Item 9, the Welsh Conservatives debate: an independent public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. I call on Russell George to move the motion, tabled in the names of Darren Millar and Siân Gwenllian.

Motion NDM7768 Darren Millar, Siân Gwenllian

To propose that the Senedd:

Calls for an independent public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales.

Motion moved.

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. The motion before us today is that this Welsh Parliament calls for an independent public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales. And, as the Deputy Presiding Officer has outlined, this has been also co-submitted with Plaid Cymru. So, I do move the motion in the name of Darren Millar.

I notice the Government hasn't made any amendments to this motion today; I understand that, because the motion in front of us is quite straightforward, isn't it? It's a simple, 'Do you agree or not with the statement?' It's been a year since the Welsh Conservatives first called for an independent public inquiry into the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales, and for over a year, the Welsh Government have resisted that request, but that request has not only come from us as Welsh Conservatives, it's come from others across this Senedd and this request has also come from health professionals and health bodies throughout Wales as well.

The pandemic has sadly seen nearly 8,000 people die in Wales from COVID-19, and the effects, of course—I'm sure we can all agree—have been devastating for those families affected and for communities across Wales. The effects of course are considerable. That's not a powerful enough word, is it, really? It's such a significant issue when you lose someone close to you. This is a significant issue for the people of Wales.

From April 2020, the First Minister has made it clear that different decisions would be made if it was in the interests of Wales and this is a mantra that the First Minister's made several times; he keeps repeating this statement, yet he and the Government here are not willing for there to be a Wales-wide specific inquiry; they are simply happy that there's a footnote or some chapters in a UK-wide inquiry, which is unlikely to go into any kind of detail into the Welsh Government's role in any kind of depth.

There are, I would say, as well—. I asked myself in regard to this debate, 'Why is the Welsh Government so reluctant to support a Welsh-only public inquiry?' Is it about blame? Because it shouldn't be, should it? A public inquiry shines a spotlight on good and bad practice. I think the UK nations can learn from each other how they've handled the pandemic, sharing that good and bad practice and other countries around the world can also look at the public inquiries that are taking place here in the UK and across the UK. In terms of good practice, I would expect that any public inquiry at a UK level and any Welsh-specific public inquiry would shine a positive light, for example, on the handling of the vaccination programme and how it's been conducted; allow other countries around the world to look in at the positive vaccination programme that we've got here in Wales; a spotlight on how the UK nations have dealt with the pandemic differently and taken different decisions. So, a public inquiry is surely about learning lessons, in case—heaven forbid—we have a further pandemic, or a variant which brings back a situation that we would not want to see. But a public inquiry would also show how decisions were taken by Ministers. In retrospect, I think we can probably say Ministers across the UK nations have made mistakes, but a public inquiry would examine, 'Did those Ministers make those decisions correctly, based on the information that they had from professionals at that time?'

There just seems to be an avoidance of scrutiny, and there are a number of issues that do need to be examined. I've pointed to some good examples, but there are some examples that need to be questioned. The Welsh Government, I think, must answer some serious questions on hospital-acquired COVID-19 infections during the pandemic and show that lessons have indeed been learnt. We've heard lessons have been learnt, but a public inquiry can demonstrate that. We know that 1,806 people—that's roughly one in four people—who died from COVID-19 probably or definitely caught COVID-19 from hospital wards. In Hywel Dda, that data is one in three. Wales has the highest death toll of the whole of the UK nations with a rate of 249.5 deaths per 100,000 people. The Welsh Government throughout reports of ward-to-ward transmissions has said lessons are going to be learned, but I look at this, and I look at what the health Minister said last week, that these deaths would be investigated—well, we haven't had any detail yet. Who is going to carry out the investigations? How will the investigations be conducted in the absence of any—? This information might come about, I accept that—[Interruption.] No, I totally accept that the Minister might provide that detail; I totally accept that. But if these kinds of questions do not come forward, then a public inquiry will get to the bottom and give families the answers that they might want, and I would expect them to want.

