3. Statement by the Minister for Health and Social Services: Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:21 pm on 1 April 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 3:21, 1 April 2020

Okay, just to pick up on that final point first, there's no legal bar to a local authority going off and procuring an alternative source of PPE. We're trying, though, to have a co-ordinated approach to the acquisition of PPE and then its transfer across Wales.

In terms of manufacture and supply of not just PPE but other items that will be useful in the response, we've had a significant amount of inquiries, offers of help and interest, and that's now being channelled through a consistent team in the Welsh Government. There's co-operation between my officials and Ken Skates's officials to make sure that we're getting to the right people to support businesses in Wales, but also to understand the potential procurement issues. Now, part of that is actually about understanding the value of the offer that's been made, because you'll understand that whilst lots of people may make an offer of support that, on surface level, looks impressive, we need to make sure that people can deliver what they're saying they can deliver and that that's actually going to be effective.

In terms of your point about the requirements for PPE, well, that will really depend on the revised guidance as to the amount of PPE that we need. If the guidance changes, either about the type of PPE that is to be worn or the variety of settings and tasks for which it is to be worn, we'll need, obviously, to acquire more PPE. The acquisition of PPE will need to reflect what is in the guidance, as I said in response to Angela Burns.

In terms of the written agreement that we had, I just don't think it's at all helpful for me to get into a war of words with a company, when, actually, my job, I think, is to make sure that we are diversifying our supply and our capacity for testing, and making the maximum use of it to provide the maximum benefit. That's what I'm focused on, so I'm not going to get drawn into matters that I'm sure, in the months ahead, when we're past this, we'll want to look at in much more detail.

That's why I was able to announce on the weekend that we've diversified our capacity to increase it this week, and in the next two to three weeks, to get it up to about 5,000 tests here in Wales, not relying on any share from UK-wide arrangements. In that deliberate diversification of supply and capacity, we have, of course, been having conversations with universities for some time about where they may be able to help to provide that.

In terms of what is a fair share from the UK-wide picture, we signed up to arrangements, as indeed have the Scottish Government and the Northern Ireland Executive, to try to acquire the maximum amount of capacity possible across the UK. Now, we may start from a population share, but, actually, I think when you look at what is a fair share and what is capacity, I'm confident we'll flex that as it's required across the UK. Wales and our share and our need today may be very different in three weeks' time, when other parts of the UK may have greater need, and that's the point—how we have our ability across the UK to provide increased capacity and to meet the needs of people right across the UK, and to make sure that we get our fair share of that.

In terms of your broader point about updated numbers for testing and staff, we'll be providing updated numbers throughout the weeks on the numbers of our front-line staff who have been tested and those who have been able to come back to work, and those who are confirmed. I don't have the numbers with me, so I won't try to make them up for you, but we will be providing more clarity on what our testing regime has produced.

We're obviously in a better position than some other parts of the UK because we started testing front-line staff at an earlier point in time. So, there are already some of our front-line members of staff who have returned to work promptly because they had the right diagnosis, and we'll continue to do that. We'll be transparent with the public about the numbers of people doing that and what that means for our public services.