4. What extra allocations will be available during the current budget round to support the tracking element of the test track and protect strategy? OQ55375

In the first supplementary budget passed by the Senedd last week, we allocated more than an extra £400 million to the NHS, including £57 million to support the Welsh Government's test, trace and protect strategy.

Thank you very much for that response. I am more concerned in terms of this question of the funding that I would like to see being allocated for local government specifically. We are very fortunate in Ynys Môn that the county was part of the early development work on the tracing system, and part of the national pilot at the end of May.

But, these are voluntary teams within the county doing the tracing work; they are staff from other departments that have been brought into the team. Clearly, that isn't sustainable; it won't be sustainable as the council seeks to return to business as usual. So, can I ask for an early statement on the funding that can be allocated clearly to local authorities, which will be additional, so that they can professionalise this and employ people specifically to do this work? Because, let's be honest, we will need these professional tracing teams in councils across Wales for many months to come.

I think that one of the real strengths of our approach here in Wales has been those very locally based teams of people doing the tracing work. I can say that I've had a number of discussions with the health Minister and with officials over the last week, looking at what funding will be needed in order to increase the size of that workforce, what the core size should be, and how we can ensure that there is surge capacity for that workforce as well, and there will be additional funding as part of that. Yes, I will be happy to provide that statement as soon as the details are confirmed.