Item 5 on the agenda this afternoon is a statement by the Minister for Housing and Local Government on COVID-19, and I call on the Minister for Housing and Local Government—Julie James.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. It was with great sadness that we are learning of the first confirmed deaths in Wales from COVID-19. I want to add my sincere condolences to the families and friends of the deceased, and to all whose lives have been so seriously and tragically impacted by this ongoing and fast-moving crisis. 

As you've heard, the Welsh Government is taking far-reaching, cross-Government action to combat COVID-19 and its wider impacts. We are working closely with other administrations across the UK and partner organisations in Wales, including with all our local authorities.

The First Minister, standing in for the Minister for Health and Social Services, and the Minister for Economy and Transport have already set out earlier the actions being taken in their portfolios. In addition to that action, we have deployed new measures to relax supermarket delivery hours to help maintain the supply of food stuffs and other goods, including those goods that are currently in particularly high demand.

The Emergency Coordination Centre (Wales) is in operation to help effectively co-ordinate our response, working closely with our counterparts in the UK Government, Scotland and Northern Ireland. We have well-established arrangements—tested and exercised over many years—and these are now up and running.

The Welsh Government Cabinet is also now meeting on at least a weekly basis to discuss COVID-19 and our response to it, and the First Minister and/or the Minister for Health and Social Services—and I imagine, now, with his self-isolation, other Ministers—will continue to attend meetings of COBRA so that we have up-to-date information at all times.

Our local authorities have a key role to play in keeping critical services running, and we are working closely with them and our four local resilience forums to ensure that they have the support they require. This morning, I held a joint press conference with the leader of the WLGA, Councillor Andrew Morgan, where we set out the joint actions we are taking.

Clearly, COVID-19 will impact on public services. There will be fewer people available for an indeterminate period to deliver services that will have seldom, if ever, been in greater demand, and this clearly presents a major challenge. However, we have been working with our colleagues in local government to plan and prepare for COVID-19, and this Government will ensure that our local authorities have the resources they need to continue to deliver much-needed public services over the coming weeks and months of this crisis. In addition, we will soon be able to make use of additional, time-limited powers, to be delivered through a four-nation Bill. These powers will help make our response to COVID-19 more effective.

In the press conference with Councillor Morgan this morning—and I want to repeat it here this afternoon in the Chamber, Deputy Presiding Officer—I thanked local government for its considerable contribution, for providing the day-to-day services that the people of Wales rely on so heavily, but also for their incredible response to the recent flooding in parts of Wales. And of course, the work going on across local government dealing with the aftermath of the floods is not yet complete, and now other important work has started on COVID-19 as well.

There are, of course, some specific groups for whom this virus presents particular risks and challenges. I'm very focused on finding practical ways to support these groups and those who work with them. In particular, those who are homeless, especially at the most acute end of the homelessness spectrum—rough-sleepers—need our support more than ever. My officials are working with the sector to bring forward proposals to support the vital work that already happens in this sector and to extend the options available to help people off the streets, give them access to sanitation and support, and enable isolation where necessary. This will include ensuring that local authorities have access to the funds necessary to facilitate this. I'm also conscious of the need to support and protect those who work for this vulnerable group, and to ensure that we work effectively with our third sector partners to maintain core service provision through joint working. I will be providing further details on this later this week.

Work is also ongoing with the WLGA and the third sector to ensure that volunteers are strategically mobilised. The Welsh Government is working tirelessly alongside others to slow down the spread of COVID-19 in Wales and to protect our most vulnerable people. It is important to recognise that every one of us, every person in Wales, has a role to play in helping make this happen. Advice on what to do and not to do has been published on the Welsh Government website. This advice is kept under constant review and updated as necessary. 

It is abundantly clear that the COVID-19 crisis will be with us for many weeks, if not months, and it will bring with it a range of serious and long-term impacts on individuals, on families, on the economy and beyond. We will continue to engage with local government and all parties in Wales to plan and implement measures that will keep our public services operating effectively at this critically important time. Diolch. 