Now, the First Minister says that he would prefer a UK-wide inquiry, but, throughout the pandemic, throughout Brexit, throughout other national situations, the Welsh Government has routinely complained that Wales's voice has not been heard in the union. By not having a Wales-wide public inquiry, the Welsh Government is effectively reducing its voice in the union, so I do hope that Members will contribute to this debate this afternoon meaningfully, and I hope that we'll get a meaningful response this afternoon, I hope, as well from the Minister, as she responds to this debate this afternoon. Diolch yn fawr.

Thank you for being allowed to jointly submit this motion this afternoon. For a year now, Plaid Cymru has also been calling for a public inquiry that is specific to Wales. That would give a unique opportunity to assess and learn lessons from the way in which the Government has handled the pandemic, but, rather than that, the Government has decided to have one Welsh chapter in a UK-wide inquiry.

Now, Members will be aware that, over the last 18 months, Plaid Cymru has agreed, more often than not, with the steady way in which the Welsh Government has protected public health in Wales, in complete contrast to the dangerous actions of the Tories in Westminster. But that doesn't mean that we've given our seal of approval to every decision, and it doesn't mean that there are no lessons to be learned.

Nearly 6,000 people have died in the wake of COVID-19 since the start of the pandemic. There are immeasurable levels of illness, not to mention the chronic disability associated with long COVID. As well as that, six months of education days were lost, and there have been far-reaching economic consequences and increasing strain on our health services. That all tells us that we need an inquiry, and that we need a Wales-specific inquiry, and we need that because, very simply, this crisis has happened in an area that is devolved. We've been able to chart our own course during the pandemic because health is a devolved area, and so it makes perfect sense that we scrutinise in detail the unique actions that have been taken in Wales, because this is an area devolved to us, and we have the opportunity to have created our own response. Time and time again the First Minister has emphasised that we have a Welsh response to the pandemic here, and so the microscope should be on our response here in Wales. It's not the same thing as the response in other parts of the UK.

The Institute for Government says that establishing one large inquiry that could investigate all of our four Governments in the same way would be difficult legally, logistically and politically. Plaid Cymru welcomes the UK-wide inquiry as well, but do we think that that kind of inquiry, with one chapter on Welsh affairs, is going to be able to assess everything in the detail that's needed? There is a risk that the voice and the experience of Wales will be lost once again.

If we don't have a Welsh inquiry, how will we know whether the Welsh Government learned lessons from the Cygnus pandemic drill that was undertaken in 2016? How will we know why the Welsh Government was so tardy in responding to the virus at the outset? I remember the delays in cancelling the rugby match between Wales and Scotland. How will we know what really happened with the Roche testing fiasco? How will we know why the Welsh Government allowed patients infected with the virus to leave hospital and go into care homes?

In the same way, how will we be able to know how to build on some of the successes that have happened, build for the future—for example, as Russell George has mentioned, our success as a country with the vaccination scheme and the track and trace scheme that has been very successfully implemented by the local authorities? 

To close, therefore, the sooner the better that we get a Welsh inquiry and implement it quickly so that we can reach the truth and we can learn the lessons for the future. So, I encourage everyone to support this motion today. Thank you. 

Members, it's a shame we need to have this debate today, as it shouldn't really be needed, and I fear, Deputy Llywydd, that many of us will be saying the same things, because they're strong messages and we believe passionately in them. It can only be right that, as the decisions on how the COVID pandemic is handled are devolved to the Welsh Government, then it has to follow that the scrutiny and accountability associated with all of that happens in Wales also. And it should also have its own Welsh focus via a Welsh independent inquiry. 

