I thank the First Minister. The next item is a statement by the First Minister on coronavirus. I call on the First Minister to make the statement.

Thank you very much, Llywydd. Today, I will provide Members with an update on the work that’s being driven forward across Wales in response to coronavirus. Every part of Welsh Government, local government, the health service, the emergency services, the voluntary sector and business are part of this gargantuan effort. Everyone is working together to prepare services and to support businesses and the vulnerable. Every individual in Wales is making an important contribution through following the advice to stay at home. This is already making a difference. We must persevere for everyone’s benefit.

Llywydd, near the start of my statement this week, I want to begin by sending my best wishes to the Prime Minister following his admission to intensive care for treatment for coronavirus. I wish also to wish our colleague Alun Davies a speedy recovery following his treatment in hospital this week. I know that we will all be wishing them both well.

Llywydd, my aim in these weekly statements is to provide Members with an account of the most recent and significant developments across Wales since our last Plenary meeting. Over the course of the last week, the Welsh Government has taken further action to protect people's health, to strengthen our NHS, and to support businesses as we continue to respond to the coronavirus pandemic.

Today, we are approaching the end of the initial three-week period of the stay-at-home rules. I want to again place on record my thanks to people throughout Wales for the solidarity that has been shown in complying with these vitally necessary restrictions. All of this is making a difference—the actions every one of us is taking to limit contact with others and to stay at home and to work from home wherever possible—all of that is helping to slow down the spread of the virus and to protect the most vulnerable.

But, because of the time lag between these measures coming into effect and seeing their results, we know that things will still get worse before they get better. More people will fall ill, more people will need to be admitted to hospital, and more families across Wales will face the heartbreak of losing somebody they love.

The latest figures show a further 291 cases in Wales, bringing the overall confirmed total to 3,790—although we know that the true number of cases will be higher. Very sadly, the total number of deaths now stands at 212, each one of those an individual, each one whose absence we now mourn.

Yesterday, just after midnight, an amendment to those stay-at-home rules came into force, extending the social distancing duty to all workplaces. This means that all workplaces that remain open in Wales must take all reasonable steps to maintain a 2m distance between people to reduce the spread of coronavirus. The workforce is the greatest asset in any workplace, and these regulations underline the obligation to safeguard the health and well-being of those workers through all reasonable measures.

Llywydd, this week has seen a set of developments in our health and social care services, from returning doctors and carers to the creation of field hospitals. In relation to testing, we have seen the development of drive-in testing centres in Wales and testing for social care staff. As our capacity to do more tests increases, we will roll that out to more people and professional groups, including the police and prison staff, as set out in our national testing plan for Wales published this week. 

Llywydd, ensuring health and social care staff have the right personal protective equipment to do their job is a top priority for the Welsh Government. Last week, new UK-wide PPE guidance was issued, and this has simplified where PPE should be used and also extended its use. The new guidance will increase the drawdown from our stocks of PPE. To date, we have issued more than eight million additional items from our pandemic stocks to the NHS and to local authorities, and that's over and above the supplies that are normally held by the NHS itself.   

We are working with England, Scotland and Northern Ireland to ensure an ongoing supply of PPE, but we have also asked Welsh businesses to switch their normal production lines to make PPE for Wales, and we've had a tremendous response from Welsh companies so far. Amongst others, the Royal Mint and the Rototherm Group are making face visors and shields that will be worn by health staff, and a gin distillery, In The Welsh Wind, is making World Health Organization-approved hand sanitisers.

In turning to the economy, I’m pleased to be able to update Members about the progress we have made, with much thanks to our colleagues in local government, in supporting small businesses during the pandemic. In the 10 days since our grant scheme for those smaller businesses was opened, our local authorities have made more than 17,700 awards and paid out £229 million. That figure is rising daily, and I really do want to extend my thanks to our local authority colleagues for the help that they have provided in assuring that this help reaches those who need it most. In the last week, we also confirmed support for Cardiff Airport, and will announce further details about the £500 million economic resilience fund next week.

Llywydd, I am very grateful to you and the Business Committee for agreeing that these Plenary sessions can be used for priority legislation. The Welsh Government continues, for example, to identify key European legislation that will need to be brought before the Senedd.

Llywydd, I want to end by looking ahead. The three weeks of stay-at-home restrictions provided for in legislation, and which we have all faced, are due to end next week. I must be plain with all Members: these restrictions will not end then. We will not throw away the gains we have made and the lives we can save by abandoning our efforts just as they begin to bear fruit.

Since we last met, I have discussed this matter with the First Ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland, with the Secretary of State for Health in the UK Government, and today with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster and the Secretary of State for Wales. There is more work to do in reviewing the regulations and in receiving the most up to date scientific and medical advice; the precise nature of what will follow the current regime will be agreed over the coming days.

But I must leave Welsh citizens in no doubt: the efforts we are all making are not yet over. They will not be over next week. Before the restrictions can be lifted and the return to normality begins, there is more for us all to do. I thank every one of those thousands and thousands of people in Wales who make their contribution every day and who will go on doing so over the days ahead. Together, we are making a real difference, we are protecting our national health service and, together, we are saving lives. 

I want to reiterate my huge thanks to all front line essential workers who continue to do a fantastic job in keeping us all safe. Can I also convey my condolences to those who have lost loved ones during this pandemic? Like you, First Minister, I send my best wishes to the Prime Minister and to Alun Davies, and I wish them a speedy recovery.

Now, First Minister, over the weekend, the newly elected leader of the UK Labour Party, Sir Keir Starmer, made it clear that his party will engage constructively with the UK Government, not oppose for opposition's sake, and not score party political points or make impossible demands. Therefore, can I reiterate that sentiment and say that my colleagues and I will do all that we can to continue to work constructively throughout this period?