Thank you very much. Mark Isherwood.  

Thank you very much for your statement. Following your press conference with the leader of the WLGA this morning, it was reported that he had stated that bin collections and other council services may be reduced during the crisis and you were quoted as saying that reductions were not happening immediately but were being considered for the weeks and months ahead. I wonder if you could expand a little bit on that and give us some indicative timeline, notwithstanding the fact that none of us has a crystal ball to know what's coming down the road, and how you will factor in, potentially, for example, any health risks that might apply to uncollected rubbish that might come from a household that has infected members living within it. 

Like many people, I've been approached by incredible people volunteering to help. I've got one here from a lady aged 63 in Holywell. She'd like to offer her support in any way required. If the over-70s are going to be isolated, she wants to do whatever she can to help on the front line—cleaning floors in hospitals, or whatever. She offers her services, and we know, all of us, that there is an army of incredible people out there offering similar help. I know the Wales Office yesterday stated that they're getting more information on volunteering centralised by today so that they can direct aspiring volunteers to where they're needed. Are you working with the UK Government on that and, whether you are or not, how developed is the position now with local authorities and their partners in enabling local volunteers to contribute through properly verified and bona fide schemes? 

In your response to the issues raised with local authorities at your summit with local government on the twelfth of the month—I won't go through all the issues, because as you know, there are a lot of them, but a couple of them—in terms of directors of public health and leaders in local authorities needing to be notified of any cases, you said you were liaising with Public Health Wales on this issue. I wonder if you're able to provide any updates on that. In terms of introducing flexible staff arrangements, you referred to established relationships through the Workforce Partnership Council and as part of the new shadow social partnership council. This will enable social partners from across Welsh Government, public bodies and trade unions to progress swift and effective dialogue on strategic workforce matters linked to COVID-19. But you also said that, in light of the current circumstances, you're activating a virtual network, building on key social partnership structures across wider public services. So, the question is: where have you got to in terms of activating that virtual network? Is it up and running, or when can we anticipate that being the case?

In terms of the Disclosure and Barring Service, to ensure that candidates, whether they're employed or volunteers, are appropriate for particularly children and vulnerable adults, you said you're currently exploring what can be done to achieve a consistent approach without compromising people's safety, to ensure that we get staff cleared and whether there'll be a temporary relaxation, or not. Again, I wonder if you could confirm whether there have been any developments in the five days since then to facilitate a solution in that area.

Just a couple more from your paper: there were concerns over the resilience within the environmental health teams to manage 24/7 expectations. Was the Welsh Government considering taking the same powers as Ministers in England to restrict individual movement, instead of relying on Part 2A Orders? You point out that Part 2A Orders are only relevant in England, but the Welsh Government is working at pace to bring forward equivalent regulations in Wales. Again, I wonder if you could tell us where you've got to with that. It might be that I've missed something and you've already announced these regulations—if not, what is the position?

You said that, on death registrations, there are concerns over increased pressure on registrars' services. Are any special measures planned to deal with the expected increase in deaths? I know, as chair of the cross-party group on funerals and bereavement, that funeral directors are working closely with Governments and other bodies on emergency planning.

You said that an urgent Wales mass fatalities planning group meeting is scheduled for what is now this week, where local resilience forums and mass fatalities group leads will discuss implications on all aspects of the death-management process, including death registration. I wonder if you could tell us whether that meeting has happened, or, if not, is it still going to happen? What, without going into too much detail, arrangements are being put in place?

My very final question: guidance on dealing with any issues or cases in ports such as Holyhead and Pembroke, raised by the local authorities. You said you're asking the UK Government and Border Force to clarify whether they'll be developing more comprehensive guidance for the maritime sector across the UK, as they have previously indicated. So, my final question is, and, again, a few days have passed, so, presumably, you have now asked them: what response have you received? Thank you.

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.

