The next item is the business statement and announcement, and I call on the Trefnydd to make the statement—Rebecca Evans.

Diolch, Llywydd. I have one change to this week's business: the Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales will make an oral statement on Tata Steel immediately after this business statement and announcement. Draft business for the next three weeks is set out on the business statement and announcement, which can be found amongst the meeting papers available to Members electronically.

Thank you for your business statement, Trefnydd. Can I call for a statement from the Minister for Health and Social Services on dentistry in Wales. You may be aware that a number of dental practices operated by BUPA will be closing next year, as a result of an announcement that that company has made in north Wales. That will affect around 10,000 people in my own constituency who rely on the BUPA practice in Colwyn Bay, and, as you will be aware, there's already a dearth of NHS dentists with which they can seek alternative registration. I'm very concerned about this situation, and I would like to see the Welsh Government working with the Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board to come up with a solution for these particular people in my own constituency and, indeed, those that have been affected elsewhere in the Caernarfon area, as I understand it. So, can we have a statement on this very important issue? Thank you.  

Thank you to Darren Millar for raising this issue. In the first instance, I think I'll ask the health Minister to ask his officials to liaise with the health board in north Wales to better understand the situation, with a view to providing him with an update in due course. 

Before I raise issues under the business statement today, I'd like to take this opportunity to correct the Record. Last week, I mistakenly voted against the joint motion on Armistice Day, and I'd intended to abstain on the motion as tabled, in order to vote on Plaid Cymru's amendment. Though I understand that the vote can't be changed retrospectively, I am very grateful for this opportunity, Llywydd, to correct the Record. 

We know that the after effects of long COVID can leave people breathless, fatigued, unable to concentrate and in pain. A study from King's College London found that older people, women and people experiencing a number of different symptoms when they had coronavirus were more likely to develop long COVID. Earlier this week, the Government in England announced plans to set up more than 40 specialist clinics to deal with long COVID. Can we have a Government statement on the Welsh response to tackling this debilitating condition? Will services and rehabilitation clinics be set up here to treat people and help them get back to as normal a life as possible? How are we going to contribute to research on this? What is the strategy in Wales to deal with long COVID? 

Well, Leanne Wood would have heard the First Minister, in response to a question from David Melding earlier, talking about the challenges posed by long COVID, particularly indeed in the constituency of the Rhondda, and the need to ensure that the individuals affected have the support that they need. I will definitely ensure that the health Minister is aware of your concern about this and your request for a statement specifically on long COVID, and I know that he will give consideration as to when would be best to update the Senedd on the approach to supporting individuals who've been affected.FootnoteLink  

Information further to Plenary

I'd like to ask for an oral statement from the Deputy Minister for Health and Social Services on care home visiting. I was very grateful to the Deputy Minister and the Minister for mental health for attending the cross-party group on dementia that we held recently and where we focused on this issue, but I'm sure they would both agree with me that the evidence we heard from those living with dementia was absolutely heartbreaking about the impact of restrictions on visiting. I'm sure other Members would, like me, be very keen to explore, on the floor of the Chamber, the potential of new rapid lateral flow testing to deliver safe visiting to care homes. Now, I'm as keen as anyone to see students come home for Christmas, but I really do believe that delivering safe care home visits must be a top priority for Welsh Government.

Well, it is indeed an incredibly difficult time for people who have loved ones in care homes and in nursing homes and, indeed, for those people in those settings who are not able to see the family and friends who they love, as well. So, that is absolutely well understood. And the need to balance people's rights and to support their well-being with a desire to protect people living in care homes from the risk of infection is absolutely a challenging one.

In response to a similar request from Lynne Neagle and others, the week before last the Minister provided a written statement that related to the work that is focusing on care homes, and particularly talked about the fact that we're considering a range of options to support providers to enable those risk-assessed visiting options, including, for example, visiting space through those visiting pods and so on, and also, of course, the piloting of the rapid testing for visitors. So, as I say, we've recently had the written statement, but I'm aware now that Lynne Neagle's very keen to have the opportunity to hear an oral statement and to ask questions on that, and, again, I'll ensure that that's given due consideration.

Trefnydd, I would like to call for a statement from the Minister for housing regarding homelessness during the pandemic. A few months ago the Minister stated that the Welsh Government had a commitment to end rough-sleeping and made emergency accommodation available—a move that I and many others welcomed at the time. However, as the pandemic continues apace, we are, once again, seeing rising numbers of people forced to sleep in shop doorways, behind bins or on industrial estates. And in recent weeks I have had a number of such people come to my regional office desperate for help. Just this weekend, I witnessed at least three people sleeping rough. As we enter the winter months, and with COVID-19 on the rise, it is more important than ever that we find accommodation for those who find themselves without a roof over their head and with nowhere to practise good hand hygiene. So, Trefnydd, I would be grateful if you could ask that the Minister for Housing and Local Government makes and urgent statement to this Senedd about the actions the Welsh Government will be taking in the coming months to end rough-sleeping once and for all. Diolch, Llywydd.