If, throughout the pandemic, devolved nations had agreed to a consistent UK approach, then I think there would have been a fair case for having just a Welsh chapter within a UK-wide inquiry, but, throughout the last 16 months, we have seen different interpretations of the medical and scientific advice, leading to Wales-only deliberations. And there's nothing wrong with that. This has also happened in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, and they too should conduct their own public inquiries. Today, once again, we have heard from the First Minister, who shared the Government's perspective, a different perspective, and that is fair as well. But, again, it shows that different decisions are being made here and need to be held to account here.

Many times, we have seen and heard Government spokespersons levelling criticisms on UK Government actions, rightly or wrongly at times, and I know that many people often have felt that some decisions have been made in Wales purely for a desire for political differentiation and no other reason. Now, I'm not saying that is the case, but there is a perception out there, and those of us who are charged with making decisions have to be held to account for our decisions. And where those, in this case, are made by the Welsh Government, it is only right and proper that we have our own public inquiry to look at all aspects of the pandemic and how it was managed. 

It must also highlight what worked well and identify what hasn't, and what lessons we need to have learnt from this awful journey we've all been on. So many Welsh people have been affected in so many ways, and many need Welsh answers and a desire to understand why certain things happened or didn't happen. Deputy Llywydd, I know there was no manual on how to manage a pandemic, and I can only imagine how hard it must have been for Ministers and the Government to take some of the decisions they have during the most and extreme and challenging times. And we thank them sincerely for that, but the people of Wales deserve their own inquiry. 

A public inquiry isn't about trying to catch people out, but more about what I said earlier—to learn lessons so that we can be totally prepared if, heaven forbid, we find ourselves in a similar situation. So, Deputy Llywydd, I won't go on—the message is clear—but, for the good of the Welsh people, I urge Members here to support this motion. Thank you.

If we are to, here, as a nation, understand what did work and what mistakes were made in the last 18 months and stop those from happening again, and root out the fundamental failures and shortcomings that contributed to those mistakes, then we do need an inquiry with the sharpest possible teeth. That is why the Liberal Democrats led calls in Westminster for an urgent United Kingdom inquiry into the Government's handling of the pandemic, dragging a reluctant United Kingdom Conservative Government to agreeing.

I share concerns that the UK Government are proposing to conduct this inquiry next year, and I would urge the First Minister and those on the Conservative benches to put pressure on the Prime Minister to deliver that inquiry as soon as is practicable. But I am mindful that there were more than 0.5 million people in Wales waiting for non-urgent hospital treatment in February this year—a record high—and that, as we've heard today, COVID cases are, sadly, on the rise across Wales. Lockdown may be easing slightly, but that doesn't mean the pandemic is over. NHS and care services, and the staff in them, face huge pressures, and we have concerns about the attention and resources a Welsh inquiry would demand. 

The First Minister has been given assurances, which I welcome, about the Welsh Government's involvement in a UK inquiry, and it is of critical importance that decision making in Wales, and the interplay with decisions made in Westminster, are fully understood and scrutinised. Thank you. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

I welcome calls to establish an independent public inquiry into the Welsh Labour Government's handling of the pandemic, separate to a UK-wide inquiry. A year ago, my colleagues in the Welsh Conservatives, along with health professionals, and, most importantly, the bereaved families of the people who have died in Wales from COVID-19, called for this inquiry, and a year to the day this Welsh Labour Government has denied this request, only wanting to have a few paragraphs in a UK-wide report.

The Welsh Labour Government is denying the people of Wales the answers on the decisions it made. The Government want to call all the shots whilst avoiding a Wales public inquiry, because they know they won't like the outcome or the scrutiny. Public inquiries are an opportunity to learn best practice, and, if the First Minister is confident in his approach, I don't see why there is a reluctance here to have a Wales-specific inquiry.

The First Minister states he would prefer that UK-wide inquiry. Yet his Government has complained bitterly that Wales's voice is not being heard in the union, or that the UK Government do not care about Wales. However, when he and the Welsh Government want to avoid scrutiny, they are more than happy to hide behind that four-nations approach and pass any responsibility up the M4 and blame somebody else. 