He also made it clear that scrutiny is important. And so, in the spirit of that sentiment, I think it's fair to ask why, of all of the issues currently facing the people of Wales, the Welsh Government is continuing to press ahead with the Local Government and Elections (Wales) Bill today, at a time when, quite frankly, any and all Government resources should be dedicated to tackling the impact of coronavirus on our communities? I hope, First Minister, that you'll reflect on that.

Now, also over the weekend, the health Minister made it clear that, while he could not be 100 per cent confident the NHS would cope, he felt that all that could be done was being done. However, like other Members I'm sure, I'm continuing to receive correspondence from anxious and worried constituents who feel that there are still people delivering important front-line services that do not have adequate personal protective equipment. For example, I'm aware that some patients have been denied access to emergency dental treatment due to the lack of protective equipment that's currently available. I know you've made reference in your statement today that an additional eight million pieces of equipment have been distributed, but can you tell us what the Welsh Government is doing to identify any gaps in the provision of PPE, and what further work is being done to expedite the delivery of this equipment of key workers at this time?

Now, I understand that Wales currently has the capacity to administer around 1,100 tests a day with the aim of reaching 5,000 tests a day in a few weeks before hitting up to 9,000 tests a day by the end of April. Given the increased pressure on the NHS due to coronavirus, it's vital that the number of tests administered is now accelerating so that the public can be confident that levels of testing are as high as practically possible. Perhaps you could, therefore, tell us if that's still the case, and whether the Welsh Government is still on track to reach 9,000 tests by the end of the month.

Now, the Welsh Government has also made it clear that it's diversifying the range of people it's working with in order to increase its capacity, and I understand that there has been some dialogue with universities about the role they can play in helping deliver additional capacity at this time. Therefore, can you tell us a bit more about the discussions that are taking place with universities, and indeed other institutions and organisations, about the role that they could play in supporting the NHS and helping to increase Wales's current capacity and resources?

Llywydd, I thank Paul Davies for those questions, and I want to thank him for his continuing engagement in the effort that we are making. I completely agree with him that it's entirely cross-party and cross-Government.

I'm very glad that we have been able to continue with scrutiny here in Wales. It's a very important part of that scrutiny that key elements in our legislative programme can be brought forward and can be scrutinised by the Assembly. I think that's a very proper use of our time. We are in work; we're expecting other people in Wales to be in work, and part of our work as a legislature is to put essential legislation on to the statute book here in Wales. That is why I'm very glad that we will be able to debate the local government Bill; it is very important to all local authorities and to 16 and 17-year-olds here in Wales that that Bill makes progress and is able to reach the statute book. The Welsh Government is clear: we will only bring in front of the Senedd during this period those pieces of legislation that we think are vital to the commitments that we have made to people in Wales and that are necessary to make our statute book coherent. I think an integral part of what a legislature does is to deal with that priority legislation, and I'm very glad that we are able to do that this afternoon.

Of course I hear what Paul Davies says about PPE and all of us as Assembly Members will have heard directly from individuals who are fearful of being put in a position through the necessary work that they are doing in which they may be exposed to risk. We've already released, as Paul Davies recognised, 8 million pieces of PPE from our pandemic stores, and that will continue to rise over the days ahead. I expect it to be nearly 11 million by the time we get over this weekend.

Can I be clear that there are no current gaps in the supplies we hold? We have sufficient supplies at this point. Where there have been some bottlenecks is just in getting the supplies to the people who need it, and that's because this is an enormous effort—far beyond everything that we've ever needed to do before. Not only are we supplying hospitals, but we are supplying dental surgeries, GP surgeries, care homes, local authorities themselves, and an enormous effort is going on to try to make sure that those supplies reach the people who need them.

There is a dedicated helpline and e-mail address for places that feel that they don't have what they need and then, there's a system in place to try and make sure that we get those people what they require as fast as possible. Our ability to replenish those stores is very important indeed, and for that, we rely primarily on the UK-wide procurement effort that is going on. I spoke with Matt Hancock yesterday and received assurances that Welsh stocks will be replenished from that central source, and I'm very grateful for that assurance as we do our best to ramp up the ability to get supplies from indigenous Welsh suppliers as well.

We are accelerating the number of tests that we are able to provide in Wales and the testing centre in Cardiff City stadium is now up; it was working very successfully yesterday afternoon. It will be seeing 200 people today. It will allow us to test more social care workers and then to extend testing to police, prison officers and other front-line workers.

As to diversification, we are indeed in discussions with universities. We're very grateful to them for releasing their stocks of PPE into the system for use by the NHS and, of course, we're discussing matters with laboratory staff to see how we might be able to use their capacity to accelerate the number of tests that we can carry out in Wales.

First Minister, as the Easter holidays approach us, it is absolutely critical that the Welsh Government redoubles its public messaging to make crystal clear that people must stay at home. Sadly, we are continuing to see and hear reports of people not adhering to the Government advice and whilst the police have some powers now to fine those going against Government guidance, there still appears to be a problem with the enforcement of the stay-at-home rule. I know that both the UK Government and the Welsh Government are considering further measures if this activity continues to take place, so perhaps you could tell us a bit more about the discussions that are taking place on this specific issue and the types of further measures that are actually being considered.

I know in my own constituency as well as other areas, there are still holiday home owners travelling to their second homes rather than staying at home, and whilst I welcome the steps that the Welsh Government has already taken to close caravan parks and other holiday parks, clearly more now needs to be done. Therefore, what more is the Welsh Government doing to prohibit the travel of second home owners to holiday hotspots here in Wales?

Whilst families are forced to spend more and more time inside their own homes, it's crucial that they have access to the very latest information and guidance both online and offline. Clearly, more needs to be done to support communities that are still living with substandard broadband provision so that those living in those areas can have access to important educational resources, financial applications, and, of course, the latest health and Government guidance. Therefore, can you provide an update on the Welsh Government's work to ensure that all households are able to have access to a decent broadband service at this time?

