Questions now from the party leaders. The leader of the Conservatives, Andrew R.T. Davies. 

Thank you, Presiding Officer. Leader of the house, nearly a quarter of people who contracted COVID-19 during the last 12, 15 months contracted that COVID virus in a hospital setting. Twenty-one per cent also contracted COVID in a care home. We were told time and time again hospital settings were safe places. What's gone wrong? 

Well, I think the first thing to say is, obviously, far too many people have died of the COVID-19 pandemic, and far too families and friends are grieving at the moment. We have done everything we can, obviously, as have the hospitals and care homes themselves, to keep the virus out, but, of course, it doesn't stop at the door of hospitals, it doesn't stop at the door of care homes. There's no barrier to be able to do that. And, if you think about a hospital, it's like a small town, and you have people crossing that—the staff, the catering staff, visitors. And, whilst we obviously had guidance around visitors, you are unable to stop the virus coming in, unfortunately. 

I was very careful in my language to say that, actually, the virus was contracted in a hospital setting. I do take the point that there is cross-over in hospitals, but we were told time and time again that measures were being taken. In fact, I was told by the health Minister that I was being alarmist when I said it was out of control in some hospitals. In some health boards, one in three patients were contracting the COVID virus in a hospital setting. Now, these were decisions that were taken here in Wales by Welsh Government Ministers. Surely those decisions need now to be tested at a Welsh public inquiry and not lost in a UK-wide public inquiry. Will you commit to using your energies within Government to campaign for a Wales-wide public inquiry so these very issues can be looked at and remediated here in Wales?

No, I won't. You'll have heard the First Minister say many times—and I know the First Minister in his answers to you in the Chamber has said this—that he's agreed to a UK, four-nation inquiry. He's had discussions with senior Ministers—I think the Prime Minister himself—in the UK Government. If we had our own inquiry, we wouldn't be able to look at so many of the interdependencies that there are across the four countries in relation to COVID—so, if you think about testing, if you think about vaccines, if you think about PPE, if you think about the drugs that have been used in relation to COVID. The First Minister has been absolutely clear that he wants to take part in that four-nation inquiry.

I have to say that is the wrong decision, Minister. Time and time again—and we'll hear it in the legislative statement this afternoon—the Government want decisions taken here in Cardiff, to be based here in this Parliament, and in Cathays Park, where the Government is located. Here, where key decisions have resulted in, tragically, people losing their lives in a hospital setting because of hospital-acquired infections—1 in 3 people in certain health boards were acquiring the COVID virus in a hospital setting, because of the decisions that were taken here in Wales. People will be bemused that you're not prepared to put yourself under the spotlight of scrutiny. I urge the Government, and I urge you most strongly, to make sure there is a strong Welsh element in the UK-wide inquiry, but more importantly, that we do have a Wales-wide inquiry to test these ministerial decisions, and also highlight the successes as well, such as the vaccination scheme. It is a matter of deep regret that you are not willing to put your ministerial shoulder to the wheel to make that Welsh public inquiry happen. I leave it to you again to say that we do need a Wales-wide public inquiry to look into these tragic events that have led to such high incidence of hospital-acquired infections across the length and breadth of Wales. 

Well, I disagree with you completely. The First Minister has made it very clear that he would expect certain chapters of that inquiry, obviously, to have a specific focus on Wales. But I go back to what I was saying—you can't just do it in isolation. There are too many interdependencies to do that. The First Minister has committed to having a UK-wide inquiry, and I absolutely believe that that scrutiny will meet the level that you require. 

On behalf of Plaid Cymru, Rhun ap Iorwerth.

