5. Statement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:26 pm on 17 March 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 5:26, 17 March 2020

Thank you for that series of questions. I'll do my best to answer all of them. In terms of waste collections, for example, that was given as an example by Councillor Andrew Morgan to a question from a journalist who attended the press briefing this morning, when he said that some services may be scaled back, depending on staff shortages and other issues arising in the weeks and months ahead. What he was trying to demonstrate was that, as people become more affected by the virus and more people go off work, it may be necessary to move people around inside the local authority to maintain essential services. So, it was just given as an example.

But, the example that he gave from an RCT-only point of view—I do emphasise that; it's just an example—was that they might go to monthly collections for some waste. He was very quick, though, to emphasise that they would be collecting food waste and nappy waste, for example, as usual—weekly—in order to offset the health risks.

That does give me, Deputy Presiding Officer, a perfect time to say to people that there is advice available on various local government websites, and I will just read it out for some of you. So, for example, from the point of view of health, Swansea Council is emphasising that personal waste, such as used tissues and disposable cleaning cloths, can be stored securely within disposable rubbish bags. The bags should be placed into another bag, tied securely and kept separate from other waste, and this should be put aside for 72 hours before being put into the normal black-bag waste in order to make sure that the virus has died.

So, I just repeat that—that was just one of the examples of good health practice in waste collection, and that's, obviously, to protect the health of the workers who work at the other end of the waste collection and waste disposal cycle. So, that's just one good example of things that might need to be emphasised, and other things that might need to change. I cannot emphasise enough that we're not saying that that's happening now. It's just an example of one of the things that would be looked at in the coming weeks and months.

In terms of volunteers, the First Minister has already mentioned that we're meeting tomorrow with WCVA partners and others—a whole series of third sector organisations and pan-sector organisations—to discuss the whole issue of third sector involvement and co-ordination of volunteers. We've also had useful meetings with the WLGA about co-ordination of volunteers for each local authority area, and we've been saying today that people who want to come back into the workforce with relevant qualifications, or, indeed, people who have equivalent qualifications, such as the hoteliers that were mentioned earlier, for example, should contact their individual local authorities, who will know where their skills are most needed.

Not everyone will be needed immediately—that's the other thing. People are very eager to come forward now, but what we want is to make sure that we have a steady supply of volunteers, going forward, through what may be many months to come. So, I would urge people to ensure that—. It's not just in the next two days—this is an ongoing thing that we will need to co-ordinate. We will need to make sure that staff don't become exhausted and that volunteers don't become exhausted, and that we're able to give people a rotation around what will need to be done. So, there's a lot of planning around how to co-ordinate that best and where best to deploy people, and how to take that forward, but, as I say, there's a meeting tomorrow, and we have had several conversations with the WLGA about co-ordinating that already.

In terms of cases notified, I think, actually, we're going past that phase now. That conversation was last Thursday, and this is such a moving scenario, at that point we were still reporting all cases. I think we are very rapidly moving out of that, but I will still undertake to make sure that local authority leaders know where there are extreme issues going on in their particular area, and we've made sure that the link is there with Public Health Wales.

In terms of the workforce, the workforce partnership council meetings are going ahead next week. They're chaired by my Deputy Minister, Hannah Blythyn. They will be mostly virtual. We will be making sure that people can dial in in the way that we did for local government leaders last Thursday, for example. Some people will be present, but most of it will be virtual, and that's to discuss how we will take that network going forward.

In terms of the regulation of volunteers and working as appropriate, the emergency Bill has a series of proposed provisions in it around faster registration and relaxation of some rules. One of the examples that I've seen used is that where somebody is not yet registered, they have not yet had the DBS checks that would be necessary, they might be able to work alongside a volunteer who has been checked to make sure that they're supervised but where an extra pair of hands would be beneficial. That kind of supervision arrangement that would not normally be acceptable might be acceptable in these very serious circumstances. So, that's, again, one example of that.

In terms of the environmental health teams and, actually, a range of other teams in a local authority, we're in ongoing discussion with the WLGA and various local authorities about how to cover off some of those issues. I'm afraid I do not know whether the meeting has taken place, Mark, so I will make sure to get that information to you as soon as I can.