And finally, Llywydd, there are still some very real concerns for many people unable to access business support, especially start-up businesses, and many people feel that they've fallen through the gaps in terms of the support on offer, by both the UK and Welsh Governments—for example, companies like hauliers and agency workers like supply teachers and others. Therefore, given the circumstances and the desperate need to ensure that those who need support have access to it, can you tell us what review of Government support the Welsh Government is looking at to identify gaps in the packages that are available, and what further work is the Welsh Government doing to get those who currently fall between the gaps access to business support?

Well, again, Llywydd, I thank Paul Davies for those questions. Can I join him in reinforcing the message that we have sent over the last two weekends and want to send again in the clearest possible terms? In advance of the Easter weekend, the stay-at-home advice means you; it's not advice to somebody else, for somebody else to follow, it's advice for every one of us and every one of us is under an obligation to follow that advice. And a journey to a second home is not an essential journey, and where the police in Wales stop people who are doing that, they will take enforcement action against them.

Now, we have a call with the chief constables prior to the weekend and immediately after the weekend to make sure that they are geared up for the very important work that we are asking them to do and then to receive a report from them on how they discharged their responsibilities. On Monday of this week, the reports from all four chief constables were that while there had been incidents right across Wales, they were sporadic rather than organised, they did not, in the view of the chief constables, represent affraying of the astonishing levels of observance that Welsh citizens have shown to the obligations that we all face, and that, where they had come across incidents, the powers that they currently have—including road blocks, for example, as well as fines—that repertoire of enforcement actions was still sufficient for them to be able to deal with the infringements they saw. And I once again made it clear in those discussions with chief constables that, if that view were to change and their advice to the Welsh Government was that they needed a strengthened repertoire of enforcement actions, we will not hesitate to do that. At this point, their advice to us was that what they currently have is sufficient to meet the challenges that they face and I will be guided by that advice.

Even in these really very difficult times, work does go on to try to strengthen broadband where it is not as good as we would like it to be and I recognise the context in which Paul Davies set out why that is particularly important. I don't have with me the detail of the additional work that's going on, but I'm happy to supply that, of course. As to business support, I think there are two roles that the Welsh Government fulfils. One is that, because we are a participant, every day, in sub-groups of the COBRA system, we are able to convey directly to UK Government Ministers the gaps in the provision that people are finding as the very welcome measures that the UK Government put in place are rolled out in practice. It's not a criticism at all to suggest that as ideas move from being on paper to being delivered on the ground some glitches will emerge in the way that those things are happening.

Our direct face-to-face contact gives us an opportunity to put those points on behalf of Welsh businesses directly to the Chancellor of the Exchequer, who chairs some of these meetings, and directly to the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, who chairs some of these meetings. That's something that we're very pleased to do—to be a direct voice for Welsh businesses in helping the UK Government to improve the practical delivery of the schemes it has put in place.

Next week, when we make announcements on the remaining £400 million of business support that we intend to make in Wales, focusing that help on gaps in help that is otherwise already available has been a key test for us in shaping that package. We do it in discussions with others—the Confederation of British Industry, the Federation of Small Businesses and so on. Challenging as it is, given the scale of need out there, our aim is to focus that £400 million in the way that Paul Davies suggested, so that its impact lands in those places where other forms of help are not currently available.

May I endorse what the First Minister said and extend our best wishes to the UK Prime Minister, and to everyone else who is unwell at the moment? I hope that Alun Davies also makes a speedy recovery. May I also thank you, First Minister, for the opportunity to be briefed this morning by the lead officials leading the response to this crisis?

If we turn to PPE, you recognised, First Minister, that PPE is, obviously, a concern. The Royal College of Nursing say that they have repeatedly asked the Welsh Government to share the distribution schedule for PPE so that they can reassure their members. Can you give a commitment today that that will now happen? And can you say by what date all of the front-line staff that you have identified as needing PPE will receive it in the quantities required?

Because of the bottlenecks in PPE that you referred to, some public bodies—Carmarthenshire County Council, for example—are beginning to procure directly from China themselves. What steps are you taking, as a Government, as a complement to the UK-wide approach that you referred to, to procure additional resources internationally? In particular, what approaches have you made, either directly as Ministers or officials, to the Chinese Government and to Chinese suppliers, where, of course, the majority of sources reside?

International experience suggests that earlier intervention can keep the unwell out of hospital and aid recovery. Physicians in Italy, for example, suggest that early oxygen therapy and pulse oximeters delivered at the homes of the mildly ill would limit hospitalisation. Will you confirm whether or not you are actively looking at such a new treatment regime? 

If I could turn to ventilators, I think between those we currently have and those that are on order we have just over 1,000 invasive ventilators, I believe, that will be available to us. When will we know whether that supply—that projected supply—will be enough to meet the current projected peak demand?

On 12 March, the policy of widespread community testing was discontinued. Professor Anthony Costello, professor of global health at University College London and a former director of the World Health Organization, says that case detection, tracking and isolation will get the epidemic down much quicker. Are you going to adopt this approach of testing, tracing and isolation in Wales?

And finally, following your confirmation that Roche were the company involved in the collapsed deal, will you now publish the agreement that existed between the Welsh Government and the company? If you're unwilling to do so now, will you at least commit today to do so at the earliest possible opportunity, once a semblance of normality has returned? And in terms of the numbers of tests now, would it be possible for us to have daily figures for the number of tests, as happens in Scotland, for example, so we can track progress towards the figure of 9,000, I believe—perhaps you could confirm that—of daily tests that you're aiming to achieve by the end of this month?

I thank Adam Price for those questions and for his opening remarks.

