1. What action will the Welsh Government take to protect the most vulnerable in society during the COVID-19 pandemic? OQ55524

Llywydd, an enormous effort has been mobilised across Wales to protect our most vulnerable citizens during the pandemic. In addition to our public services and third sector organisations, countless volunteers, friends and neighbours have provided help to those most in need. Our winter protection plan, published today, sets out ways in which this huge collective effort can be continued.

First Minister, COVID-19 has laid bare the indefensible unfairness in our society. Those on lower incomes, in insecure jobs, living in poor-quality housing and suffering health inequalities are particularly vulnerable to the virus, in terms of their health, economically and socially. Our more deprived communities, black and ethnic minorities, and disabled people are disproportionately affected. In Newport, we have experience of this, and we now have a worrying spike in COVID-19 cases. First Minister, will you set out the Welsh Government's response to this recent outbreak, and join me in urging local people and businesses to redouble their efforts to follow regulations and advice to keep the virus under control and avoid further lockdown?

Llywydd, can I thank John Griffiths for those very important points? He quite rightly draws attention to the recent spike in numbers of people suffering from coronavirus in the Newport area. A considerable effort is being mobilised through the local outbreak control team, working very closely with the local authority—I was speaking with the leader of Newport City Council, Councillor Jane Mudd, yesterday—and our test, trace, protect team have been absolutely assiduous in following up all those cases that have come to our attention, and then, in turn, getting in contact with the people who they have been in contact with. As a result, those efforts are helping to stabilise the position in Newport. And of course we hope that there will be no need for further action, but if there is a need, if those figures do not improve and local action has to be supplemented by national action, then that is exactly what will happen. And as John Griffiths said, Llywydd, that is even more important for those vulnerable groups in a city like Newport—black and minority ethnic communities, people with disabilities, and so on—for whom, were the virus to get out of control, the risks would be particularly serious.

Good afternoon, First Minister. I listened to your response to John Griffiths very carefully, because I agree that there's a lot of harm to be done if this virus gets out of control. There's also a significant harm that will happen to people who may be asked to shield again, to people who have such disabilities, to people who've got perhaps learning disabilities, do not understand clearly what is going on. So, for example, I've been approached by a disability advocacy group, where one mother's daughter, who's in a residential setting supported by social services, has been told that she probably will not be allowed to go home until June of next year—next year. We are asking some people to make absolutely extraordinary sacrifices. If we do have to go back into lockdown, those who have to shield will have to go back into it. First Minister, what assurances could you give us, or what can the Government do, to make sure that, this time around, if we are faced with that situation, there are ways we can be more compassionate and more kind about some of the things we're asking some of the very vulnerable people in our society to cope with, especially those who perhaps have more difficulty in understanding the necessity?

Llywydd, I thank the Member for those points. I agree with very much of what she said—that the impact of responding to coronavirus falls especially hard on those people who have the least ability to be able to recognise what is happening around them and then to respond to it, whether that be very elderly people who have suffered from dementia, whether it be people with learning disabilities, and so on. And it is very important that we learn from the experience of the last six months. My colleague Jane Hutt has chaired five meetings of the disability equality forum over that period. It's been attended as well by the chief medical officer and by my colleague Julie James. And all that is about trying to learn from the lived experience of people who, as in Angela Burns's contact's case, have had to live with the astonishing burden that coronavirus has placed on some members of our society. So, I think the best assurance we can give those people is to listen carefully to them, and to hear from them about ways in which, were we to face a further period of the sort we faced back in March and April, we have learned from the ways in which they have coped with this experience. And where we can do more to support them and can design our public services in a way that is better able to respond to their needs, then that is exactly what we will try to do.