2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:53 pm on 6 October 2020.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 2:53, 6 October 2020

I want to ask for two statements, Trefnydd, and the first one from the economy Minister about the Stadco car parts factory closure in Llanfyllin. There are 129 workers and their families who would urgently want to know what help and what support is available to them in the immediate future. And then, following on from that, I know that there will be wider public interest in what happens to that site given that it is the largest manufacturing site in that county.

The second statement that I would like is on the advice that is given to pregnant women who are at work in Wales. There is the all-Wales COVID-19 workforce assessment tool, and it does inform women if they are more than 28 weeks pregnant that they should work from home or in a non-public-facing role in a COVID-secure workplace. But that can put women—and I have been contacted by a constituent facing this dilemma—to oppose, sometimes, the workplace setting that they find themselves in, and to have to challenge their employer to make sure that that workplace is a safe setting for them. So, my question, really, is: rather than sticking to the 28-week-plus pregnancy rule, would it not be better that we were able to advise women who are pregnant to be able to choose, if it's best for them, to work from home, and to send that advice down to the employer, rather than adding in extra stress for women who are pregnant at this time when it's absolutely not necessary so to do?