Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 23 February 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:46, 23 February 2021

Let me just help the Member a second time in relation to schools. We will return students to schools as fast as it is safe to do so. The advice we have is that it would not be safe to do what he is suggesting. If it is the policy of the Conservative Party in Wales to return children to conditions that are not safe for them or for their staff, then let him say so. This Government will not do that; we will follow the science, whatever happens elsewhere. The science is that you must return children in tranches and you must pause between each one. I set out the road map of the Welsh Government in December; we updated it again on Friday of last week. I hope the Member has had a chance to consider that. He wouldn't need to ask me for one if he had taken the trouble to do so. That sets out the way in which we will lift the restrictions that currently are necessary for businesses and in our personal lives. It's clear from what he's said today that businesses in Wales would know where they were if he were to be in charge, because they wouldn't be going back at all, because it would be clear that he wouldn't be able to do that and do what he has just said in relation to education. The Welsh Government will not follow his advice on that. If we are in a position to begin the reopening of businesses in Wales earlier than he would be able to do so, then that is what we will do. We will do it in partnership, of course, with business organisations, as we always do, and we will be discussing those possibilities with them during the three weeks that we now have before the next review has to conclude.