Thank you for your statement, Minister. I've got a number of questions I'd like to ask to help put people's minds at rest. Now, it's been pointed out that crisis situations can bring out the best in humanity, and one of the most inspiring things that we've all seen across Wales is the amazing community support efforts that are being put into helping people who are having to self-isolate. Can I ask you if you can announce financial support for local voluntary services or for these community groups to buy equipment, practical equipment, but also equipment or support to help tackle loneliness amongst the people who are self-isolating, and also if the Welsh Government will be supporting schemes to provide vouchers for groups to go out to buy food and essential supplies for the people who are self-isolating?

The First Minister mentioned earlier that testing will be made available for front-line clinical staff. Of course, social care workers are on the front line, and over the coming weeks and months, they're going to be carrying out a really essential role. There's surely an obligation on the Welsh Government and local authorities to count social care staff as key front-line workers in this regard. So, could I ask if they will be prioritised for testing, as well as what extra resource will be made available for them? That, obviously, would count in terms of care workers who go into people's homes, but also people in the residential care sector, as well; many of them will be run by local authorities.

The UK Government announced that the NHS effectively has a blank cheque to deal with this crisis. Would you agree with me, Minister, that the social care service also needs a blank cheque to continue caring for people? In terms of local government finance, you mentioned in your statement that there will be fewer workers who will have to cope with an increased workload. So, could you outline any relaxations on local government financial controls that we could expect, since we don't want local government to have to be cancelling or not carrying out essential services in this really worrying time because of financial reasons?

And then, you mentioned in your statement a number of provisions relating to homelessness, and I've got a few questions relating to housing, if I may. The coming weeks will be difficult for everyone who needs to self-isolate, but I'm sure we can only imagine how difficult that's going to be for people who don't feel safe and secure in their own home. We've mentioned flooding a few weeks ago. Many of my constituents, other people's constituents, had their homes destroyed by dirty water. Will the Government be bringing forward emergency repair work to help make these homes habitable again, particularly as people will have to be spending a lot more time at home? Obviously, the current virus crisis is focusing minds, but people who've been affected by the floods can't be forgotten about either—I'm not suggesting for a moment that they will be.

In terms of housing more generally, could I ask if the Welsh Government will be mandating councils to give council tax and rent relief for anyone who's self-isolating and unable to get to work? As well, in order to help anyone who faces almost the double terror of this virus and also potential homelessness, will you be bringing forward legislation to suspend the use of section 21 of the Housing Act 1996, so that people cannot be facing evictions during this period because of their contracting this virus? I'd ask for any other information that you'd be making available, but I hear and welcome what you said in terms of the support being made available for people who are homeless already and also the third sector workers who help people who are homeless. If there's any further information that will come out in the coming weeks, or days, even, I'd be grateful to see it.

Now, looking to another group who could face entrenched poverty as a result of the virus, we've been talking in the Chamber already about the uncertainty about if and when schools will close. Can you tell us exactly what provision is going to be made available for children, if schools close, who would otherwise have been reliant on free school meals? It seems to me that that is something that local authorities could well be helping with, to co-ordinate, and it's something that I know a lot of parents and teachers have written to me about, expressing real concern about that.

Again, I know that the coming weeks are going to be worrying for everyone in society, but perhaps some of the people who are most at risk and we don't immediately think about are people who are victims of domestic abuse, whether they live in refuges or whether they are living with the perpetrator in a coercive and controlling relationship, and they are going to be facing self-isolation with the perpetrator and the abuse could escalate. I appreciate this isn't something that is directly related to your role, but is there anything that local authorities could be doing in terms of a helpline or some kind of extra provision, in a complementary way to what I was asking about in terms of support or reassurance for people who are experiencing loneliness? Could something more targeted be made available for victims of domestic abuse?

Finally, Minister, a number of by-elections are meant to be held in the coming weeks. I know that there's one in Swansea West, there was one that was meant to happen in Caerphilly. Could you confirm, please, that these by-elections will definitely be postponed until we're on the other side of this crisis?

Thank you for that series of important questions. Just on the by-elections, we've already contacted local authorities with impending by-elections to say that the emergency Bill will contain provisions to postpone them, and that authorities should do the right thing and postpone them in advance. So, the one in Swansea, I believe the electoral registration officer has already written out to say that they're suspending all work on the elections.

