Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:09 pm on 24 November 2020.
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.