Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Economy – in the Senedd at 1:43 pm on 7 July 2021.

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Photo of Dawn Bowden Dawn Bowden Labour 1:43, 7 July 2021

As the Member knows, phase 2 of the pilot events involved nine events here in Wales, including Eid and Tafwyl at Cardiff castle, We Need Bees in Brecon, and Wales versus Albania. All of those were completed successfully and work on the final report will be completed shortly. Ahead of that, many of the findings have informed some of the revised events guidance. We're still in detailed discussions with events organisers regarding a third phase of pilot events, with a focus on indoor events. So, the decisions on the way forward on any further relaxation of restrictions on events are going to be taking place at the 21-day review and we fully appreciate, of course, that the value of events to our visitor economy is significant and, therefore, we need to continue to support the sector throughout the next phase.

I think it's probably important to say that, when we are looking at the report that we've had from the English test pilots, they don't yet give us as much information as we need about the transmission of the virus at those events. The post-events testing was very, very small. There's a lot that we need to take into account when we are still dealing with the rise in the delta variant at the moment. But the programme for the third phase is ongoing, there are further test events planned, and the details will be published as soon as we're in a position to do so.