Thank you for the opportunity just to comment briefly on the work the Welsh Government's been doing in terms of ensuring that people are able to get off the streets during the coronavirus pandemic. The work that has been done by Welsh Government alongside partners in local authorities and the third sector has been absolutely incredible in ensuring that people are able to be off the streets at this time. But the next step, of course, is ensuring that people are able to go on into what our housing Minister calls their 'forever home', and I think that that work will be really important, as will ensuring that people don't return to the streets over the Christmas period. In terms of when the next opportunity to hear about that would be, I would just highlight that there is a question to the housing Minister on rough-sleeping tomorrow in the Chamber, so that might be an early opportunity to hear the next plans.

Trefnydd, I wonder if we could have an update from the health Minister on critical care provision, specifically in south-east Wales. Today saw the well-publicised and long-awaited opening of the new Grange University Hospital in Cwmbran. Hopefully, this will transform critical and specialist care in south-east Wales. It's true to say it's a fantastic new building, new facility, but there are issues that need to be ironed out. Some NHS workers have confided in me that they fear that the hospital could be understaffed. There are around 471 beds and many private rooms, which is great on the face of it, but, of course, you then need more staffing cover or nursing cover than you would with traditional wards. So, could we have an update from the Welsh Government on what is being done to recruit more staff into new facilities such as the Grange University Hospital?

Thank you to Nick Ramsay for raising that concern, and you will have heard the First Minister respond to a very similar issue raised during the course of First Minister's questions this afternoon. Of course, the Grange hospital is a state-of-the-art hospital with facilities that are ideally suited to the safe management of patients with and without COVID, and of course there are many isolation rooms there to prevent the spread and so on, so it is, as Nick Ramsay says, an excellent facility. We are satisfied that the health board has discussed the plans to open the hospital with clinical colleagues, including perhaps those colleagues who have been directly in touch with you. But, of course, it's right and proper to raise any concerns that people have and that everyone must work together to ensure those risks are minimised. So, I would invite Nick Ramsay to perhaps send the concerns that he's had raised with him anonymously to the health Minister in order for him to consider them and ensure that those concerns are raised directly then with the health board.

May I ask for a statement from the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs on the Government's decision to cut the support that it's been providing for the hydro energy sector in Wales? I have to say that it's bizarre that on the one hand we have a Government that says they want to develop renewable energy in Wales, but on the other hand is cutting the support provided to the hydro energy sector—indeed, pulling the mat from under its feet, leaving some of those projects unsustainable. I know of at least one that is facing an increase of 1,000 per cent in the business rates that they will have to pay. Now, the sector offered a compromise, and the Government to all intents and purposes ignored that. The Government has also ignored the recommendations made by a report commissioned by the Government itself, which proposed a long-term resolution to the situation. Communication with the sector has been exceptionally poor, with many feeling that you've buried your heads in the sand and certainly turned your back on them. So, we do need a statement to try and understand the rationale of Government in making this decision, which does appear to be a mistake as it will do nothing but undermine the efforts to tackle the climate crisis.

In addition, can I ask for a statement from the environment and rural affairs Minister on the UK Government's intention to reform small breweries relief. Now, currently small breweries, of which we have very many here in Wales—those that produce less than 5,000 hectolitres per year—get a 50 per cent reduction in the duty that they pay, but the UK Government intends to reform that, reducing the threshold significantly, seriously impacting the majority of breweries here in Wales. I've raised this previously both in committee and here in the Chamber. The Minister said she wasn't aware of the issue but that she'd check whether the Government have made any representations. She subsequently wrote to me saying that the Government haven't, it's not devolved and, therefore, the Welsh Government wouldn't be pursuing this. Now, that stands in marked contrast to the approach of the Scottish Government, who have mounted a concerted effort in making representations on behalf of the small breweries there. So, the Scottish Government have been proactive; the Welsh Government is just sitting back and saying, 'It's not our problem.' Now, small breweries are one of the success stories we have in terms of the growth of the sector, and much of that will be undone if this duty threshold is reduced. I implore the Government to do something about it and I want to hear exactly from the Minister what your plans are.

So, on the first issue, of course, the Welsh Government has given significant support to the hydro sector, but you'll be aware, of course, that our support is very much focused on community-led hydro schemes. I do note that you have a question to the Minister for Environment, Energy and Rural Affairs on renewable energy tomorrow, so that might be an opportunity to raise that, or I'm sure that you'll write to the Minister to raise those concerns on behalf of the sector as well.