In relation to PPE and the distribution schedule, the chief medical officer has a weekly meeting with the Academy of Medical Royal Colleges; the Royal College of Nursing is, I'm sure, represented there and I'm sure the chief medical officer would be very happy to discuss whether a distribution schedule is an useful tool for members of royal colleges. Our own shared services organisation procures on behalf of Wales. In addition to the supplies we get through the new UK arrangements, we've always been able to secure our own supplies. And in general, my advice to local authorities and others is that it is better to be part of that national effort, although I understand that many organisations have their own suppliers and some long-standing arrangements that they are able to draw on. But we are lucky to have NHS shared services here in Wales—a national organisation with a very good reputation and a very skilled workforce, who are working hard to secure PPE, including from overseas, including contacts in China as well.

Adam asked me a couple of questions, Llywydd, about clinical matters, and my answer can only ever be that I have to be guided by the best clinical advice that I have. So, our clinicians will of course be looking at international evidence of early intervention, and whether there are regimes we should adopt here in Wales. They are far better placed than me to make that assessment, and where our clinicians believe that there are new things that can be done, and that they will be clinical effective in responding to the coronavirus, then of course we will support them in their efforts. The same has to be said as far as our approach to testing, tracking and isolation. The regime we have is the regime recommended to us by the four chief medical officers of the United Kingdom. If there comes a point where their advice to Government is that we need to move in a new direction in relation to testing, then you can be sure the Welsh Government will take their advice. There's no such thing as uncontested advice. We know that there are many different views amongst clinicians and academics and other experts. What Government can't do, what Ministers in the Welsh Government can't to, is to pick and choose between those competing voices. We have to rely on the most senior and authoritative voices that we have, and those are the four chief medical officers that work together very closely to advise all four Governments across the United Kingdom. It's their advice we rely on, and their advice that I continue to take.

As far as ventilators, our concern is—. It's a very good question. Vaughan Gething published on 5 April a detailed statement setting out existing capacity, invasive, non-invasive, the store that is on order, the number of ventilators that have already arrived in Wales. What we then have to do, as I know that Adam Price understands, is we have to match that capacity to the curve of the disease, and because we are not yet completely sure when that peak will be, a precise answer to the 'Have we got enough?' question remains a bit in the balance. What I think we can say with confidence is that the actions we have all taken in recent weeks have suppressed the curve to a point where we can have a much greater degree of confidence that the additional supplies we have of ventilators will match the current pattern of illness much more closely than would have been the case a month ago when we had fewer ventilators in the system and a very different pattern of disease in front of us.

Llywydd, as far as Roche is concerned, I've answered questions on that for about 10 days now, and I've really nothing further to add this afternoon to what I've already said on the record.

Just on the issue of contact tracing, testing and tracing, where there is, obviously, a range of views and a difference of opinion amongst scientists, epidemiologists and public health experts, given that the demographics of Wales are different—and, indeed, Ministers have referred to this—would it be possible for the Welsh Government to commission its own independent modelling, or ask SAGE and the various sub-committees to conduct specific modelling on the issue of whether we in Wales, as we come out of the lockdown, should adopt this policy, the South Korean policy of testing and tracing?

In relation to PPE, can I just say we've been contacted today by one despairing care home owner, who is trying to order PPE from the leading supplier for care homes in the UK only to be told that these supplies were given to them for distribution by Public Health England, and as such they had to be reserved for English-based homes only? Could you make urgent enquiries, First Minister, to verify if that is correct?

And also, in relation to the economic situation that was referred to earlier, it's obviously concerning to learn that the £100 million business loan scheme by the Development Bank of Wales is now fully subscribed after one week? Can you say when and how you plan to extend it?

And finally, in relation to the Easter bank holiday weekend and sending out the right signal, as I'm sure you as First Minister will do, do you think it would be useful for the UK Government, as you have done, to announce, in advance of the weekend, that they were extending the lockdown rather than waiting for the three weeks to be up effectively next Tuesday, so that that would send the strongest possible signal that this is a national emergency, it's not a national holiday?

Llywydd, I thank Adam Price for those important questions. He's right, of course, about the range of views. We have a Welsh representative on SAGE, we have our own chief medical officer. They distil the advice and give bespoke advice for Wales, and that includes some specific modelling that they are able to do, and I will raise with them the specific question that Adam Price has raised about modelling in a contact-tracing area to see whether different advice would come for Wales. Up until now, that hasn't been the case, but we shouldn't stop asking the question, I agree.

On PPE, there is a UK procurement, the product of that gets divided out to Wales, to Northern Ireland, to Scotland and England, and it's then for us to onwardly transmit that to people who need it. If there is someone who is anxious about not getting what they need, they should use the dedicated helpline that's available to them. That way they will get the right answer in the quickest possible way.

On the DBW point, I'm absolutely struck by the signal it sends about the level of distress in the economy. The Development Bank of Wales would normally get about 500 applications a year for the sort of funds that were set aside a week or so ago; they had 1,100 applications in a single week for that £100 million. The good news—and, again, I want to just pay tribute to the staff of the bank, because within three days, they were making the first decisions, and by the end of last week, the first moneys were in the hands of Welsh businesses. The challenge for Welsh Government now is to see whether there's anything more we can do to augment that fund. As Members listening can, I'm sure, understand, there are calls for funding from absolutely every aspect of Welsh life in this crisis, and a finite amount of money from which to meet all those calls. The Welsh Government is squeezing money out of every pocket we can find to try to dedicate to meeting those most urgent needs, and we will be doing that again in the Development Bank of Wales context.

Finally, on Adam Price's point about a concerted UK message in advance of this weekend, that was the purpose of my discussions with the First Ministers of Scotland and Northern Ireland earlier, to try to get a common message. I think we are all agreed that, as I said in my introductory statement, there is no prospect at all that the measures we are all having to observe will come to an end at the end of this three-week period. They will be continuing in Wales next week. I believe they will be continuing elsewhere in the United Kingdom, and if we could get that single message in a concerted, united way out across the United Kingdom, that would, of course, give it additional force and strength.