It's slightly more complicated for elections that were being held in the immediate future. So, I believe there's one on Thursday scheduled in Cardiff, so we are in conversation with Cardiff council about what the best thing to do there is, and, obviously, the Bill won't be in force by then, but, nevertheless, we're asking people to do the right thing in terms of the by-elections. That's pretty straightforward.

The whole issue around free school meals and the issue around what else children receive in schools apart from education is a really difficult issue, and one of the reasons we're urging schools to stay open, at least until the Easter holidays. What we need is the month's plan, so, two weeks of the remaining school term and two weeks of the Easter holidays, to get the plans in place to ensure that children who receive free school meals can still receive them in whatever arrangements we can put in place. We will be working closely with local authorities and, obviously, education colleagues to put those provisions in place, and that's a very large number of pupils. Some schools in my constituency have a very high number of free school meal pupils who, obviously, would be very disadvantaged.

But there are other groups of children. There are groups of children who are placed with their parents, but only because they have supervision in school. So, we will have to make sure that there are safeguarding arrangements put in place for such children. There are a number of others. There is a long, long list of things that we need to do that schools normally do that we will need to put in place. Although I accept everything that Members have said across the Chamber, Deputy Presiding Officer, about the difficulties with schools and so on—the education Minister has been having meeting after meeting with various people about it, and I know will be answering questions and meeting the committee tomorrow—clearly, there are a number of things that we need to rapidly put into place to make sure that we can cover off as many of those things as possible and that each local authority area has a number of centres that can step into that. So, we've a lot of work to do to get to there. We're still in the phase of trying to buy some time, if you like, to get those arrangements in place in a coherent and controlled fashion, with the right information out to people, rather than it being very ad hoc, which is otherwise the danger.

For domestic abuse victims, absolutely, we've already been considering actually not only for existing domestic abuse victims, and I don't mean this in any trite way, but being confined to close quarters with your nearest and dearest can be very stressful, even for people who are in perfectly reasonable relationships. So we will need to put helplines in place, talking therapy lines in place, and that kind of thing, and also the Live Fear Free helpline—that's very hard to say—will be still available, and we'll make sure it's available all the way through that. But, yes, we will have to put a number of arrangements in place.

In terms of housing and homelessness, as I said briefly in my statement, we're already looking at arrangements to ensure that people are right at the sharp end of homelessness and get the help and support that they need. I understand that the English Minister has announced an initial £3.2 million earlier today for her help for homelessness. I don't yet know whether there's anything in that for Wales, but clearly we're already looking at measures to pick that up.

There are other issues around housing. We have been urging residential landlords who have buy-to-let mortgages, where their lender is being encouraged to give them a mortgage holiday, to pass that on to their renters, clearly. So we're urging Rent Smart Wales to be doing that, and to be fair, the Residential Landlords Association have been asking their landlords to ensure that they do that. We will be writing out to social landlords about what should happen about rent in social housing—registered social landlords and councils in the next day or so—and I will be doing another update for Assembly Members, Deputy Presiding Officer, probably by written statement later this week, about some of the provisions that we're looking at there. That includes victims of the recent floods, many of whom are in temporary accommodation, and what we will be looking to do to ensure that we get those into more suitable accommodation. Obviously, if that's their own home, then that's much more ideal, but for some of them that's not going to be possible in the short term. So, we're looking at that as well.

I don't know what the NHS blank cheque means. We hope that it means that there will be enough money coming to us, and obviously we fund health and social care jointly. Obviously, we will need to include social care in that. That's just axiomatic. There are a whole series of things that the First Minister mentioned when answering questions on health and social services and in First Minister's questions just now that will be looked at over the next weeks and months, including getting people who are fit for discharge from hospital but who haven't been able to be discharged more rapidly discharged. Very hard decisions are going to have to be made about the level of choice that people have, and so on, in order to cope with the crisis, but we will be looking at all of those.

