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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:26 pm on 22 April 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:26, 22 April 2020

(Translated)

Well, thank you to Siân Gwenllian for those questions. I haven’t yet seen that correspondence, but I do acknowledge the issues that she has raised. We have been working hard with the police forces across Wales and they have used the powers that they currently have. Every weekend they are working and they do fine people who are travelling to Wales unnecessarily; they do turn them back, and they have done that time and time again. Every week I ask the police whether the powers that they currently have are sufficient or whether they want us to do more. And the conclusion we’ve come to, I think, is that we want to bring the police, the Welsh Government and those working in this area to have a look at it. It’s one thing to say that we need to strengthen the measures, but it’s another thing to plan those so that they can deal with any problems that the police do identify. I do want to do that work and if there’s anything else we can do, where the police tell us that would be useful for them, then I am more than happy to go down that particular route.

I don’t agree with Siân Gwenllian about the fines that we can impose on those who don’t comply with the rules. We can’t simply do that for one form of non-compliance. For me, I haven’t seen any evidence that suggests that the levels here in Wales are not effective, and I don’t think that the case has been made to change what we have in place at the moment in that area.