Thank you for your statement, First Minister. I would like to send my condolences to the families and friends of those who have lost loved ones to COVID-19, my best wishes also to the Prime Minister, our colleague Alun Davies, and, indeed, all those battling this disease at this moment; and my thanks to all who are involved in the fight against the disease: health workers and social care staff, shop workers, delivery drivers, prison officers, and thousands of volunteers, from dog walkers helping the vulnerable to those designing and manufacturing face shields. As the disease continues to wreak havoc throughout Wales, we know no community or person is safe, but we also know that some people still believe that coronavirus only attacks the very old or the very sick. So, my first question here is: will you ensure the Welsh Government message, moving forward, is far stronger?

Technically, we know that the elderly and those with underlying health issues are more at risk, but, at present, our hospitals are filled with people who are under the age of 60, and we also know that young children, very young children, have died through coronavirus with no underlying health issues.

I'm also concerned that not everyone who is particularly prone to this disease is being shielded, and I have been contacted by an NHS worker who flagged up the fact that motor neurone disease has not been included on the extremely vulnerable list in Wales, and measures have been taken in England and Northern Ireland to ensure that those with motor neurone disease are shielded, but there is no such mechanism in Wales. So, First Minister, will you ensure that motor neurone disease sufferers are shielded from this disease?

First Minister, will you also update the public health messaging to reaffirm that the only way people can avoid catching this disease is to avoid contact with others, unless absolutely essential? Already, some people are calling for the relaxation of some of the measures, and some are still failing to follow public health advice. We all want to return to our normal lifestyles as soon as possible, but, in reality, this is not likely to be for some time yet, and this message has to be reinforced. I ask if the Welsh Government is looking to put stronger mitigation measures in place.

First Minister, you have introduced new laws to ensure businesses comply with social distancing guidance, and I welcome the move. However, I am concerned that 'reasonable measures' is vastly open to interpretation. First Minister, why has your stance on this softened from when you first touted the measures before the weekend, and can you outline the scientific evidence that informed your decision-making process? I accept not everyone will have the luxury of staying 2m apart, but those who do not should have the best protection available to shield them from this virus.

First Minister, what steps are you taking to ensure Wales has a constant supply of PPE, especially respirators, given the move by the US to seize supplies manufactured by US firms and destined for other nations? Therefore, do the Welsh Government and UK Government have adequate supplies of non-US vital equipment? The US have enacted wartime legislation to prevent US companies exporting material and equipment needed to fight the virus. One company has developed testing that returns results within five minutes as opposed to five hours, but it's strictly restricted to the US. Faster, more reliable testing will help combat this disease so much sooner. First Minister, are you aware of any discussions with the US Government about securing the technology for use in the UK?

First Minister, efforts to combat the COVID-19 pandemic are being severely hampered by misinformation being spread on social media. Across the UK, mobile phone base stations are being destroyed in arson attacks because of conspiracy theories that are being spread about the role of 5G in this outbreak. Vaccines are also being blamed as the real cause of death across the globe. So, the longer this misinformation is allowed to spread, the greater the risk to our critical infrastructure, and the flow of data is as important to the fight against the disease as is the flow of medicines and equipment. First Minister, what discussions have you had with the US Government and social media companies about the best way to combat misinformation, and also what discussions have you had with the mobile operators about the best way of securing and protecting our vital mobile infrastructure? Diolch yn fawr.

Diolch, Caroline. I thought you set out very convincingly at the start of what you said that huge range of individuals and occupations who are engaged in the collective effort we're making here in Wales. We rightly focus on healthcare workers and social care workers, but the effort goes well beyond that, and you set that out at the start of your contribution.

Briefly, to run through some of those questions, there is a small minority of people who somehow believe that coronavirus doesn't mean them, but it's a virus that is no respecter of people or of places, and we just have to go on reminding them, and some of the difficult examples that they will have seen of individuals surely will convince them that this is not a virus that reserves itself for the elderly or for people with underlying health conditions. Anybody can get it and anybody can get it very badly.

The motor neurone disease point has been raised this morning with the chief medical officer here in Wales, and he is carrying out a piece of work immediately to see if there's anything further we need to do on that. Of course, I agree with what Caroline Jones said—that the best way to preserve yourself is to avoid contact with other people. But I do have the most enormous sympathy for people who find themselves confined to home in circumstances that are even more challenging for them than they would be for others—if you are looking after somebody with dementia, for example, who's no longer able to go out in the way that they could before; if you have a child with autism, whose life depends upon routine and regularity and being able to go to places where they know people and where life is predictable, and suddenly life is not predictable at all, and you're having to deal with all of that as well as everything you have to do yourself. So, of course I agree with what Caroline Jones said about people sticking to the rules, remaining at home, but I do think that all of us, our hearts would go out, wouldn't they, to people who are having to cope with all of that in circumstances that will be so very challenging.

On businesses and reasonable measures, we put that in there because the more we discuss this with business organisations in Wales, the more apparent it becomes the huge range of different sorts of businesses there are in Wales, and workplace settings. The huge majority of businesses in Wales already are enormously thoughtful about their workforce—as I said in my opening statement, their most important asset—are already doing everything, but we wanted to use the force of law behind the advice that has been there all along, and to bear down on that minority of businesses where people say to us—I'm sure they say to you—when they write to us as individual Members, 'I've got to go to work but I don't feel safe when I'm there', and the change in the law in Wales is designed to be on the side of those people. 

We're in a global competition for PPE. As a Welsh Government, we've had no direct discussions with the US Government, but we are sure that those discussions will be happening at a UK level. 

And just finally to say I completely recognise the point that Caroline Jones made about misinformation. That is no respecter of national boundaries, and it requires an international effort to try to make sure that we bear down on it wherever we see it. The positive advice, though, is to rely on trusted sources of advice and, here in Wales, the Public Health Wales website, the Welsh Government website, the NHS Wales websites—those are places you can go knowing that the advice you get is the product of people who know what they're talking about. Rely on that and don't get drawn into those other sources of information that we know are designed to throw people down the wrong track.

