I therefore call on the Minister for Health and Social Services to move the motions on the regulations. Vaughan Gething.

Motion NDM7358 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the Senedd, in accordance with Standing Order 27.5, approves The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020 laid in the Table Office on 10 July 2020.

Motion NDM7359 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the Senedd, in accordance with Standing Order 27.5, approves The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 laid in the Table Office on 17 July 2020.

Motion NDM7360 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the Senedd, in accordance with Standing Order 27.5, approves The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 laid in the Table Office on 24 July 2020.

Motions moved.

Thank you, Llywydd, and I formally move the three sets of regulations before us today, and I ask Members to support all three sets of regulations. As with the regulations that preceded them, the three sets of regulations being debated today were introduced under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 through emergency procedures to support our national approach to tackling coronavirus here in Wales.

As the coronavirus pandemic has continued, we have continually reviewed the restrictions that it has been necessary to impose on individuals, businesses and other organisations to manage this truly extraordinary public health crisis. The continual review of the regulations is in addition to the 21-day review cycle that requires Welsh Ministers to review the need for restrictions and requirements every 21 days. Over recent weeks, Members will be aware that we have sought to gradually ease a range of restrictions that apply to Wales as circumstances have allowed. The regulations before the Senedd today continue that process. All of the changes introduced by these regulations are, once again, based on the most up-to-date scientific evidence and public health advice as to what restrictions it is safest to remove or alter whilst guarding against any resurgence in the spread of the virus here in Wales.

The No. 2 regulations revoked and replaced the previous provisions set out in the Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (Wales) Regulations 2020 and their subsequent amendments. These regulations came into force on 11 July in relation to the opening of self-contained holiday accommodation, and in full from Monday 13 July this year. Although the regulations revoke the original regulations, they also reinstated, with some easing, requirements for the closure of businesses selling food or drink, holiday accommodation and other businesses to protect against the risk to public health arising from coronavirus. They also delivered the duty on local authorities, national park authorities, Natural Resources Wales and the National Trust to close footpaths or access to land to prevent large numbers of people congregating or being in close proximity to each other and to publish a list of the closures on their websites.

These regulations provided for a significant number of easements in the restrictions previously in force. So, it's through them that we've removed the requirement to close the following categories of businesses: hair salons and barbers, self-contained accommodation and outdoor hospitality. We've allowed for places of worship to restart outdoor services and indoor congregational services in some areas. We've allowed for outdoor cinema to open and allowed for organised outdoor activities, up to a maximum of 30 attendees, subject to organisers meeting COVID-secure requirements. We've amended the 2m requirement to replace it with a requirement to take reasonable measures to reduce the risk of exposure to coronavirus. That includes 2m distancing, limiting face-to-face interaction, maintaining hygiene and providing information on how to minimise the risks of exposure.

The No. 2 amendment regulations came into force on 20 July. They allowed for still further relaxation of coronavirus restrictions by reopening playgrounds and outdoor gyms, funfairs, and clarifying that people can gather at places of worship.

Finally, the second set of amendment regulations came into force on 3 August. These regulations provide for yet greater freedom of association and a return to something closer to what normal life was for many people, by allowing outdoor gatherings of up to 30 people, permitting indoor hospitality in pubs, bars, cafes and restaurants to reopen, and permitting bowling alleys, bingo halls and auction houses to reopen.

The restrictions put in place to protect people's health and control the spread of the virus have been and continue to be unprecedented. The law is clear, however, that those restrictions can only be kept in place for as long as they're necessary and proportionate. The road map the Welsh Government published on 15 May promised a cautious and coherent approach to the easing of restrictions through gradual regulatory change. The regulations on which Members will vote today help to make good that promise, and I ask the Senedd to support them.

I call on the Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, Mick Antoniw.

Thank you, Llywydd. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020 were made, as has been said, on 10 July under the Public Health (Control of Disease) Act 1984 in response to COVID-19 or coronavirus. The regulations revoke the original coronavirus regulations made on 26 March. As has been said, all the amendments made to those original restrictions regulations are also revoked. The No. 2 regulations are now the principal regulations on coronavirus in Wales. In brief, and as Members will be aware, the No. 2 regulations restate certain provisions of the original regulations, require certain steps to be taken by those businesses permitted to be open, including taking all reasonable measures to ensure social distancing at their premises and with regard to the restriction of gatherings. The regulations will expire on 8 January 2021. 

