4. Will the First Minister provide an update on COVID-19 restrictions in Newport? OQ55599

I thank John Griffiths, Llywydd. Following a sharp increase in cases, local restrictions were introduced in Newport on 22 September. It is too early to make a definitive assessment, but the number of cases is starting to stabilise thanks to the efforts of local people. We monitor the situation daily and formally review local restrictions every week.

First Minister, it is important for people to know that complying with restrictions to drive down cases will result in timely easing of those restrictions when it is safe to do so. So, I hear what you say about some indications that matters are moving in the right direction, but is there anything more you can say about compliance and the effectiveness of the local measures and what that might mean for the timing of the lifting of those measures? And where people in local restriction areas had pre-booked holidays that are affected, will you do all that you can to ensure that the travel industry acts responsibly and provides full and unconditional refunds?

Llywydd, I thank John Griffiths for those points. I'm happy to confirm that the daily figures that I see and am advised on by our public health colleagues have continued to show a small but sustained fall in the number of cases in the Newport county borough council area. I spoke with the chief constable of Gwent Police twice last week and was encouraged by what she had to say about the level of compliance that is being seen in those local authorities subject to local restrictions, and she repeated a point made to me earlier about Caerphilly—that people in Newport want to do the right thing; they're not looking to find ways around the rules, they want to act within the spirit of the rules because they have understood that the more we do, the faster we will get on top of that local spike and the sooner we will be able to lift those restrictions. And I'm hugely grateful, both to the citizens of Newport, but also to local authority officers and the police service, for everything they are doing to help people to do the right thing.

We'll be reviewing restrictions on Thursday of this week and I will be discussing with my officials how we might begin, step by step, to lift those local restrictions. I cannot promise at all that we will be able to begin on that journey on this Thursday, but I want to make sure we are planning for the route out of those local restrictions with local people and with local agencies so we can communicate that clearly to people who live in those localities. 

As to the second important point that John Griffiths raised about holiday arrangements, he will know that the Minister for Health and Social Services wrote earlier to the travel industry; he wrote again on 23 September. I am pleased that we have received a reply from the Association of British Insurers confirming that their members are committed to supporting their customers in the circumstances that John Griffiths set out and that they are expecting to pay out £275 million in cancellation claims. What we need to see are those general sentiments, encouraging sentiments, delivered on the ground in the lives of people who have found their holidays disrupted.