who may not necessarily be as attuned to dealing with demands as large companies, who are well set up and equipped to do this.
There is also the issue of those who need home carers, and the risks of virus transmission to carers and their service users. Therefore, perhaps you can tell us a bit more about the dialogue that the Government is having with the social care sector and how effective you think the Government is at getting its messages out. Could you also provide some more information about the next stage of contingency planning that the Welsh Government has done to better safeguard those living in social care settings from coronavirus, and whether there is capacity within the system for local authorities to effectively manage an outbreak of the virus at this point in time? What additional resources and assistance is the Welsh Government providing the sector so that those living in social care settings can be confident that they are as protected as possible?