The First Minister was in charge of the handling of this pandemic in Wales, and he and his Government need to own their decisions. So, let's just take a quick trip down memory lane and see what decisions and actions the Welsh Government took independently and I think are trying to brush over by denying this inquiry. The Government supported, to start, a four-nations approach, and then they said they were going it alone. As far as I'm concerned, that shows then the responsibility that comes with it.

The Government sent out more than 13,000 shielding letters to the wrong addresses in April and May in 2020, and that's a huge mishandling of public data. That needs to be looked at. This Government claimed it backed businesses, but many businesses have had months of uncertainty, last-minute decisions and the poor rolling-out of Government funding. That needs to be investigated. This Government had a chaotic start to the vaccination roll-out, with the First Minister himself saying, 'It's not a sprint; neither is it a competition.' That isn't a very good comment to make. Even the BMA termed his comment as 'truly bewildering'. And the Government has also seen a situation where children in Wales have lost the most amount of learning of any part of the UK nations.

These things need to be looked at, and I could go on and on about the decisions that the Welsh Government took on their own, and the decisions that they also made for the better, or the worse, and all these need to be scrutinised. So, I hope that Members do the right thing and put party political differences aside in order to give the people of Wales the answers they deserve and vote to have an independent public inquiry into the Welsh Government's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Diolch, Deputy Llywydd.

In the region I represent, namely South Wales Central, up to today, 58,615 cases have emerged. From that, 2,095 people have died as a result of COVID-19 and we're all aware, of course, of the heartbreaking stories, with many people losing many loved ones within the same family, meaning that there have been over 2,000 funerals and so many tears shed within our communities. And I'm sure we're all agreed that the past 16 months have been extremely challenging for all Governments throughout the world. And, of course, for a number of researchers, such a pandemic wasn't entirely unexpected, because a number of studies have been published over the past few years emphasising the link between the climate emergency and the impact of this on people's health and the spread of infectious diseases.

From a Welsh perspective, we are in a very vulnerable position in terms of the health of our population, as was noted in the 'Future Trends Report', published by the Welsh Government in 2017, and I quote,

'Overall life expectancies and ‘healthy’ life expectancies are increasing in Wales. However, there are significant differences between the most and least deprived. In terms of overall life expectancy, there is a difference of around 8 years between the most and least deprived areas, while the difference in healthy life expectancy is around 18 years. There is no clear trend of these differences reducing in the future.'

Unfortunately, this was the reality in terms of the population's health when we were struck by COVID-19, which once again cruelly highlighted the fundamental differences between the most and least deprived of our population. And it shows, in my view, the failure of the Welsh Government—and UK Governments way before the establishment of the Senedd—in terms of tackling poverty in Wales. I'm sure that we all recall—well, perhaps not everyone, because there are some Members who are a fair few years younger than me in the Senedd—but many of us will recall the targets for eradicating child poverty by 2020, and there were ambitious targets there. But by 2021, child poverty levels are higher than ever.

What this has meant for our communities, as the latest data shows, is that Rhondda Cynon Taf is the authority with the second highest rate of deaths in the UK—second to Southend-on-Sea—with 366 deaths per 100,000 of the population. And also in the top 10 of authorities are Merthyr and Bridgend, outlining again how vulnerable our post-industrial communities are. Of course, although we are included in these UK-wide tables comparing authorities the length and breadth of the UK, there's no denying the fact that the context in terms of regulations was different here in Wales, and that is why I, today, am supporting the demand for an independent public inquiry for Wales.

Of course, we must be part of an inquiry at a UK-wide level; we are connected as nations and it would be madness for us not to be involved. But, the people of Wales have relied on the Welsh Government during this pandemic. It's the Welsh Government that the police have been working with in terms of the enforcement of regulations here in Wales. One needs only to look at things such as Sky News and the BBC to see that they are emphasising how different the regulations are in all parts of the UK. And, in Rhondda Cynon Taf, we saw the Welsh Government—not the UK Government—taking the decision to bring specific regulations and put them in place in Rhondda Cynon Taf when the cases were at their worst.

