2. Statement by the First Minister: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:49 pm on 1 April 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:49, 1 April 2020

Llywydd, I thank Angela Burns for that, and particularly what she said at the end. I was very conscious in my statement that we use a lot of figures, don't we? We're always asking about percentages of this and numbers of that, and we track the figures every day, but, when it comes to people who are at the very worst end of coronavirus, every one of those is somebody who mattered hugely to somebody else, and we really mustn't lose sight of that human cost as we continue to grapple with all the challenges that the disease poses to us. 

On the Act, Angela Burns is right; it gives different sorts of powers to different types of authorities—the Welsh Government has powers, local authorities have powers, the police, of course, have enforcement powers, and I've had discussions this morning with the lead chief constable for Wales in this area, and I want absolutely to support the way in which police forces in Wales are using their powers. They use them to educate and to persuade, and it's only when those things don't work that they move to using their enforcement powers. But, where enforcement is necessary, then, equally, I fully support our police service in using those powers. The vast bulk of our fellow citizens respond fantastically to what is required of us. When there are a few who don't and put others in danger, then we rely on our police services to keep the rest of us safe, and I'm very keen indeed to make sure they know that they have the support of the Welsh Government in the very difficult job they do. 

Part of that, of course, has been around self-catering accommodation, and I asked for specific reports over the weekend, both from North Wales Police and through Dyfed-Powys, as to whether or not the police service believed that there was a further influx of people into those areas. On the whole, their view is that the numbers are low, that they were turning some people back. And let's be very clear with people: a journey to a self-catering accommodation is not an essential journey and therefore people ought not to be making it. There is a different issue with people who are already there and what course of action they should take, but no new people should be thinking that this is a good weekend to go and visit north or west Wales; that's not the way that we will get a grip of the virus. 

In relation to Angela Burns's final question, I think the things that worry us are the things that worry the rest of the United Kingdom: levels of illness and self-isolation amongst key staff and whether we can manage to get as many of those people back into the front line as possible; whether we have the supply of ventilators that we might need at the point when there is the most urgent need for them. As we use our stocks of PPE—it's a finite stock; how fast are we going to be able to replenish it so we've got more there for the future? I don't think those are Welsh vulnerabilities. We've said many times, haven't we, that the Assembly was created for Welsh solutions for Welsh problems, and coronavirus is not a Welsh problem; it's a global problem. In our context, it's a UK problem, and the things that we face are the things that are commonly faced across our wider country.