Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:50 pm on 13 May 2020.
Thank you, Helen Mary, and I think the food box scheme has been incredibly successful and I’d really like to pay tribute to officials who got that up and running very, very quickly. As you say, these are the shielded group, the most extremely vulnerable group of people. We made sure from the beginning that the boxes did include some Welsh food. So, bread, biscuits, there were potatoes and other vegetables, and then we’ve added to that. So there’s now fruit juice, I think, or flavoured water that’s been added to it. You are quite right, we’re now in week 6 of the scheme. Obviously, initially, it was announced as a 12-week scheme and we said we would review the scheme when we were halfway through, so that review is being undertaken.
I am aware of Ceredigion and I did receive some correspondence about some fruit that was mouldy. We haven’t been able to trace whether indeed it was fruit and where it had come from, but clearly we want to make sure that the produce that arrives is of the highest quality, and officials have worked on that. So we have secret box delivery, if you like, to make sure that everything is being done absolutely correctly because, as you say, these are the most extremely vulnerable, so it’s really important that that box of food arrives on a weekly basis, if that’s what a person wants to receive.
So, on that, yes, Ceredigion, I’ve had discussions with the leader of Ceredigion around them doing their own scheme. My main concern is that they have a sustainable scheme. It’s really important that if they then say, 'Well, we’ll provide the 500 boxes', or however many extremely vulnerable people want these boxes, that they are able to sustain those boxes. We are actually asking Ceredigion to run a pilot scheme for us. I think that’s starting next week, at the beginning of week 7, but we’re obviously going to be able to monitor that to see if other local authorities who want to do that can do that. But the most important thing is that—it would be great to use more Welsh produce, of course—but that those boxes are sustainable, because we cannot have a shielded person not receiving the box. But I’m very happy to work with the local authorities and, as I say, Ceredigion is going to do a pilot scheme for us.