It's been a number of weeks now since Aneurin Bevan University Health Board has been a hotspot. From the statistics, we know that Newport has the highest confirmed cases in Wales per 100,000 of population. The announcement on the weekend of 7,000 critical beds is welcome, with the addition of field hospitals. In this, Aneurin Bevan health board will see the smallest numerical increase in critical beds across all Welsh health boards. With the Royal Gwent Hospital in my constituency under pressure, can you assure me that the plans are in place to ensure that support is available for Newport and Gwent patients to have access to beds, especially as we're ahead of other parts of Wales and the UK at the moment?

And, secondly, we know that carers of all ages who are living with loved ones who are self-isolating or shielding are under a great deal of pressure in these times. Many are not able to have access to the respite services that they usually have, and some are shielding with loved ones who are at the end of their life. Specifically, young carers often rely on the direct support they receive at school, and young carers are more likely to feel isolated, lonely and overburdened. What more can the Welsh Government do to ensure that our carers of all ages are not forgotten?   

Llywydd, I thank Jayne for both of those questions. Of course, there are additional beds coming on stream in the Gwent area, particularly with the acceleration into use of the Grange Hospital, which will not be a field hospital, but which will be a fully-blown and equipped hospital. But the general point I want to make is that, when we talk about the NHS, the 'N' really means something in this sort of crisis. It is a national health service, in which mutual aid and a sense of a resource in common really matters. So, the fact that there are beds being provided in Cardiff does not mean that they cannot be used for people in neighbouring areas where the need is greatest. The Cardiff City Stadium new testing facility was first used with social care staff from Gwent, because the need to provide tests to that community was the most urgent. So, we have a national health service in which we expect that those people whose needs are the most urgent will get the help that they need, and that will absolutely apply for the people of Newport and the people of Gwent. 

Jayne makes such an important point about carers. I tried to refer to it indirectly in my answer to Caroline Jones about people who remain at home in even more difficult circumstances than others. Young carers are vulnerable in their own way. That's why we've kept schools open in Wales, and those people who have caring responsibilities at such a young age, who need some respite during the day, then the youth service and our education service are alert to that. And I hope that they will be able to go on finding some help, in those really difficult circumstances, from services that are still there, still available to them, and ready and willing to help.

We've now had questions from all of the political groups. I want to be able to call as many Members as possible, if we can have succinct questions from Members from now on. And please can you seek to not repeat issues that have already been asked and answered. And if I could say to the First Minister as well, please do not feel obliged to repeat an answer you've already given to previous questions. Jack Sargeant.

Thank you, Llywydd. If I may start by saying my best wishes to the Prime Minister and Alun Davies and all those who are suffering as well.

The issues I want to bring up with you directly, First Minister, are those of the self-employed. Now, the self-employed and I do welcome plans that are in place for their support. However, I am concerned about the time it will take for those avenues to be accessed. So, what can the Welsh Government do to urge the UK Government to bring forward this support for the self-employed and also to seek assurances for those who have recently become self-employed so that they will also qualify for this support?

And my second question, First Minister, relates to vulnerable people, and those who are in self-isolation who require priority delivery slots when shopping. Does the Welsh Government have any plans to work with supermarkets across Wales to help them get priority, and, if so, when are we likely to expect this to be in practice? Thank you.

Thank you to Jack Sargeant. It’s very good to see you, Jack, after these weeks.

On the self-employed, it is a matter of concern that that help will not become available until June, and Jack is absolutely right—there is a big gap for people who didn't have returns, tax returns, that they were able to supply for 2019. I said earlier, Llywydd, that we are able to put these points directly to the UK Ministers responsible. There'll be further opportunities to do that and I'll make sure that we continue to report the concerns that Assembly Members have.

Lesley will, I’m sure, give a fuller answer in relation to vulnerable people and food. Just to be clear, across the United Kingdom, the priority slots that supermarkets are able to offer are for the shielded group, not the vulnerable group, which is much bigger than that. We concluded data agreements with supermarkets in Wales this week. That's really important—we can't release people's personal data to supermarkets without proper safeguards in place. All the data were supplied to three of the eight supermarkets yesterday. The rest of them will get it today. That means they will be able to schedule home deliveries for people in the shielded group here in Wales and we expect that to begin this week.

First Minister, last week, there was an announcement made about field hospitals in north Wales, which obviously was very welcome indeed. But some of my constituents have pointed out to me that the number of beds in north Wales in these field hospitals is fewer than those that are planned for individual cities in the south, including Cardiff and Swansea, and they feel very much that the region may not be getting its fair share of these beds and the resources that are needed to equip them. What assurances can you provide to my constituents and others in north Wales that we are getting the appropriate resources that we need?

Another issue that we have up here in north Wales is in relation to the seasonal nature of the tourism industry, and, as a result of that, of course, there are many seasonal workers who would not have been employed by 28 February and who are, therefore, not entitled to qualify for the coronavirus job-retention scheme. Given, obviously, the significance of the tourism industry to Wales, is this something that you have identified already as a Welsh Government, and, if so, what sort of action might you be able to take in order to plug this particular gap in that scheme so that people can get the support that they need and that they rely on very much in terms of their family income?

And, just finally, one issue in relation to tuition fees, if I may, for students. Obviously, many students have been sent back home by their universities—they are now doing their courses online rather than actually being able to study in lecture theatres and in laboratories. Some students are saying that paying £9,000 per year does not represent value for money, given the current situation, and I wonder what consideration the Welsh Government has actually given to looking at reducing the tuition fees for this year, and perhaps also, looking into the next year, the additional support that might be available to help students with those costs. I think I'd be grateful for answers on those three questions. Thank you. 

