COVID-19: 2 Sisters Factory

Part of 5. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 2:55 pm on 24 June 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 2:55, 24 June 2020

Thank you for the series of questions. On the broader point about advice within the sector, as with every other sector of the economy, those who would have carried on operating would have had to consider how they could remain COVID compliant. There have been conversations with both the Food Standards Agency for their role in food hygiene and the Health and Safety Executive about the way that the plants were operating, together with those parts of the labour in the factory that were organised and unionised.

We're looking again at that because of the reality that we have these three incidents. There is an incident in Merthyr, which is different to the two outbreaks in north Wales, but it would be an odd thing if we didn't take at this point in time the opportunity to review and revise the guidance we're providing, because there are examples of good practice within the sector here in Wales. So, we'll build on the review that my colleague Lesley Griffiths referred to in questions to her earlier today, across the sector; we'll take work from the Food Standards Agency and then provide that revised rapid guidance back to the sector before the end of this week. I spoke with the Health and Safety Executive yesterday; clarity in their respective roles and they're involved in the outbreak management oversight arrangements in both sites within north Wales. They're plugged in to the work that we're doing, and they'll also be consulted briefly before we issue that guidance.

When it comes to test, trace, protect, I think the issues that you refer to matter to each individual person who's got a delay, but actually, we've got a very high level of quick turnaround in terms of the testing outcome, so over 97 per cent of people in Llangefni, for example, have had their test results back within a day. But in each case where there's been a delay, there's an opportunity to learn and improve, and I don't try to—[Inaudible.]—from that, but actually, 97 per cent within a day is a very high level of performance.

And when it comes to the broader point about isolation, this is difficult because, as I know other Members have referred to previously, when you have relatively low pay, as I referred to yesterday in my statement in a press conference, and people are making choices about statutory sick pay and potentially not receiving pay, that's difficult and we've got some anecdotal experience in the early trials of test, trace, protect as well. That'll be part of the conversation that we have with the sector more broadly, which I have later this week with both employers and the trade union side, but TTP has been a really important factor in containing these outbreaks to date.

If we didn't have the test, trace, protect system, then we would have seen almost certainly much greater transference, not just within the workforce, but within community transmission, which we haven't seen to date. It's also been a national success story, because the contact tracing team on Anglesey, for example, have been supported by the contact tracing team in Swansea bay in particular; and it's the same with colleagues in Wrexham, they've been largely supported by both Cwm Taf Morgannwg and Cardiff and Vale. So, a real national redeployment of energy and resource to make sure we keep people as safe and well as possible, and I'm very proud of the fact that in this first but very difficult stress test of our ability to carry on successfully contact tracing and giving people advice and support, test, trace, protect has been a crucial part of our response.