5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the local lockdown introduced in Caerphilly? OQ55522

Llywydd, the start of last week saw a significant increase of coronavirus cases in the Caerphilly Borough County Council area, in absolute terms and as a proportion of people tested. On 8 September, following a request by public authorities, Ministers introduced measures to control the virus and to protect public health.

I thank the First Minister for his answer. When the lockdown was announced last week, it threw many residents in Caerphilly into confusion, and I was inundated with messages from people who are anxious to find out what effect it would have on their circumstances. It took nearly 24 hours before guidance was published clarifying where the parents who shared custody of their children and live on either side of the county border could see their children, whether bereaved family members could attend funerals and whether people who were shielding earlier in the year would be asked to do so again. That was 24 hours of unnecessary distress and angst that could have been avoided if the guidelines had been published at the same time as the announcement. Now that areas like Newport and Merthyr and also possibly facing lockdowns, would you, First Minister, please provide a guarantee that detailed guidelines will in future be published as soon as any lockdowns are announced, and that any changes to guidelines are communicated in advance of implementation, so that people are given time to prepare?

Llywydd, I think the question completely fails to understand the context in which such decisions are made. They are not made at a leisurely pace. They're not made with an opportunity to put every dot and comma in its place before they are announced. You are dealing with a public health emergency. You are dealing with a situation in which a day's delay can put more people's lives at risk. And I say to the Member that her constituents and those who I know have contacted the Member for Caerphilly, Hefin David, are a good deal more understanding than she appears to be of the fact that the Welsh Government took action immediately we were asked to do so by those public authorities, and, within 24 hours, every bit of guidance that was necessary to help people to deal with the changed circumstances was available to them. Now, we wish to get that guidance to people as fast as we possibly can, but the sequence of events cannot be to provide guidance and then to announce when you're faced with an emergency, and you are faced with advice from people on the ground that action needs to be taken as fast as possible in order to protect people's lives—you take the actions first and then as fast as you can you provide the guidance to go alongside it. That is what we did in Caerphilly, and that is what of course we will aim to do should any similar situations arise in any other parts of Wales. And the people of Caerphilly, who have co-operated fantastically with the restrictions that have been put in place since, I think show a great deal more sense than the Member gives them credit for.

As a resident of the Caerphilly constituency, I've seen at first hand the sacrifices that people are making in complying with the restrictions in which we're living under, which were very clear in the outset, but have led to some questions from residents with specific scenarios. One I've been dealing with are people who've been required to cancel holidays, pre-booked holidays, and I have to say the travel industry has not responded well, particularly with regard to refunds, although there has been some scope for rebooking. And I have to say EasyJet and Ryanair have been particular standout examples of companies that seem to care little for the health and well-being and, indeed, legal obligations of their passengers, and that has been very disappointing. 

The Welsh Government has done the right thing by writing to the travel industry and the insurance industry with very clear instructions for them, and what they need to do to respond to people to meet their legal obligations. The UK Government too now needs to step up and provide support for people who are affected by these circumstances—for those affected passengers. So, can I ask the First Minister has he had a response from the travel industry and the insurance industry; when does he expect to get that response if he hasn't had it so far; and would he also call on the UK Government to take immediate action for those passengers affected?

Llywydd, can I begin by thanking the Member and his staff for the enormous efforts I know they have made over the last week to respond to literally thousands of enquiries from Caerphilly residents, and for the way that he has taken up issues of this sort on their behalf? He's right, of course, that Vaughan Gething and Lee Waters wrote ministerially to the association of British travel agents and of British insurers back on 10 September; they said in the letter that it's incumbent on the travel and insurance industries to take the necessary steps to mitigate the financial impact of restrictions on members of the travelling public whose travel plans have been disrupted. We are yet to receive a reply to that letter. My colleague Ken Skates will chair a quadrilateral meeting of Ministers later this week who have responsibilities in these areas, and he will certainly be raising these matters with the UK Government as well, because these impacts are not confined to Wales, Llywydd. There are people in many other parts of the United Kingdom who find restrictions imposed locally that have an impact on their ability to fulfil travel plans, but it is not their fault at all that they're in that position, and the industry needs to respond accordingly.