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

Diolch, Llywydd. There is one change to this week's business. The statement on the Welsh Government's response to the recommendations of the South East Wales Transport Commission will be made by the Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport. 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.

I call for a Welsh Government statement on COVID-19 vaccination for police officers. Responding to you last week, I referred to calls by the North Wales Police Federation for policing to be considered for some priority on the COVID-19 vaccination programme. Instead, the health Minister, Vaughan Gething, subsequently told me, quote,

'There is a real impact to moving occupational staff groups around', and referred to lateral flow testing trials for the police. Yesterday, North Wales Police Federation told me they had been contacted over the weekend by, quote, 'Very reliable sources working within the vaccination centres', who advised that hospital secretaries and even social workers who are working from home are receiving the vaccine, yet front-line policing is still not considered to be a risk, nor even being allowed to use up any spare or unused vaccines. They added, 'Even if we could get front-line police officers on a stand-by list, like is happening in some parts of England, it would be a start.' An e-mail from a front-line north Wales police officer today stated, 'There is always a sense of shock and bewilderment when I speak to people and inform them that police are not considered a priority group for the vaccine. I ask that the Welsh Government commit to giving policing some priority', she said, 'where we need to protect the protectors who ultimately protect us all.' I call for a statement accordingly. 

Thank you to Mark Isherwood for raising that issue this afternoon, and of course I very much understand everybody's anxiousness in terms of being able to access the vaccine as soon as humanly possible. There are several questions to the health Minister on the order paper tomorrow afternoon in relation to the COVID-19 vaccines, so there may be opportunities there to raise this directly with the Minister, but I'm sure the Minister's response would be along the lines of Welsh Government very much taking the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation in terms of the priority schedule because this very much should be something that is clinician led, taking on board all of the evidence available to them, rather than for politicians to decide the order of vaccination. Because it's such a sensitive and serious undertaking, given that we're talking about saving as many lives as we possibly can. But there are several opportunities, I think, within the next 24 hours to raise this, and, of course, the health Minister has just had an emergency question on vaccination this afternoon.

Could we have a statement, please, on perinatal mental health support, which includes ways in which the Welsh Government will implement a whole-family approach and recognise the fact that many new parents currently don't have the support they need? I'm asking this because my office has conducted a survey with over 300 responses, which clearly shows that over 80 per cent have felt that they weren't getting enough support during giving birth last year, and that, despite tweaks in the health service to those who can attend a birth, they are still finding that they are very much alone during that process. Over two thirds said that they haven't had contact with a health visitor and a staggering 68 per cent of those with mild to moderate perinatal mental health symptoms said that they had not received any support. So, a statement on that would be good.

My second request is a statement on the provision of free school meals. In Wales, some councils are still providing parcels, and we've seen that being scrapped in England, much to the joy of many of your Labour colleagues. But here in Wales, Bridgend County Borough Council are still administering food parcels and are currently refusing to allow any direct payments or any food vouchers, despite the fact that much of the food has gone off, or they're not receiving the food that's appropriate for the dietary requirements of their young people. I think it's time, now, that Welsh Government intervened on this considering that three of these councils are simply not budging on the food parcels agenda and are not allowing parents to make decisions for their own children that would allow them to spend the money as they so wish.

Thank you for raising those two issues. In respect of perinatal mental health support, I know that the health Minister would be really interested in the findings of your survey that you've undertaken. You say you've had more than 300 responses, so I'm sure that that will provide a really useful evidence base for the Welsh Government. So, if you could share that with the health Minister, I know that he'd be keen to explore the findings of your survey.

In respect of free school meals, I will, on this occasion, invite you to take up this perhaps through writing in the first instance to the Minister for local government, who will be able to raise specific concerns with the leader, potentially, of Bridgend council in respect of what you've described in terms of food that has gone off and so on. Because clearly, that's something that we obviously wouldn't want to be taking place.

Trefnydd, could we have a statement from the health Minister on whether he will ask the joint council for vaccinations to add front-line funeral workers, mortuary technicians and embalmers to the list of front-line healthcare staff in Wales for whom occupational immunisation with the COVID-19 vaccination is recommended? I understand Northern Ireland are likely to do so within the coming days, and, indeed, Scotland and England have done so in recent days.