So, for me, with the virus here to stay and with the possibility of further infectious diseases in the future, it is crucial that we have a full public inquiry here in Wales so that we can learn the lessons and ensure that our communities, in the future, when this type of thing happens again, don't see these appalling levels of loss of life, and also the impacts of long COVID. For me, we have to look at why Wales was in such a vulnerable position and how we approached this. Unless we have a Wales-focused inquiry, we won't be able to do anything to protect our communities for the future, and many of these deaths will have been in vain.

Given their form over many years, Labour Welsh Government denials of long-standing calls for an independent public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales have not been unexpected. However, this issue is too important to be dodged in this way. Yes, we need a UK-wide inquiry, but the people of Wales also need their Welsh Government to be held accountable.

The Welsh Government's handling of the pandemic has failed many north Wales businesses, and I say this not as a party political soundbite but because I have been inundated by desperate businesses telling me this. The economic damage wrought by the pandemic has caused the worst recession in the UK for 300 years. In response, the UK Government have provided over £400 billion of support to protect jobs and businesses, with the Welsh Government receiving its full share.

Peak UK unemployment is forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility, now, to be 2 million fewer than previously feared, and the unemployment rate in the UK is lower than the US, Canada, France, Italy, Spain and Australia. UK job vacancies are around 29 per cent higher than they were pre-pandemic, and the number of people in jobs has now grown for five consecutive months. UK consumer confidence has returned to pre-crisis levels. Business confidence and intentions to invest are at historically high levels, and business insolvencies in 2020 were lower than in 2019.

However, the employment rate in Wales lags behind that of the rest of the UK. Even before the pandemic hit, Wales had the lowest amount of goods or services produced by each job in all of the UK. Average weekly earnings in Wales are almost £50 behind the UK average, and, not surprisingly, the Office for Budget Responsibility forecasts that Wales's output will not recover to pre-COVID-19 levels until months after the UK next year.

Each time the Welsh Government has announced financial support to help businesses survive the pandemic, it has excluded small bed-and-breakfast businesses. On each occasion, I've been contacted by despairing small B&B businesses unable to understand why this vital part of local tourism economies has been denied support. On each occasion, I've raised this with the Welsh Government to zero effect.

Ambiguous Welsh Government guidance following revised criteria for the payment of business grants to holiday letting businesses allowed one north Wales council to take a position that directly contradicted the practice confirmed in writing by every other north Wales council. This also directly contradicted the position made clear by Welsh Government Ministers from the outset, on the record, namely that if a business has been unable to satisfy the criteria but can prove they are a legitimate business, the local authority still has discretion to pay the grant out.

Many of these businesses asked for my help. All subsequently received their grants in five north Wales counties, but struggling, legitimate businesses in Flintshire are still being denied the help they would have received if located elsewhere, yet poor public administration by the Welsh Government has allowed this.

Since the May election, I've continued to receive e-mails from many other struggling north Wales businesses condemning the Welsh Government's lack of financial support throughout the pandemic for them, stating, for example, that the Welsh Government had stabbed them in the back and that the Welsh Government grant announcement was a 'slap in the face'.

Thanks to the UK Government's decision to procure vaccines swiftly, and the fantastic delivery of jabs into arms, Governments across the UK have now been able to safely ease the most stringent of regulations. However, the Welsh Government, which is responsible for the vaccination programme in Wales, only prioritised this after we repeatedly highlighted that it was running massively behind the rest of the UK on both first and second jabs. Even then, constituents contacted me with comments such as, 'I've received a letter today. I will have my second vaccination. I will still be up to four weeks behind my contemporaries in England in particular. I still feel that the Welsh Government is trying to win a first-vaccination race, whereas elsewhere in the UK the idea is to stop the new variant getting hold in the first place.'

