3., 4. & 5. The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020, The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) (Amendment) Regulations 2020 and The Health Protection (Coronavirus Restrictions) (No. 2) (Wales) (Amendment) (No. 2) Regulations 2020

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 5 August 2020.

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Photo of Andrew RT Davies Andrew RT Davies Conservative 2:45, 5 August 2020

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?