Today, Andrew Morgan and I put out an appeal during the press conference for anyone with social care experience, or anyone who feels that they could help, to come forward to their local authority to see whether they can be of assistance in the coming days and months. I repeat that appeal now: people should contact their local authority and explain that they would like to be considered. As part of the emergency legislation we are looking at provisions that affect people who've got a pension. So, at the moment, there are claw-back provisions for people who work more than certain hours and so on, so we're looking to relax those as part of the emergency legislation that's coming through to meet this crisis.

There are a whole series of other things around assisting various third sector organisations with all kinds of things—equipment and so on—but actually, just with staffing resources and stuff, which will be considered at tomorrow's meeting. I'm sure we'll be updating Assembly Members accordingly.

I think your statement, Minister, will be welcomed across the country, and certainly the commitment to working together and leading the response from local authorities is something that will be greatly appreciated by people across Wales. I'd be grateful if you could outline whether you are looking at providing additional support for local authorities in terms of the resources available to them. I think many people will be looking to the local council to provide support for their communities in the coming weeks and months. We know that local authorities themselves will be under immense pressures, both in terms of social services and in terms of issues with their workforces, who will also be suffering from this virus. But I'd be interested to understand how you intend to approach that issue.

But also support for social enterprises. I've been approached in the last day or so by the Sofrydd Institute, the Llanhilleth Institute and Kidz R Us in Tredegar, who are all social enterprises, and who are facing real issues with their ability to maintain services over the coming weeks and months. There are some really frightened people in communities across the country, and it's important, therefore, that the sort of support that we're putting in place to support businesses is also in place to support social enterprises so that the social infrastructure of our communities isn't lost as a consequence of this.

At the same time, of course, it's fantastic to see the way in which people are responding to this crisis, about support being mobilised through social media and through other means by which people are seeking to help the vulnerable in different communities. It would be a very useful role for this Government to see how it can help and support that, share best practice, provide resources, if possible, to different community groups who will be supporting and sustaining vulnerable people through this time.

Finally, many people have suggested to me that it would be very useful if a helpline was created whereby people, particularly older people who will be at home for long periods of time in the coming months, would be able to phone a single number across Wales, answered locally, for help or support. We spoke earlier about issues around mental health around this issue, but people who feel lonely, people who feel frightened, people who don't have the access to help and support that others may have—a point of contact where they will be able to contact somebody and ask for that help and support. Thank you. 

Thank you very much, Alun Davies, for that. On that last one, I'm very interested, and we haven't yet done it, but I've had the suggestion made and you've made it very ably this afternoon, to start to speak to providers about what can be provided via BT and so on—other providers are available—for that conferencing facility. We will be working with local authorities to see what we can set up for voluntary groups just being able to use their own phone at home and to be available to talk to somebody locally and just to set up the social engagement groups. There are all kinds of things going on on social media, so resourcing the local authorities to be able to assist in co-ordinating that and making sure it spreads to areas where, perhaps, it hasn't started spontaneously. 

What we're saying at the moment is that we will ensure that all local authorities in Wales have both the support and the resources they need to respond to the crisis. I don't know what that looks like yet, but we've assured them that, whatever that looks like, we will be able to step up to that for them and, obviously, we're lobbying the UK Government on an hour-by-hour basis for support for ourselves as well. It's clearly absolutely essential that we have people doing the right thing for the right reasons at the right time and not worrying about whether they can afford it right this second, or not. So, we've made that very plain and we'll continue to do that. I think that's really important. In tomorrow's meeting with the third sector, social enterprises, we will be discussing business support for social enterprises. I met yesterday, I think it was, with the Wales Co-operative Centre, and we will be putting in that kind of level of support, so I could not agree more: social enterprises across the country are absolutely part of the fabric of where we are.

My colleague the Deputy Minister, Hannah Blythyn, is looking at citizens advice bureaux and what we can do there and with the credit unions as well to see how we can co-ordinate some of the approaches. So, backing up the credit unions, for example, to be able to assist people who have no savings and all the rest of it through no fault of their own, because of the gig economy, will be an essential part of what we do as well.  