On 3 August, the committee reported on the No. 2 regulations and two sets of amending regulations made respectively on 17 and 24 July. Our report on the No. 2 regulations identified three technical reporting points and six merits reporting points. We raised concerns about the commencement provisions in the regulations; in particular, when exactly do the regulations come into force? I'd welcome clarification on this point in the Minister's closing remarks and hope they will confirm the position regarding anyone who may have breached the restrictions over the weekend of 11 and 12 July. In addition, we highlight some inconsistencies between the meaning of the English and Welsh texts.

Now, turning to the merits reporting points, we note the explanation as to the impact of the No. 2 regulations on human rights, and how interference is justified in respect of articles 5, 8, 9 and 11. However, we have requested further information in order to provide a fuller understanding of their impact on human rights. We have also sought clarity on two issues: first, about how the regulations apply in relation to the concept of extended households where one of the households is not in Wales, given that the 1984 Act states that the Wales restrictions apply 'as respects Wales'. Secondly, we've asked for an explanation about the application of regulation 8. This permits self-contained accommodation to open as long as, amongst other requirements, it is only let to members of the same household. Specifically, we have asked for clarification of what the owner of any self-contained accommodation must do in order to satisfy themselves that they are actually letting the property to members of the same household, whether extended or not. We also requested that the Welsh Government address specific issues we highlighted in our report, which Members have, about the powers of entry and fixed-penalty notices.

The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations of 2020 also amend the No. 2 regulations to allow the reopening of funfairs, playgrounds and outdoor gyms, as has been mentioned by the Minister, and clarify that persons who attend a place of worship have a reasonable excuse to gather. These regulations came into force on 20 July. We reported three merits points concerning drafting issues that are relevant to the accessibility of law, and we draw them to the attention of the Senedd as they're identified in the report. 

Finally, we come to the third set of regulations being debated today. The second set of amending regulations lifted some of the restrictions imposed by the No. 2 regulations from 25 July, and others from 27 July. These are listed in our report. In addition, and from 27 July, the regulations require passengers travelling on public transport services to wear a face covering, subject to certain exceptions.

There are two merits points identified in the report, relating to a minor drafting issue and the lack of time to carry out a consultation or regulatory impact assessment, and I draw these to the attention of the Senedd. Diolch, Llywydd. 

Thank you, Minister, for introducing these regulations. If I could just seek two assurances from you, Minister. The Welsh Conservatives will be voting for the regulations as tabled this afternoon, but in relation to the use of face masks in vulnerable settings, such as hospitals and care homes, I would be grateful to try to understand why the Minister has not chosen to use these regulation updates to make that a mandatory obligation across Wales, in particular with what we've seen at Wrexham Maelor, with requests from Public Health Wales and the health board in that area. I heard what the First Minister said in his response to me, that they were mandatory on the Wrexham Maelor site, but actually this is not backed up by regulations laid by Government or the legislation that's available to Government to take that confrontational aspect out of it and make it, across Wales, a demand that would be placed on people visiting hospitals and care homes in particular. So, I'd be grateful to understand why the Government haven't chosen to use this opportunity to do that. 

Secondly, we've all seen the scenes across Wales as some of the unlocking measures have come into force—in Roald Dahl Plass, right next door to the Assembly building itself, and in other locations in my own electoral region. In Barry, for example, there were crowds of 25,000-30,000 attending Barry Island on a given day. How confident are you, Minister, that the regulations that you have put before the Senedd for approval today can manage and assist the enforcement agencies in managing the situations that they are faced with on a day-to-day basis now of such gatherings that turn into unruly behaviour, and unlawful behaviour, I would suggest, in some instances, because obviously the First Minister in his statement did allude to the fact that he had met with the enforcement agencies this morning, but we are voting on regulations today for the next three weeks? So, would it be your opinion that the regulations we are voting on do assist the enforcement agencies in confronting such situations?

Thank you very much, Llywydd. Thank you to the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee for scrutinising these regulations. My fellow Members and I will be voting in favour of these regulations. We support a move towards relaxing restrictions—that’s what everyone wants—as long as the evidence demonstrates to us that that can be done safely. We are, however, emphasising the need to communicate as clearly as possible and as much in advance as possible where there is the possibility of further relaxation and where that can have an impact on families and individuals, and on businesses, because there are businesses that still want to prepare for an enhancement in their activities. That, of course, is with the caveat that things could change, because that will be inevitable, given this pandemic.

Also, where it is impossible to allow businesses to operate in a way that would allow them to start to regain some of their losses, we also appeal to the Government to enhance the packages of support available to those businesses. There are still businesses slipping through the net in terms of the support available, given the impact that the pandemic and the restrictions in place are having on them.