Diolch yn fawr iawn, Llywydd. Let me continue with that theme, and dig a little bit deeper if I can. For over a year now, Plaid Cymru has called for a Wales-only public inquiry. Your Government—and you've confirmed it now—has opted to have a Welsh chapter or chapters in a UK-wide inquiry. I think in all honesty that opens you up to the charge of ducking scrutiny. If you take responsibility, you have to be ready to be judged on your actions, good and bad. Now, of course, there's also the issue that Boris Johnson himself at Westminster is ducking scrutiny in dithering about when to begin the UK-wide inquiry. He's clearly in no hurry to set up that UK-wide inquiry. Sir Robert Owen, the judge who chaired the public inquiry into the death of Alexander Litvinenko, recently insisted that work needs to begin immediately, and that a long-delayed report ceases to form a useful function. Do you agree with that?

I do think the inquiry needs to be sooner rather than later. I don't think it's ducking scrutiny; I'm sure the spotlight will be very firmly on all four nations. I don't think I can add anything in relation to the First Minister's view to what I said in my answers to Andrew R.T. Davies. Clearly, within Wales, we've done a review. The health Minister has led, within her department—or officials have led within her department—when we look at what happened in the first wave, and then obviously in the second wave currently. But I don't think, for the reasons I've stated already, a Wales-specific inquiry is—. But I certainly don't think it's ducking scrutiny. 

You want it sooner rather than later, but let me be clear: in refusing a Welsh-specific inquiry, you're effectively agreeing to that delay, and the spotlight on what has happened in Wales will be inevitably weakened with having that spotlight trying to be shone, with equal forensic detail, right across the UK. We need to answer questions about what's happening in Wales. Two days ago, the Royal College of Nursing joined with the GMB and others to call on the Scottish Government to launch a separate Scottish inquiry—the same principles there. If calls for a separate Welsh investigation were made by prominent bodies whose mission is to represent the interests of health and care workers and patients here, what would your message be to them?

As I say, I don't think I can say any more. The First Minister made it very clear that he thinks a UK inquiry is the best, for the interdependencies that I've just explained. I don't think you can ever accuse the First Minister, or any other of my ministerial colleagues, of not being open to scrutiny. We sat all last year. When the UK Government didn't sit, we were sitting; you were able to scrutinise every single Minister. I'm assuming that when this inquiry is running—and I know that the First Minister believes that it shouldn't be something that's kicked into the long grass; obviously, people need answers. But at the moment the focus of all Governments is dealing with the pandemic. We know what's coming down the road, don't we? We are seeing a significant increase in the number of cases of the virus at the moment. So, I'm afraid I haven't got anything further to add around the UK four-nation inquiry that the First Minister has agreed to.

There's nothing wrong in having an inquiry looking at how the interdependency worked. You say I can't accuse the Welsh Government of avoiding scrutiny on this. Let me make it abundantly clear: I am accusing Welsh Government of avoiding the deepest possible scrutiny on this by rejecting a Welsh-only investigation. The figures out today we've heard being referred to already, about the quarter of COVID deaths in Wales resulting from infections that definitely or probably were sourced in hospital—that alone surely merits a Wales-specific inquiry.

Early in the pandemic, I asked the Welsh Government to listen to pleas from Welsh doctors and allied health professionals to roll out widespread mask wearing in hospitals—calls that were, remarkably, resisted at the time. Well, today, some of the same doctors and health workers will ask the Welsh Government in an open letter to immediately set up a Welsh-specific COVID handling investigation, to properly scrutinise decisions taken so that lessons can be learnt right now. Your Government has rightly said that you will follow the science when making decisions. Will you now follow the advice of these doctors?

I'm not aware of the letter to which you refer. I am assuming it's addressed to the First Minister and the First Minister will obviously respond to that. But just let me say that the NHS in Wales has worked incredibly hard throughout this pandemic, and we as a Government have done all we can to support them—if you think about the millions and millions and millions of pieces of PPE we ensured were in our hospitals and were in our care homes. In relation to 'Will we follow the advice of the Welsh doctors?', I don't know who these doctors are, I don't know anything about that letter, but I know, as always, that any letter the FM receives, he will respond to it.