Llywydd, I thank Darren for all three questions. Field hospital capacity in Wales is a developing picture. Vaughan's statement of 5 April was the position on that day. We continue to work with all local health boards to make sure that they have the resources that they will need. The field hospital in Cardiff will serve a population far greater than Cardiff itself. As I suggested in my answer to Jayne Bryant, it's a resource available to that wider population. But, of course, we continue to work hard with Betsi Cadwaladr and staff there to make sure that the 837 beds, I think it was, that Vaughan announced on 5 April—if more are needed then more will be planned and provided. 

It's a very good point that Darren makes on the tourism industry. Can I thank all those many tourism businesses who have put their facilities at the disposal of the coronavirus outbreak? Sometimes they are physical facilities, sometimes in encouraging their staff to take up places in care roles, because, as they say, these are very often people who are used to dealing with members of the public, they have that basic interpersonal set of skills that are really important in the care sector, and when that sector is under pressure then people who would otherwise have been working in tourism being willing to help out, I really want to recognise the efforts that have been made.

The gap in the job retention scheme is a gap that only the UK Government can plug. But I will be very happy—. And I'm sure Darren probably has more details than he was able to convey in his question, but if he wanted to pass those to me, I'm very happy indeed to make sure that that point is conveyed to people who are responsible for the scheme.

And, as far as tuition fees are concerned, our universities, like every other organisation, are under huge pressure, because they have lost income and they are anxious about the recruitment of students from elsewhere in the world and what will happen in September. But Kirsty Williams remains in very close discussion, both with them and the National Union of Students, to make sure that we hear all sides of that story and see how we can make sure that students themselves don't feel that they are being short-changed at the moment, and that, when education resumes again, if there is a need for some additional help for those people to catch up on studies that they may have lost out on, that we're absolutely aware of that. 

First Minister, we heard yesterday that several members of staff in the Aneurin Bevan health board had received the wrong test results. Could you please indicate whether they've been re-tested and how long it'll take for all NHS and care staff to be tested with accurate results?

And related to that, the level of anxiety and trauma suffered by these members of staff and all front-line staff is considerable. By failing to provide PPE and testing, do you agree that what the Government is effectively doing is the equivalent of asking soldiers to go to war but to bring their own kitchen knives instead of weapons? And unlike soldiers, they don't have care and respite time, so they're having to take their own fear back home with them, because they're afraid they'll infect their own families. So, do you agree that, as well as the immediate steps of ensuring PPE and testing are available to all, in the future there'll need to be far more consideration of the welfare of NHS and care staff, including counselling for trauma? What are you doing now to ensure that's available and that the welfare of staff is paramount? 

Well, Llywydd, I don't agree with the caricature of the position in Wales that Delyth Jewell offered. It is true that a very small number of staff in Aneurin Bevan were given the wrong test results, and that's very regrettable, but it was identified very quickly. And all of those people have been since provided with direct contact by Public Health Wales, who've investigated that no harm actually resulted from that small number of test results. I Bitterly regret the anxiety that that will have caused to those individuals, but that is a very small part of a bigger picture in which everything that can be done is being done to protect the well-being of people who are at the front line, both through PPE and by extended testing. We started testing NHS staff in Wales ahead of the rest of the United Kingdom. Our percentages of testing of staff are still ahead of other places. We want to do more, which is why we are bringing more tests online, and that is to recognise, of course, the astonishing bravery and commitment of people who provide help to other people in the most challenging of circumstances.

Where I do agree with Delyth Jewell is that this will leave an aftermath. It will leave an aftermath in the lives of people who are facing things and making decisions they never expected to be faced with, and sometimes having to do that very early on in their careers. I'm very struck at the number of people who are returning to work in the NHS, that one of the things that motivates them, after retirement, to come back in is to be able to offer their experience and their lifetime of dealing with huge difficulties, to put that at the disposal of young NHS staff, to be able to stand alongside them, to be able to offer some of that advice and guidance and a shoulder to lean on during these hard times. I think that's a very generous offer that those people are making. We'll have to systematise that as we come out the other side of coronavirus because some of these things will live on for a long time after it in the lives of people who've been on the front line.

First Minister, can I first of all thank you for your efforts and your Ministers and, indeed, your officials over the course of the last few weeks, and also extend that thanks to those in Government outside Wales as well? It's a hugely difficult situation. The Prime Minister, I'm sure, has our best wishes, and my old friend and colleague Alun Davies has already been mentioned, and I add to all that's been said about him. I also know what it's like to receive advice that's not always uniform, that sometimes is not wholly in agreement with other sets of advice, and how difficult it can be to choose which advice to follow.

Two things from me. In my constituency of Bridgend, I have the town of Porthcawl. Porthcawl, of course, is a large tourist destination, very busy usually at Easter time. If you go down Danygraig hill, such are the times we live in, you'll see a sign that says 'Welcome to Porthcawl' and then a few yards down the road a sign that says 'Please turn back and go home', and rightly so, given the situation we find ourselves in. First Minister, would you join me in begging people—if that is the right word—to stay home this weekend, not to travel in the usual fashion to places like Porthcawl, in order to make sure that people in that town and beyond are properly protected from the spread of the virus? Of course, we all hope that people, as they have been, will obey the advice they have been given. There are still instances where I've seen small groups of younger people—four or five usually—congregating together, and that will need to be dealt with. But there are, of course, many of us who are there providing support for older relatives, and if there is a need to increase the restrictions that we have at the moment in future, could I ask you to make sure that that doesn’t adversely affect those of us who are in that situation?

The second point, very quickly from me then, is this: I've noticed by going to various different food shops that different approaches are taken by different shops. It's pretty universal now, actually, that you have to wait outside until it is your turn to go in. There's spacing inside the supermarkets and a particular one-way system for going around the supermarket or the shop, but in some shops, trolleys and baskets are sanitized before being made available to a customer and are sanitized when they are returned. In other shops that isn't happening at all. Where should supermarkets and food shops go for advice, in terms of best practice, when it comes to protecting their customers to the level that they and their customers would expect? Diolch, Llywydd.

