7. The Health Protection (Coronavirus, International Travel and Restrictions) (Amendment) (No. 2) (Wales) Regulations 2020

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:04 pm on 24 November 2020.

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Photo of Vaughan Gething Vaughan Gething Labour 5:04, 24 November 2020

Thank you, and thank you to Members for their comments. I'm not half Danish, unlike the Chair of the Legislation, Justice and Constitution Committee, but I do have family in Denmark—I have a brother, a sister in-law and two nephews. I don't think that that materially affects my decision making in this regard, particularly as these are additional restrictions that we're debating. I should also say the original restrictions were signed off after 3 a.m. in the morning, before coming into force at 4 a.m. That was an early morning or a late night for myself, but also I want to thank officials, who I don't think are always appreciated, who are up til very late in the evening, working through the detail of the regulations and transmitting the genuinely very fast-moving emergency measures that we had to take, at some cost to themselves and their families for working up to that point in time.

In terms of the questions from Andrew R.T. Davies and some of the points, well, we're not clear about the other variant in other European countries, because other European countries do have some commercial mink farming. We're not sure if there's transmission from Denmark or novel variants in other countries. We're meeting, again, across other UK administrations on Thursday, when I expect to get an update. I'll also have a conversation with our own chief medical officer in advance of that, and, as we have a more developed picture, we'll continue to update. But this is, again—for all the difference at various points in time between the four Governments in the UK during the pandemic, this is an area where there is genuine and open conversation between the Governments and a sharing of information and evidence, and, as soon we have another proper update, I'll be happy to provide that to Members, including, if it's outside of Plenary time, then to do so in a written statement.

We are in the position, though, that we still have very good relationships with not just the Danish Government but with the Danish healthcare system, and there have been no concerns raised with me about the level of co-operation and information sharing from Denmark. We do, though, expect, on the second point that the Member asked—it's not strictly part of the regulations for us today, but, about the international travel arrangements that the transport Secretary's announced for England today, we've not ruled out doing something similar. However, we want to be able to understand more of the detailed information that apparently underpins the choice made by Ministers for England. So, I'm pleased to say that they've agreed to share that information and work with our own chief medical officer and our technical advisory cell to give advice to Welsh Ministers. Given that implementation within England isn't until the middle of December, we may be able to move at a similar point in time, if we choose to do so, but, as I say, we'll get those papers, we'll have that advice from our technical advisory cell, and then, in the normal course of events, we'd expect to not just be able to make a decision but also to publish a summary of that advice in the regular technical advisory cell publications that come out each week.

I think that moves into the points made by Rhun ap Iorwerth about supporting people and self-isolation in particular. SAGE papers were referenced in last week's technical advisory cell report, and that talks again not just about financial support, which there is some already in place for, but also about the non-financial support and the broader point about encouraging people to do the right thing for other people as well as themselves. So, there's a challenge here in messaging, reinforcing why it's the right thing to do, and supporting people to do so. From the comprehensive spending review tomorrow, we'll hear where we are in terms of whether there is to be any additional resource for the Government here to use, and, if so, at what point.

We do, though, already have regular support calls, which are a feature of our test, trace and protect service. I've had constituents, and people from across Wales outside my constituency, contact me to say how useful they've found those regular support calls from the test, trace and protect service to see how they are and how they're coping in the isolation they would need to undertake following a period of isolation, either as an index case or, indeed, as a contact. So, there's more that we would of course want to learn from other parts of the UK, to think about the advice that we get, and to practically help people to do the right thing. This is still very much part of doing the right thing to take care of ourselves and each other. I want to thank all Members for their contributions today and ask that Members continue to support the regulations to help keep Wales safe. Many thanks.