Could we also have a statement on pay for experienced supply teachers? There's been a welcome framework put in place in Wales to ensure that all supply teachers are paid to at least M1, the entrance level salary, and it's a big improvement for many. However, for the more experienced teachers, including a constituent of mine who is on the U1 level, this is quite a bit under what they've trained for and what they've gained experience over many years for. If supply teachers are employed directly by councils, they're paid to the scale that they're on, but the fear is that supply agencies are taking over so much that schools are not using supply pools themselves any more, so experienced teachers are earning much less than they're qualified for.

A statement, Minister, could also clarify arrangements for supply teachers through furlough. There are many agencies that are still deciding whether or not to furlough their supply staff. As being a supply teacher depends entirely on day-to-day work, the supply agencies are finding the furlough process quite difficult and, of course, this impacts, then, on their supply teachers too. So, I'd welcome those two statements, please. 

Thank you for raising both of those issues this afternoon. It is the case that the JCVI guidance issued on 2 December states that front-line funeral operatives and mortuary technicians or embalmers are both at risk of exposure. It has been agreed now that those in the funeral sector who would require PPE to undertake their role would come under cohort 2 and, therefore, should be vaccinated. So, we would ask any of those working in that industry to pass their information on to the local health board to ensure that the vaccination is offered to them at the appropriate time.

On the second issue, relating to pay for supply teachers, I'll write to you on that matter, in respect of my responsibilities for procurement, to provide a detailed response. 

Can I, firstly, concur with Bethan Sayed's call for better perinatal mental health support? I think that that's an area that has needed some work for a while, and I'm pleased to see that progressing.

Two issues, if I may, Trefnydd. First of all, I attended a meeting, along with some other representatives, with Community Pharmacy Wales yesterday, at which the pace of the vaccine roll-out was raised—it's been raised by many Members today as well, of course—and the potential role of community pharmacies across Wales in helping with the delivery of the vaccine. I know the First Minister mentioned this earlier. I wonder whether we could have a statement from the health Minister on what discussions are being had with Community Pharmacy Wales to increase their involvement in the roll-out. I think they had some interesting comments to make on the Pfizer vaccine, which, obviously, has to be stored at a very low temperature, and I know that some community pharmacies that have been delivering flu vaccines for some time are, maybe, better able to deal with a vaccine like that.

Secondly, and briefly, I wonder whether we could have a statement from the culture Minister on large events and large event venues, and the support that they're getting during the pandemic. I know that Chepstow Racecourse has been particularly affected. I've been contacted by a business that hosts annual events in Chepstow, and they're looking at signposting to more support to get them through, so that they can then build back better.

Thank you for those issues this afternoon. On the role of community pharmacists, they absolutely will play a very important role in terms of our roll-out of the coronavirus vaccine. You'll be aware, of course, that the first community pharmacy pilot has been undertaken in north Wales already, so we'll be looking to learn from that and build from that. Community pharmacists themselves will play an important role. It might not necessarily be in their local pharmacy, but they might be deployed, for example, to some of the mass vaccination centres, because not every pharmacy is necessarily of an appropriate size and scale to offer the vaccine from the pharmacy itself. I know that all of these issues have been discussed and are under continued discussion. When the Minister makes his next update on vaccination, I'm sure that he'll be keen to stress and elaborate on the role that community pharmacy and pharmacists will play, and are playing, in the vaccination programme.

On the second issue, in relation to large sporting events, spectator-sports events particularly, I do know that the Deputy Minister is currently considering what support might be available and is very keen to say something more very shortly on that.

Can I also, like Huw Irranca-Davies, request a ministerial statement regarding supply teachers? I believe it is fundamentally wrong that they are not directly employed by councils or groups of councils. I would like to ask specifically about financial support for supply teachers, because there's very little supply teaching available at the moment. Some have been furloughed and some have not. What financial support can the Welsh Government either give or work with the Westminster Government to achieve for these people, who are highly qualified, highly committed and incredibly badly treated? If I were asked to identify one group of workers in Wales who are treated the worst, I would choose supply teachers. I think it's abysmal, the way they're treated, and I would like a statement from the Government on that, or, preferably, a debate. 