Well, whenever life doesn't fit the Welsh Government's comfortable theories, it isn't the theories they doubt, it's real life. This reinforces the need for an independent public inquiry into the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales. And if you don't like what I say, those are quotes from constituents' e-mails over the last 16 months. I can give you the originals if you want evidence.

I call on the Minister for Health and Social Services, Eluned Morgan.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. The Government entirely agrees that it's important that there should be an impartial and appropriate inquiry held into the way in which we have dealt with the pandemic. We do need to gather and sift evidence in a systematic way, listening carefully to the stories of those who saw their lives overturned in such a dramatic and cruel way during this difficult period. We need to analyse what was done well and those things that weren't done as well, and I know that many have listed some of those today. And we need to recommend to Governments, and to society more generally, what we can learn from our experiences of the pandemic, so that we can be ready to face similar challenges in the future. However, we will be voting against this motion.

The First Minister has already informed the Senedd that he agrees with the UK Prime Minister that a public inquiry that he said that he would commence in spring of next year should deal with the UK as a whole. As part of that, it will look separately at what happened in Wales. We believe—and this is the belief of the UK Prime Minister too, it appears—that this is the best possible arrangement for Wales.

Wales has been responsible, on a number of occasions over this period, for dealing in its own way with aspects of the pandemic, and on occasion, as we know, the Welsh Government has decided to do things differently to England. And, of course, it's fair that a public inquiry should consider those issues. However, other decisions were taken at a UK level, and the only appropriate way of considering those is through looking at the pan-UK situation, and that's why I don't agree with people such as Peter Fox. Holding a separate Welsh inquiry, as is suggested, would either lead to duplication of much of the work done by a UK-wide inquiry, or an England-only inquiry, or it would mean that important aspects of the pandemic that should be taken into account wouldn't be part of a Welsh inquiry. The agreement, therefore, between the First Minister and UK Prime Minister to hold a UK-wide inquiry ensures that particular attention must be paid to Wales as part of this inquiry.

Of course, there are many decisions yet to be taken about the inquiry. We will need to define its purpose very carefully in order to ensure that it considers the right issues. We will need to decide on the remit of the work. The pandemic has impacted on virtually all aspects of people's lives and all parts of society, and so, perhaps the remit of the inquiry will be very broad indeed. But, simultaneously, we must be able to keep control of this work and it must be completed within a reasonable timescale. So, we will need to strike the appropriate balance. We will need to draw the remit of the inquiry carefully and agree on that. The way in which the inquiry tackles the work will be important too, and, of course, there's a question as to who should undertake that inquiry, and that's very important too.

Russell George says it's unlikely to go into detail into Wales in the broader inquiry, but I think that the breadth of that inquiry is something that is still there to be influenced. I know Siân Gwenllian suggested that it'll only be one chapter. Well, how big is that chapter going to be? There can be lots of sub-chapters within that chapter.

So, if we need to shine that spotlight, we're happy to do that, but we have to look at it in the context of what was happening elsewhere.

None of these important questions have been settled yet, and they will all need to be carefully considered. They'll need to be consulted upon and agreed before the inquiry can start its work, which, hopefully, will be next year.

I've listened very carefully to the points that have been made in this debate, and I will ensure that those points are fed into consideration as discussions continue between the United Kingdom Government and the devolved administrations on the establishment of the inquiry. And, of course, there will be further opportunities for these matters to be considered in the future.

I know there have been calls for an urgent inquiry in Wales to enable us to learn lessons that we can apply immediately in respect of the pandemic. But it's really important for us to remember that the pandemic is not over. We're all familiar with the rising numbers that we see now as we're entering the third peak. The very people who need to be focused on keeping people safe, on continuing to make difficult decisions to steer Wales through the pandemic, would be the people needing to contribute to the inquiry, and now is not the time to divert their attention and to add to their load.

