Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 3:13 pm on 3 February 2021.
Thank you, Lynne. I also, as I said, echo your support and thanks to the public protection team in Torfaen and, indeed, across Wales, who have worked so hard to make sure that public health is protected in these very difficult times. Environmental health officers, trading standards, licensing teams are also leading on the response to the pandemic in local authorities. We're delighted to have provided £2.5 million through the hardship fund specifically to support local authorities in building up the capacity of those teams. These are teams that were thought previously as being back-office staff that might have been surplus to requirements, and it shows the folly of not understanding the integrated nature of local government. When you face a crisis such as this, these back-office staff suddenly seem to be the ones actually keeping us all alive, so it's a welcome lesson to have learnt.
As we said in setting out the draft budget, we recognise the ongoing impact of the pandemic, and given the uncertainty, we are considering COVID-specific funding as part of the final budget to make sure that those staff can be protected in their employment and the additional staff can also be provided going forward. We're very, of course, happy to work with the CMO and Public Health Wales in making sure that we understand the resilience aspects of that, the integration between public health in local authorities and with the health service and social care and so on. This is an integrated system, and that's never been more clear than in the last year. So, we're absolutely happy to work alongside the CMO in making sure that we have the most resilient service—attractive service as well, actually—for people to come into, going forward.