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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 8 April 2020.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 2:45, 8 April 2020

I want to ask you a little bit about enforcement of the social distancing legislation in the workplace, and I suppose in doing so also put on record the tremendous work that our trade unions are actually doing in contributing to that. The efforts with the branches, the union representatives, the safety representatives, working alongside their employers, their businesses, I think are making a very, very significant contribution to that safety. And it's indicative, I think, that most of the enquiries that we are getting about workers who are concerned about their workplace safety are really coming from workplaces that don't have trade unions. Perhaps there's a lesson there for the future.

But in terms of the enforcement, it's very clear that this is not a matter for the police; they've said themselves that they are not competent to deal with workplace safety matters. One of the concerns I have is the role the Health and Safety Executive has been able to play—not so much the people working for the Health and Safety Executive, but of course it is an organisation that has been massively underfunded over the years. I would have thought that the Health and Safety Executive would be playing a key role in workplace safety.

This isn't a devolved body, but clearly it has a very important role. It has incredible enforcement powers, it has investigation powers, it has all sorts of advice powers and, in fact, prosecution powers. So, my first question would be: what engagement have you actually had with the UK Government and/or with the Health and Safety Executive in order to ensure that they maximise their input into this really important role of enforcement of social distancing within the workplace and in general with regard to workplace safety?

The second question I'd just like to ask about is this—it's been commented on a little bit in the media over the weekend—and that is: we will collectively get through this crisis, and I've been wondering what your thoughts are on, when we do get through this crisis, that we have a complete new evaluation of the importance of our NHS, of our public sector workers, and the investment in those services.

I know, if I was ill, I wouldn't want a hedge fund manager sat by my bedside looking after me. It's given us a completely new evaluation of our public sector, and we've really got to start valuing them, not just in terms of, of course, we clap them in the evening, and we say nice things, but in the future we're going to have to start looking at a real calibration of what is important in our society. Perhaps the first step for Welsh Government would be something like the social partnership legislation that is being proposed. I wonder what your thoughts are about what preparations are necessary for the, I think, economic difficulties that we are going to face when we are eventually through this pandemic.