Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 23 February 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 1:42, 23 February 2021

Well, Llywydd, returning children and young people to face-to-face learning is the top priority of this Government, but we will do so in a way that is consistent with the science and the advice that we have. Members here will have seen the TAC report, published on 5 February, which sets out that advice and which echoes the advice that has been provided by SAGE. And that advice is simple: that if we were to return all children to school on a single day in Wales, that would raise the R number in Wales between 10 per cent and 50 per cent. We are, therefore, very specifically recommended not to do that. What we are recommended to do is to return children to school in tranches, to pause between those tranches, so that we can properly gather the evidence of the impact of that return on the circulation of the virus here in Wales. So, it is not as simple as saying, 'If you have the headroom, return all children to school' because to do so in that way would involve very significant risks of its own.

We will return the foundation phase this week. We will pause and we will review the evidence that emerges from that return. Provided the evidence is positive, all primary-aged children will return to school on 15 March, together with examination students in secondary school. We will then pause, as the scientific advice requires us to do, to review the impact of that, and, provided that goes well, then we will return other students to school, where we want them to be. If, in the meantime, that means we are able to offer any further easements in other areas, to allow our economy or our daily lives to begin—to begin—the journey back to normality, then, of course, we would want to do that.