We also support the principle in these regulations of keeping the 2m distance regulation in Wales. One thing that I would request, however, is I wonder whether any consideration has been given to putting a system in place to assess whether that directive could be reduced to 1m safely in certain circumstances by putting in place mitigation steps, such as the wearing of face coverings, for example. I have examples in my own constituency, and other Members will have examples in theirs too, where the 2m distance is having a detrimental impact. For example, as regards businesses running boat trips or fishing trips in Anglesey, in the open air, the 2m restriction between paying guests does make that difficult. So, I wonder whether that could be done safely.

May I also just expand on some of the points that I raised with the First Minister? These regulations do lead towards, and have led towards, a relaxation of restrictions, but I wonder whether the Minister can tell us what preparations are being made through regulation to tighten restrictions again where necessary. We heard the First Minister warning us quite rightly earlier on that these dangers are not over. We have seen quite serious clusters of cases arising, for example, in the north-east of Wales, where local regulations could be tightened in order to, hopefully, avoid another lockdown. For example, surely the use of face coverings should be mandatory in more places in areas such as Wrexham. I would remind you that what I have argued, and what Plaid Cymru has argued, is that we need far stronger guidance and enforcement in terms of face coverings throughout Wales in those places where it’s difficult to distance from others.

But we also have the cases in the north-west of England—not in Wales, but having a direct impact on Wales. There are thousands of people still travelling from those areas to areas such as Anglesey, Gwynedd and along the north Wales coast. The question has been posed, and it’s a valid question: should we be asking people to travel only where truly necessary? But if the Government isn’t willing to place a restriction on people’s right to travel, then I am quite sure that we do need guidance and far stricter enforcement in relation to how people should behave once they have travelled into those communities. There are people who can’t travel or can’t visit pubs in the north-west of England with multiple different families, but they can do so on Anglesey, and I think that the Government needs to take account of that and to respond to that by increasing the level of direction in terms of people’s behaviour. I do think we need to consider how we can strengthen the regulations again in the next weeks and months to respond to such circumstances.

I thank the Minister for his statement and the Chair of the committee for the procedural background I might have expected to have had from the Minister. We haven't had an explanation as to why having, since the original set on 26 March, had a series of amendments to those regulations—. Now that approach has been changed and the initial overall set of regulations and all the amendments are then revoked and then largely reinstated before a new set of amendments. What's the purpose of that procedural approach? 

I'm disappointed that, again, it's over three weeks since these amendments were made, on 10 July, before we debate them. We're therefore debating and voting on something when it's already been amended twice. We were told by the First Minister there are going to be further amendments that are going to be made on 7 August. It's 5 August today. Why couldn't that be done two days earlier so we could have proper scrutiny by the Senedd? 

The original set of regulations, while we would have been happy to support a degree of restriction in order to protect NHS capacity from being overwhelmed, by the time we even got to vote on the first set of regulations, that issue was, we felt, under control. We've opposed all the regulations to date. Because these No. 2 regulations reinstate that panoply of regulations, we also propose to vote against these. Again, we think it's wrong, the scale of the restrictions and closures, and the putting in law the huge inflexibility of that, the 2m distancing, we think is wrong.

I also consider that these regulations are unnecessary and disproportionate, and that applies even more strongly given how low the level of prevalence of COVID-19 now is—this level of extraordinary restrictions and state power, and the impact that this has on the economy, but also on people's well-being and also, frankly, health and, I fear, death rates for other diseases in the NHS. It is wholly disproportionate. We oppose it.

The two sets of amending regulations strike me as being entirely liberalising, albeit in a small way, and therefore we see no need to oppose the amendment regulations, should there be a vote. Thank you.

I call on the Minister for Health and Social Services to reply—Vaughan Gething.

Thank you, Llywydd. I thank Members for contributing to the debate. I'll try to respond to the variety of points. I might not get through all of them, given the number of specific points made. Just in terms of dealing with the points raised by the committee, I have written to the committee. I don't know if the letter's got to the Chair yet, but I think that will cover the points that have been raised in the reporting points, both about the technical issues and the merits issues as well. So, they'll be all available and on the record.

I think I'll just deal with the first point that Mark Reckless made about why we've revoked the original regulations to have a new set of regulations to be amended. That is simply because we think they will be a more coherent scheme of regulations available, making it clearer and more distinct for both Members and the public and people trying to follow the regulations, rather than to continue re-amending the original regulations.

