3. Statement by the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs: Response to Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:27 pm on 8 April 2020.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 3:27, 8 April 2020

I thank Jenny Rathbone for those questions. So, in relation to the shielded list of people and supermarkets, you will have heard me say in an earlier answer that the data contracts have been signed this week. This has been a significant piece of work, and I have to say, I've been very impressed with the way the supermarkets have wanted to engage with us on this issue. I think some supermarkets have looked at their own data available. So, I suppose if you've got a loyalty card, you know the profile of your shoppers. So, some supermarkets have been a little bit more proactive in doing that. But, clearly, they've also been restricted in the number of shopping slots they've got. I think online shopping amounts to a small-ish percentage of the way people usually shop. So, to ramp it up in the way they have I think has been pretty impressive.

So, by the close of play today, all eight major supermarkets will have had that data list. As I say, I wanted to be absolutely sure that we weren't sharing data that we shouldn't be sharing. Maybe other countries are being a bit more lenient, but I have been really keen that we have to have all the i's dotted and the t's crossed in relation to sharing that data. So, anybody who's now on that shielded list who wants online shopping to be delivered to their home should be able to access that.

In relation to garden centres, obviously they have to remain closed. I know that that will be kept under review, but at the current time they have to remain closed. But I know a lot of them have diversified to online. I've got a seed company—it's a social enterprise one—in my own constituency that is doing incredible work online and has had to take on more employees because they have been inundated. So, I think we can see that people are much more keen now to grow their own fruit and vegetables, and that's to be welcomed.

Around the workers who normally come to pick fruit and veg—obviously, in Wales, horticulture is a very small part of the agricultural sector. It's about 1 per cent. But, again, in my weekly meetings with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Secretary of State and my counterparts in Scotland and Northern Ireland, this is something that we're having to look at, because, clearly, there is going to be an impact on the number of people who we normally have coming to Wales to help us.

And it's not just around food and drink; we normally have sheep shearers that come over from Australia and New Zealand, so there's a whole issue around agricultural workers and the—. We're going to see a significant drop in numbers and we need to look at other ways of encouraging people to do those jobs this year.

I absolutely agree with you around public parks. I think the First Minister alluded to the tensions and the difficulties that people will be getting from having to socially distance, and I can think of nothing worse than not being able to take your children out into open space every day. So, again, public parks aren't in my portfolio, but I'll certainly ensure that right across Government that message goes ahead.