4. Will the First Minister provide an update on the COVID-19 mass testing pilot in Merthyr Tydfil county borough? OQ55945

I thank the Member for that, Llywydd. The pilot started on Saturday 21 November. It involves everyone living, working or studying in the area and that they are all to be offered a COVID-19 test as part of the first mass testing of a whole area in Wales.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister, and I'm sure you'd want to join with me in thanking everyone involved in the logistics, delivery and the analysis of this mass testing programme. I went myself, thankfully for a negative test, on Saturday, and I can say that everybody involved in it has been absolutely outstanding in working to ensure that the pilot is a success, and that includes quickly updating frequently asked questions, making sure that shielding people and people with non-shielding disabilities, the elderly, frail and so on have been specially catered for throughout this process, although we probably do still need to give a bit of thought to managing testing for those with learning disabilities. I'd also urge you to consider probably testing in the larger workplaces as well. But, in these first few days, we've seen thousands of tests taken by people who are keen to help the process, and those people with good reason to attend. About 1 per cent, so far, have been positive results from people who are asymptomatic. Over the course of that pilot, that will be several hundred people who would otherwise be unknowingly spreading the virus in the community. Now, you've already answered earlier questions about what happens after this pilot and beyond, so I won't go into those points again, but, as you know, First Minister, my constituency has significant areas of poverty and deprivation, often linked to insecure work and zero-hours contracts, which, as we know, have been a deterrent to many in coming forward for testing. So, can I seek your assurance that the Welsh Government will be working with local partners to ensure that mass testing is also delivered amongst these harder-to-reach communities, as this will be a critical factor in ensuring the success of the pilot?

Llywydd, I thank Dawn Bowden for that. I heard a very informative interview that she gave at the weekend, reporting from the front line of testing in Merthyr, and I absolutely agree with her about the huge team effort there has been from the local authority, from the local health board and public health services, the assistance we've had through the armed forces. It really has been a remarkable effort, and, in these early days, it has met with a remarkable response from residents in Merthyr Tydfil as well. Llywydd, Dawn Bowden raised a number of points, first of all about workplaces and the importance of making sure that employers are aligned with all of this. There is an offer of a test for anybody who works in the county borough—whether they live elsewhere but work in Merthyr, a test is available for them. I'll be discussing this at the social partnership council, which is next due to meet on Thursday of this week.

Dawn Bowden made an important point, Llywydd, about those people who are frail or vulnerable, shielding or with learning disabilities, and how we make sure that they are included in the programme. I'm pleased to say that I believe that the local authority has written out to everybody on the shielding list today offering them a home test, which means they don't need to leave home and go to a mass testing centre. So, I think that's another very strong sign of the progressive way that the testing regime is being delivered in the area, and of course, Llywydd, Dawn Bowden makes the very important point about reaching those communities where, conventionally, services struggle the most to have the impact that we want them to make. We're going to be using waste water surveillance methods in Merthyr, as they did in Liverpool—waste water surveillance, Members will recall, led by Bangor University during its creation. We will have seven different testing points in the Merthyr county borough area, and that will allow us to see that we are getting a response in different parts of the borough, and make additional efforts in places if we're not getting the response that's needed. As I know the local Member will know, it is part of the way in which the mass testing is being provided that, if someone does have a positive test, then they are being actively advised about the help that is available to them either through the self-isolation payment or through the discretionary assistance fund, where we've put £5 million more in to help in this way so that people are able to do the right thing, as they want to do, and don't find themselves with barriers in their way that we can help them to solve.

Thank you, First Minister, for the answers so far in the leaders' questions and also on this particular question around the trial in Merthyr. Are you in a position to confirm when the analysis can be made that, if this trial is successful—and initial indications are that it has been successful—this will rolled out across the rest of Wales, and, in particular, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, an area I represent here that I think would benefit greatly from this testing regime?

I know Andrew R.T. Davies will be interested to know that RCT council has already made a proposal for the expansion of the Merthyr testing regime into the Cynon Valley area of that local authority, and that there are meetings, I think, scheduled for tomorrow to explore that proposition and to see how it might be delivered. This is a huge logistical exercise, as I know that he will recognise, and it's why we are so very grateful to have the support of the armed forces in it, because local services have to try and manage to keep everything else they do all the time going, and releasing people to be part of a mass testing effort requires quite a lot of thinking through. So, if we are to be able to expand the Merthyr scheme into the RCT area, that will require some careful preparation, releasing local staff from local services. We have further assistance from the armed forces joining us in Merthyr over the next couple of days, and we may need to see whether there is any further help that could be forthcoming in order to assist with the sheer practicalities that go with mounting a mass testing exercise of this sort.