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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:34 pm on 8 April 2020.

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Photo of Lesley Griffiths Lesley Griffiths Labour 3:34, 8 April 2020

Thank you, Lynne, for those questions. I should start by saying that people in Wales have not been disadvantaged. My understanding is there was only—. On Monday, there was only one supermarket that had got the data from England. So, it was one supermarket on Monday. We had three supermarkets on Monday who had our data. We'd signed the data contracts on Monday. So, as far as I'm aware, we were actually ahead, not behind. So, certainly, they haven't been disadvantaged.

You mentioned that some people on the shielded list—and I, too, am getting a lot of constituency casework around this—they haven't received the letters. It's from people who think they should be on the shielded list. I will certainly take the point up with Vaughan Gething, but my understanding is, if people can contact their GP, they should be able to find out then if they are on the list and when they will get their letter, but, again, I would think that, by today, everyone on that shielded list should have had their letter, but I will certainly raise it at my next meeting with Vaughan and Julie James.

You mentioned also, in the first question, around some of your constituents still getting e-mails saying it was work in progress. I agree that's not acceptable. As you yourself said, Sainsbury's informed you that they have now had the data, so I think they need to make sure that their websites are up to date and I will go off from this statement and I will make sure that officials contact all eight supermarkets to make sure that information is there, because there's nothing more frustrating than going on a website and you haven't got the correct information.

Your question around vulnerable people is a really important one, and I sort of alluded to it a bit earlier—that we think, across the UK, there are probably about 15 million vulnerable people; the people that you referred to, people with sight difficulties, for instance. But, equally, whilst I have worked very proactively with the supermarkets, they are not able to boost their online slots in the way that I think some people are expecting them to do. They're also coping with—. Some of the supermarkets have got 20 per cent of their staff self-isolating. They can't just buy a fleet of vans. A lot of them have managed to increase their online slots, some of them significantly. There's one supermarket—that's Morrisons—they have a huge amount of online shopping activity and they've managed to boost their slots in a way that the others haven't been able to. However, both Tesco and Sainsbury's have now got 100,000 slots that they are keeping for that priority group, for that shielded group.

I think you're right about the food parcels. They are there for people who are on the shielded list that have absolutely nobody to bring food to them. I'm really pleased and I'd really like to pay tribute to my officials in the food division who have done an incredible job to get those food parcels out so quickly. And all 22 local authorities: I thank them very much, because they're our partner in this. There's now a very robust system in place, very quickly, to get those food parcels out. But it's not for everybody, and some people won't be eligible for them. Some people won't want them, and they will want to continue that online shopping, but I think, realistically, the supermarkets are doing all they can, and are continuing to do all they can. When I dialled into the retailer meeting on Monday that DEFRA organised—again, I think most of the supermarkets have taken extra staff on to be able to cope with the ones that are self-isolating and are unwell, but I am very happy to continue to work very proactively with the supermarkets to try and do all I can.