Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:08 pm on 12 January 2021.
[Inaudible.]—I'll deal with them in individual sequence. The Welsh Conservatives will be voting in support of the regulations as tabled this afternoon. On agenda item 6, and in particular trying to elicit from you some information as to how we might get into a position where these restrictions might slowly start to be alleviated, have you gateways that you as Ministers and as a Government can put out in the public today to show what progress we need to be making to move down the tier system that agenda item 6 covers? I appreciate, as we look at hospital numbers and case numbers, that looks a pretty long way away at the moment, but I think it's important that people understand, given, in previous restrictions that were put in place, there was a clear road map out of those restrictions. At the moment, that doesn't seem evident.
Can you also comment on reports today—? The vaccine plan that you tabled is an important way of assisting in suppressing the virus in our communities across the whole of Wales, but I noticed today that there are reports circulating of vaccine passports and trials being undertaken by Governments in other parts of the United Kingdom. Will the vaccine passports form part of any package that will be required to unpick some of these restrictions and lower the levels of alertness around Wales, and have you as a Government got a position on vaccine passports? And, importantly, on the mutation that is going on at the moment with the virus, we have seen how this has impacted on numbers across the whole of Wales and indeed across the whole of the United Kingdom. Can you confirm today that all labs that undertake testing for coronavirus are testing for the mutation, so that we can keep track of how the mutation is spreading across Wales, and, indeed, protection against future mutations of the virus, in lab testing?
Agenda item 7 is around the arrangements around Christmas Day, and obviously, as we all understand, Christmas Day has been and gone. I think people looking in on our proceedings will find it slightly bizarre that we're voting on these regulations now, but it is what it is. Agenda item 8 around alcohol restrictions—we will be supporting this measure. And agenda item 9 is in relation to the South Africa travel restrictions. Again, we will be supporting the restrictions that were placed on the South African inbound travel. Have you any information that could be provided to the Parliament today in relation to maybe other mutations in other countries that might require similar travel restrictions, because obviously I presume there's sharing of information, and, in particular, when the Danish outbreak happened, there was close dialogue, you indicated to Parliament, between your officials and the Government in Denmark? Are there concerns flashing on the dashboard at the moment in other countries where we can see mutations of the virus occurring that might involve bringing forward greater restrictions on travel coming in from those countries? Thank you, Minister.