When it comes to the points that both Rhun ap Iorwerth and Andrew R.T. Davies made on face coverings, it is a fact that this is a live matter of not just public debate, but these are regular conversations we have with our scientific advisers and with the chief medical officer, about the current state of the evidence, and the evidence being reviewed, and then practice as well. So, in Wrexham Maelor there's a specific situation, and that's why face coverings are now required of people accessing that site. There isn't a need to have Government regulations for that requirement to be real. But we'll continue to review what would happen generally, with the current circulation of coronavirus, but, if there were to be local action, then the potential for further use of face coverings is a matter that could be further reviewed, just as we have done in terms of public transport, where we recognise that not only is there a cross-border issue, but, of course, there is a challenge where, as more people use public transport, social distancing is much more likely to be difficult, and the current advice of the chief medical officer has been to recommend the use of face coverings where social distancing isn't possible. We recognise, actually, that, for simplicity purposes as well, it was the right thing to do to actually make that mandatory on public transport. So, we are continuing to consider evidence of the practical realities of where we are on face coverings, as indeed on a wide range of areas.

I do want to address some of the points that Andrew R.T. Davies made about Roald Dahl Plass and other venues. Of course, Roald Dahl Plass, I should say, Presiding Officer, is in my constituency, and I recognise the concern of a range of people who come to Cardiff Bay for leisure and other purposes, and there are challenges in some of the behaviour. That's partly about engagement, but also enforcement. And it's the point about public behaviour, because it's public behaviour that has allowed us to get to the point where we've made further easements, and we may yet get to make more. But it's also public behaviour that provides the greatest risk to continuing to ease the measures that we're still taking to restrict individual and community choices. It’s public behaviour that will be the best guard against a further rise in coronavirus through the autumn and the winter. We actually need to not just deal with enforcement where people appear to be breaking the regulations, but also to remind people of the risks of those choices to individuals and people, not just the issues about the litter and anti-social behaviour but, as we go through the autumn and the winter, what that could mean as regards a rise in coronavirus, as we've seen in other countries with low prevalence. That is the reason why, for example, Aberdeen is now in a localised lockdown in Scotland. So, it's a matter for all of us in the choices we make as community leaders. It's a matter for us as individuals within our communities to try to make sure that coronavirus is kept at bay. And, within that, I do think very clearly about the impact on businesses as well as individuals.

I would like to see more easements as quickly as possible, as safely as possible, and that's still what the Government is aiming to do. But that is going to be within the context of taking a deliberately cautious approach to keep Wales safe. That requires clarity in our communications, and I do think that whilst the Brexit Party simply oppose the approach we're taking—and they've been consistent in that—even people who disagree with the approach of this Government, I think, would acknowledge that there's been a clear and consistent level of communication in areas where people disagree with us. I think that clarity is really important, and I think that helps the public to understand the rules and make choices about them.

In terms of our plan for the future, not only do I have regular meetings with the First Minister, the chief medical officer and our chief scientific advisers, but I've indicated we will be publishing a plan at the start of the autumn, in the early part of the autumn, for preparing for autumn and winter. It was welcome news we'll have more money available. That's been announced today following a statement by myself and the finance Minister. Within that, I'll also be setting out, as the First Minister indicated—ahead of that, rather—the balance between local and national action and what those things will look like.

Now, these regulations are, of course, just part of our response to managing the coronavirus pandemic here in Wales and we'll continue to take action to manage the pandemic and protect the public. Taken as a package of measures, these regulations, I believe, are sensible and proportionate. The changes have gone a significant way towards returning to a more normal social and economic life in Wales. It still carries with it an element of risk, but we do not believe that risk is excessive.

All of us need to remember that the virus has not gone away and we need to maintain vigilance in following the messages, in particular about social distancing and good hand hygiene, to keep all of us in our families and our communities safe. I look forward to further easing in the time available to us, but I'll also, as will the Government, continue to take every measure possible and necessary to keep the people of Wales safe. And that may yet require us to amend these regulations further to move easements in the opposite direction. But, as I say, I hope we can take further steps to have further easements for every community across the country. I thank Members for contributing to the debate and ask Members to support the regulations before us today.

The proposal is to agree the motion under item 3. Does any Member object? [Objection.] Yes. I see that there is an objection, therefore we will defer voting until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.

The next proposal is to agree the motion under item 4. Any objections? Are there any objections to the motion under item 4? Yes. I see that there is an objection, therefore I will defer the voting until voting time. 

Voting deferred until voting time.

The proposal now is to agree the motion under item 5. Are there any objections? [Objection.] Yes. I see that there are objections, therefore that too will be deferred until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.

Which brings us to voting time, but in accordance with Standing Order 34.14D, there will be a break of at least five minutes before we take those votes. We will now move into that brief break.

Plenary was suspended at 15:02.

The Senedd reconvened at 15:15, with the Llywydd in the Chair.