Thank you to Mike Hedges for raising the concerns of supply teachers. I do know that this is a concern for several Members, so we'll explore what might be possible in terms of providing an update that is wider than the one that I've described this afternoon to Huw Irranca-Davies. In Wales, of course, we do have the national supply agency framework in place, and that does aim to ensure fair pay and conditions for supply teachers here. All agencies on that framework have confirmed that they've accessed the furlough scheme for their supply staff from March, and the majority of those framework agencies have committed to furloughing eligible staff once again from this current period of lockdown. Terms and conditions of supply staff will vary, so it's important that staff describe and discuss their personal circumstances with their agency to see if there is some further support or furloughing, particularly, available to them. But I very much recognise Mike Hedges's comment, certainly from the correspondence I've had locally from supply teachers about the difficulty that they've had in accessing support. So, I will explore what more we can do to provide that further information that Mike Hedges has requested.

Finally, Alun Davies.

I'm grateful to you, Presiding Officer. Can I ask for two statements this afternoon, please? First of all on fisheries, and secondly on the shared prosperity fund.

Minister, I don't think any of us could have failed to have been moved by the reports that we're seeing from the fishing industry at the moment. I don't like to use this language, but it's difficult to say that the fishing industry have been anything except betrayed by the UK Government, not only by the deal, which they reached on Christmas eve, where they capitulated in real terms, but also in the way they've been treated since then. The fishing industry is not a huge industry in Wales, but it is an important industry, and people depend on it for their livelihoods. Those people have been treated appallingly by the UK Government and it's difficult to overstate that. So, I think it would be important that we can have either a statement on support for the fishing industry, or a debate on how we can continue to support the fishing industry.

I noticed over the weekend that Stephen Barclay, the Chief Secretary to the Treasury, wrote to the Scottish finance Minister, your equivalent in the Scottish Government. I don't know if you had a copy of his letter, but he seemed to be setting out there some structures for the shared prosperity fund. What he seemed to be saying was what we'd assumed previously, I think, which is that the new funds would be controlled by Westminster, they would be controlled by Whitehall, they will be seeking deliberately, as a focus of policy, to avoid dealing with the democratically elected Governments in either Wales or Scotland.

Now, I don't want to get into an argument over powers, as it happens, but I want to get into an argument over money and how it's spent, and the structures of how it's spent. The Minister may remember, just when she was elected, I was a European programmes Minister, and I published the lessons learnt from the first round of Objective 1 in that role. And it appears to me that the UK Government today are not learning those lessons, but repeating some of the worst mistakes. What I can see is a structure that is set up for political convenience, which is going to take money away from the poorest communities in Wales as a matter of policy, and wasted elsewhere as a matter of policy. I think we really need to address those issues very urgently.

Thank you to Alun Davies for raising those two issues this afternoon. Both of them, I think, describe areas where the UK Government has absolutely misled, I think, the people who will be on the receiving end of the various forms of support. I know that many working in the fishing industry feel that they had been sold a future that hasn't actually materialised, and we've seen the difficulties that that's presenting for those working in the fishing industry at the moment. I will speak to the Minister with regard to your request for an update to explore how we can best demonstrate the Welsh Government's support for the fishing industry here in Wales.

I agree with that analysis in terms of the shared prosperity fund and the impact that it might have on communities such as those that Alun Davies represents, and the opportunities that they will have for future funding. You'll be aware that the UK Government has said that they will introduce a £220 million pilot scheme, starting with further information available from this month. Well, of course, the time for a pilot scheme was a long time ago, and we are actually in a situation where we have a £220 million scheme for the whole of the UK, whereas if we had retained our membership of the European Union, of course, we'd be looking at £375 million just for Wales. So, the analysis that Alun Davies describes is absolutely something that I would agree with, and I will explore with my colleague the Minister with responsibility for EU transition and our future relationships how we can best update the Senedd on these issues.   

I thank the Trefnydd.