Diolch, Llywydd, and thank you very much to Carwyn Jones for those questions and for just allowing me to say very briefly that the pressures of coronavirus are felt in every part of our lives, including in the Welsh Government. I am in Cathays Park today. There is a tiny number of people here compared to the normal number you would see working physically in the Welsh Government. They are people working very long hours, making some very challenging decisions, and I'm immensely grateful to the huge efforts that they are making to enable us to put in place a whole range of things that Members have been asking me about this afternoon.

The message to people thinking of going to Porthcawl or other places over the weekend is, 'Just don’t do it. Go outside, by all means, but stay local to where you live, stay away from other people and don’t think that this is the right moment to pose a risk to yourselves and a risk to others by doing things that you know are outside the guidelines that we are all required to abide by.'

If there is a need for increased enforcement, if that day comes and the police advise us of it, we will pursue that with them. I hope it won’t be advice that says we have to clamp down even further on the very limited opportunities that people have to be outside their own homes. It would be a great, great shame if the actions of just a few people were to place those restrictions on the very many people who are working so hard to do the right thing already.

As far as food shops are concerned, Lesley will be answering questions after me and she’ll have heard what the former First Minister has said. I know that she meets weekly with the food industry and the retailers here in Wales every Monday. It’s a forum in which those sorts of issues of common standards and common practices can be explored. I completely agree with what Carwyn Jones said that you can already see in some aspects that sort of standardisation beginning to happen, but there are other examples of the sort that he raised that I know can be discussed there.

Two final questions, and the first by Mark Isherwood.

What policy or guidance has the Welsh Government issued regarding provision for critical workers to access educational childcare settings for their children? A number of contacts have been made with me, by or on behalf of critical NHS staff living in Flintshire, who have been told that both parents have to be critical workers to qualify, one of whom has had to stay at home rather than join a clinical team, another is living apart from her children and husband in accommodation provided by Glyndŵr University in order to access her shifts at Wrexham Maelor.

Finally, how do you respond to the call by TCC, Trefnu Cymunedol Cymru—Together Creating Communities—Wrexham-based but representing a coalition of community bodies, regarding provision of free school meals for eligible pupils during the crisis? They’re asking for cash to be provided directly to parents or carers so that they can freely purchase food for their families where they believe the grab-and-go systems are forcing the poorest families to take unnecessary risks. The voucher scheme in England doesn’t include all supermarket chains and they’re concerned the voucher scheme in Wales may mean that supermarkets are not accessible for all families in receipt of free school meals, and they believe the provision of cash allows for shopping to be done at local shops, supporting social distancing by reducing the need to travel to supermarkets.

I thank Mark Isherwood for both of those important points. In relation to childcare and critical workers, on 6 April Julie Morgan issued a statement explaining how we are changing the childcare offer here in Wales. We’re closing it to new applicants in the current circumstances and we are allowing the money that would have been needed for those previous applicants to be diverted to make sure that childcare can be available at no cost to children of critical workers from the age of nought to five. The detail is set out in the statement. If there are questions beyond the statement that Members have, then I know that Julie will be very pleased to try and respond to them.

On cash for free school meals, well, of course I agree entirely with that principle. I would rather the families had the money they needed to be able to provide food for their children. The right way to do it is through child benefits. The UK Government should agree that in these circumstances they will put an extra amount of money in the child benefit that goes with the child that lands in those families that need it the most and would allow them to do it.

In Wales, we will move to a system where a sum will be provided through vouchers. There will be a BACS transfer of money from the Welsh Government to those families where that is feasible. Personally, I continue to believe that there will be a need for some residual direct provision. We know that there are some families whose circumstances are so difficult and where parents struggle so much with other issues in their lives that we could not be absolutely confident that money going into that household would find its way into food for children. For some very vulnerable children, I think there may still be the need for some residual system in which we can be confident that food itself is being provided, so that those children can be sure of being able to eat.

Finally, Mick Antoniw.

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.

Llywydd, I thank Mick for both those questions. On enforcement, he's right, the Health and Safety Executive has very important responsibilities, but a decade into austerity its ability to discharge those responsibilities has been really compromised. It just doesn't have the resources to do the job it's asked to do. We hope it will make its contribution in Wales.

Generally, I hope that the 2m rule won't rely in the end on enforcement. I hope it will be self-policing. I hope that it will send that message to employers of the importance that they must attach to the health and well-being of their employees. The best policing of it will be by the people in the workplace. They will be the eyes and ears of this arrangement. There are enforcement rules within the regulations. People can be fined and so on. I met the TUC general council in Wales earlier this week—virtually, in the way we are now—and I know that trade unions will be the eyes and ears of the workforce in the workplace. I hope it won't come to enforcement, I hope people will recognise the obligation that most other employers have already recognised to put the health and well-being of their employees at the top of the list, and our regulations just reinforce that.

I'm allergic to the phrase that I hear and read occasionally of, 'When everything gets back to normal', because I think the crisis tells us we don't want to just go back to what was normal before. Surely, we recognise that the only way that we are getting through this whole experience together is by collective and co-operative effort rather than by competition between one another.

I think it also tells us that, when we are absolutely up against it in this way, the people who we rely on to get us all through it are not very highly paid people who worry about whether their bonuses and their dividends will be safe during the crisis. We rely on the people who collect our bins, who look after our elderly people, who are the brave people who do the jobs in health and social care, and the many others that Caroline Jones mentioned in her introduction. I don't want to go back to a world in which those people just return to the obscurity of our priorities and other people just pick up from where they left off. There are real lessons for us all to learn from this experience. It's never too early, I think, to begin to be thinking about that.

I thank the First Minister. Apologies to the nine Members whom I was unfortunately unable to call.