I personally share Llyr's concern about the small breweries relief. I've certainly raised that as a constituency Member with the UK Government on behalf of the amazing Gower breweries that we have—I had to take the opportunity to drop that in. But I will speak to the Minister on this particular issue, because our small breweries are particularly important for many of our communities.

Minister, could we have a debate on the Wales and, indeed, the UK-wide calls for the UK Government to develop a benefits take-up campaign across the UK to make sure that all of those who are entitled to financial support are actually getting it, particularly as the downturn hits our lowest income families and disadvantaged communities, and also whether we'd make permanent the current temporary £20 a week increase for universal credit and extend it across the new benefits that will be replacing universal credit in the near future? This is surely a moral obligation, so let us show where the Senedd stands on this issue. 

And, similarly, could we also have a debate on the annual real living wage campaign, which began last week, and the Citizens Cymru Wales campaign for care workers to be paid the real living wage? Again, it would allow Members here to show their support for this in principle, but also recognising—COVID has certainly shown us this—that it is those low-paid workers who are actually the most valuable, the ones who look after our friends and our family, who stock our shelves, deliver our goods, work on the shop floor and factory floor. They are the ones who really deserve and need a real living wage. 

Presiding Officer, just finally, on a very different subject, I've been asked by cultural facility providers in my area if we can have a statement that explains why arts centres and theatres as buildings in their entirety have to remain shut? Because these theatres are more than simply performance spaces; they provide space for workshops, classes, meetings, educational services, and they're professionally operated and regulated and can meet safety requirements. So, a statement could help clarify that these places, these facilities, can open, subject to regulated activity, and it's not to do with the name of 'theatre' or 'cultural venue' or 'performance space'. This would be a real help. Thank you, Trefnydd.

Thank you for bringing forward three really important issues this afternoon. The first related to the importance of ensuring that everybody is accessing all of the financial support that they are entitled to, and maximising the take-up of welfare benefits is one of our important strands of action at the moment. Through our own funding, we're certainly making a big difference in this area. Between January and September of this year, the benefit advice services delivered through the Welsh Government single advice fund have helped households across Wales to claim over £20 million of additional welfare benefit income. And let's remember, that's £20 million of funding that then is almost certainly being reinvested in local communities as well. It's absolutely the case, though, that the Department for Work and Pensions does need to do more, and a joint letter has now been issued to the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, signed by Ministers from Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, calling on them to have a more strategic approach to the take-up of welfare benefits, and I think that that's an important campaign that we can all get behind. And, of course, the real living wage was something that the First Minister spoke passionately about during First Minister's questions this afternoon, and he, of course, sponsored that event recently in the Senedd. He referred to the work that we're doing to ensure that the economic contract, for example, takes all of that into account, and the work that he led personally in terms of ensuring that the NHS is a real living wage employer as well. So, I think we're making a lot of progress in that area, but lots yet to do.

And then, finally, we have started the process of allowing theatres to reopen in a limited capacity, and our guidance has now been revised to allow theatres to reopen for those premises if they're seeking to broadcast without an audience present at the premises, or to rehearse as well. Our expectation is that events should be able to—events more generally—resume no sooner, I think, than spring. So, the £63 million cultural recovery fund will need to be there to support the sector and ensure the long-term sustainability in the meantime. But, in the light of the wider public health context, theatres and concert halls are required to remain closed to the general public, and our test events programme is on hold. So, that, unfortunately, is the situation at the moment, which is why it's even more important that we put that recovery fund in place.

Could the Government give a statement on why huge swathes of mature, healthy trees are being felled from the side of our trunk roads? And, in that statement, could we find out who has authorised these devastating interventions, an extreme instance of which is being carried out as we speak on the A4042 Cwmbran bypass?

It's well known that trees are a particularly important element in combating climate change, in that they absorb huge amounts of carbon dioxide. Their position along all the roads in Wales makes them particularly efficient in this process, not to mention their important sound-absorbing qualities.

Minister, even a cursory inspection of these trees shows that they were both mature and healthy and, therefore, were not presenting any specific safety hazard. So, could we have a statement explaining why a Government supposedly committed to a carbon-free Wales is allowing, perhaps even authorising, this environmentally devastating practice?

Well, I'm not familiar with the particular trees or the stretch of road to which David Rowlands is referring at the moment. So, perhaps I'll invite him to write to the Minister for transport in the first instance, describing the concerns that you have, so that he can look into it and provide you with a more detailed response.

I thank the Trefnydd. In accordance with Standing Order 12.18, we will now suspend proceedings briefly to make some changes in the Siambr. Thank you.

Plenary was suspended at 15:01.

The Senedd reconvened at 15:11, with Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) in the Chair.