Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for European Transition (in respect of his European Transition responsibilities) – in the Senedd at 2:50 pm on 7 October 2020.
Well, I certainly don't accept the premise of the Member's question. Whether it's in relation to the challenges from isolation, the support required for people who are shielding, perhaps, the support required from third sector organisations, the particular set of interventions required from public services to acknowledge the experience of older people in this pandemic, whether it's about acknowledging the particular contribution that older volunteers have been able to make in a very positive way to supporting other people in their communities during this time, whether it's a particular recognition of the needs of older people who might be at risk of losing their jobs and particular support that they might need that is tailored for people at the latter part of a work journey—all of those are absolutely fundamental to the interventions that we've made to date and our continuing discussions.
I have met with the older people's commissioner. I can't assure him in relation to whose office made the first approach to which person in relation to any of the very large range of meetings that we've held with stakeholders in relation to this, but I've certainly found the discussion with the older people's commissioner, which happened I think at a comparatively early stage, very productive and demonstrated a very good and positive meeting of minds.