Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:33 pm on 29 September 2020.
Thank you for those comments and questions; I'll try and deal with all of them as quickly as I can. In terms of how the decision making works and the example of the Vale of Glamorgan and others, well, we of course look at the figures and the statistics, so we look at figures on the number of positive cases per 100,000. We have to take into account the fact that we understand that those figures are slightly behind the time, because we still have a challenge in some of the lighthouse lab results coming in later than was the case some weeks ago. So, we always know the figures on the day are somewhat behind the situation. We also look at positivity rates as well, and the testing that is taking place. It's not particularly difficult to see the move in both the number of positive cases, but also the positivity rates. That's the number of new cases per 100 tests being carried out, and so we can understand what's happening in the direction of travel in each area.
We're also looking to act in a way that is not waiting until significant harm has been caused. That means that we have taken action where we can see authorities in, if you like, our amber category, before they get to red and 50 and above. That also takes account of not just the figures, not the just pattern and direction of travel, but the local circumstances, so we understand the spread and the nature of infection rates, how dispersed those are, whether we have clusters that are not explained about where they started. And in that pattern of infections—all of this is set out in the coronavirus control plan that I'm sure the Member has had the opportunity to read following publication of it in the summer. And that also sets out our approach in terms of whether we can undertake local restrictions, not countywide ones. In each and every choice we have made, we have rehearsed and considered the possibility of not taking measures across a whole county borough area, and apart from Llanelli within Carmarthenshire, the case hasn't been made that the pattern of spread is such that we could and should take a local measure in that way—whereas in Carmarthenshire, it was very clear the pattern of spread in Llanelli was not made out in the rest of county. Rural Carmarthenshire has a much lower rate of spread, and if it was just rural Carmarthenshire, we wouldn't have taken additional measures at this point in time at least. So, that's the position that we've taken; it is a regular consideration for us.