Can I welcome your statement, particularly the promise to bring forward more details on how rough-sleepers are going to be helped? They must be the most vulnerable group in society and this adds great fear and misery, potentially, to their situation and it's right that we ensure the highest resource we can make available is made available for that group of people. 

I only have one question—you have faced so many questions in this statement, because it is such an important area. Many people who are just on the edge of rough-sleeping sell The Big Issue, and their sales will likely drop considerably. I just wonder if there are any possibilities, either through direct Welsh Government aid or urging the UK Government to look at how that income stream could be supported, because we could end up with more people on the street, certainly vulnerable people, anyway, in a much more fragile situation in the next three or four months when they just don't have that income. 

That's an absolutely excellent point. I haven't yet contacted The Big Issue, but I think officials have it on their list of things to do, so we will want to know how we can support them. I'm very concerned about sofa surfers, as they are called, or people who are on the edge of rough sleeping, sliding down, because, obviously, as families self-isolate at home, they're unlikely to be as accepting of people kipping on their sofa, or whatever, as normal. So, we're very alert to the idea that we might have a sudden surge of people who become quickly homeless, or more quickly than they would otherwise do so. You'll know that in normal times, very recently we've been running a big campaign to get people to recognise themselves as homeless, and we'll be continuing to do that as much as possible as well. But we are very concerned that exactly that will happen.

In terms of the rough-sleepers, I will be putting out a statement later this week, but basically what we're trying to do, obviously, is make sure that people can get in where they can get in, that we have cohort services. So, effectively, if you're infected you will have a set of services—or if you're potentially infected. If you're not infected, you'll have a different set of services. There are many different cohorts in the rough-sleeping fraternity as well—people with other issues that we will have to make sure are in cohorts and not just randomly distributed. There will be big issues about whether we can secure hotel accommodation or bed-and-breakfast accommodation. Actually, ironically, of course, because of the virus, that's more available than it would normally be, so we will be making use of that. 

And there will be a cohort of people we cannot get in, for all kinds of reasons. We know that some rough-sleepers have real issues with that. So, we will be looking to establish, particularly in the four cities that have the acutest problem in Wales, areas of safety for tents and where we can put sanitation and health provision and so on in for people where we can't get them inside. Absolutely, without a shadow of a doubt, there will be some people in that cohort. So, we will be doing that and I will put a statement out later in the week when we're more certain of what we'll be doing, but we'll be responding to that.

I was delighted to see that the UK Ministry has just announced this initial, as it's called, £3.2 million. We'll be very anxious to see how much of that will come to us and what we can do with that additional money. So, all the things that I've said is stuff we're already doing with our own stuff, so anything we can do in addition to that we'll be looking at. 

I think The Big Issue is a very interesting one; we'll certainly be taking that up. As the First Minister has said repeatedly this afternoon, we're certainly not the repository of good ideas, so anything else that you can think of that might be helpful, we'll be really glad to hear.

I won't take much of your time. I just have an idea that's been passed to me in the context of the acute need that could arise in the next weeks and months for temporary homes for health workers and other key workers. It arises from a scenario where there is a man who is older and has to self-isolate at present, and his son is a policeman who is a key worker who doesn't want to self-isolate, but he doesn't have anywhere else to live. So, possibly we would be able to have benefit from finding places for these key workers to live for a while.

Is there benefit in the Government looking at the possibility of reaching out to people who have empty homes, second homes, Airbnbs and so forth, to see whether that empty property could be used in this period in order to house key workers?  

Yes, I think that's an excellent idea. It's not one that had occurred to me, so I'm really pleased to have it put forward. We will certainly look into that. That's absolutely crucial, isn't it, if you live with a family member who has that and you can be separated from them, then that's clearly an excellent idea? We do know that there are hotels across Wales with very low occupancy rates, for example, as a result of the virus, so it's certainly worth looking at, and we will do that, and we will pass that back immediately. 

Thank you very much, Minister.