We should remind ourselves that public inquiries are not the only, and sometimes not the best, way to improve practice swiftly. Public inquiries are many things, but they are not urgent, I'm afraid. They have to be set up in accordance with specific legislation that governs inquires, it takes time to identify a chair, to decide on scope, to consult on terms of reference and then to get the work up and running. The inquiry, then, has to call for evidence and listen to oral evidence, and then sift and consider all the information presented to it before it reaches its conclusions and recommendations. That's not going to happen overnight.

There are many other feedback and learning mechanisms through which the Government and the NHS can adapt approaches in the light of experience. We're drawing on these mechanisms in real time to adapt practices as we go along. Setting up a Welsh inquiry, as has been proposed in some quarters, and I'm sure for the best of motives, is, I appreciate, important for some, but it would actually slow us down from our agile approach of drawing on experience to develop our approach in dealing with the next phase of the pandemic. It would, as Jane Dodds has pointed out, also distract attention from addressing the waiting list backlog. 

We recognise the impact that the COVID pandemic has had on everyone, and the loss of loved ones that people have experienced. We are committed, absolutely, to learning and improving outcomes. For example, the NHS in Wales has put a framework in place to review all incidents of COVID-19 transmission within hospitals, so that they can identify any learning, and, importantly, help to answer questions families may have. There are also established arrangements in place, called 'Putting Things Right', to raise concerns about patient care and treatment, and we would encourage individuals to contact their individual health board directly if they have concerns. There are established mortality review processes in place for the review of all deaths in hospital. In addition, the new medical examiner service is in the process of being rolled out across Wales, and that will increasingly involve the independent scrutiny of all deaths. 

There is much agreement in the Senedd today. We all share a conviction that it's appropriate that there should be a thorough, independent and professional inquiry into the preparedness of the UK for a pandemic, and how the pandemic has been managed, so that lessons can be learnt for the future. The Welsh Government will go into the forthcoming inquiry with a positive and constructive approach, so as to assist the inquiry to do the best possible job, and to help enable the nation to be properly equipped to deal with future global health emergencies. But now is not the time for a Welsh public inquiry.

No Members have indicated that they wish to make an intervention, so I call on Gareth Davies to reply to the debate.

Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank all the Members who have contributed to the debate this afternoon. COVID-19 has been the biggest immediate challenge the United Kingdom has faced for generations. While we started out with a co-ordinated approach, it wasn't long before Welsh Ministers decided to go their own way. The First Minister derided the UK Government's proposals on face masks, and he told the Welsh public in early 2020 that there was no need to conduct widescale testing in our care homes. The UK Government rolled out asymptomatic testing in care homes, yet the First Minister said there was no value in that approach. I believe it is as a result of this decision and the systematic failure of the Welsh Government to roll out wider community testing that, sadly, we have nearly 2,000 care home residents who died from COVID.

My colleagues have highlighted other failures by the Welsh Government that have led to Wales having one of the highest COVID death rates in the world. Russell George outlined the awful statistic that one in four of the COVID deaths in Wales were as a result of the infections picked up in hospitals. The fact that people went into hospital with one thing, yet ended up not only catching COVID on the wards, but dying from it, is reason enough to hold this Government accountable. Peter Fox pointed out the differing ways that medical and scientific advice can be interpreted. He very eloquently highlighted that inquiries aren't about apportioning blame; they're about learning lessons. James Evans drew attention to the history of the pandemic and gave a timeline, and mentioned the lack of scrutiny that the Welsh Government are seeking without a Wales-wide inquiry. He mentioned the vaccines too. Jane Dodds was very quick to talk about the UK Conservative Government down the other end of the M4, but failed to provide her own view or the Welsh Liberal Democrats' take on a Wales-wide inquiry, so I was a bit perplexed as to that one.

Welsh Government failures haven't just impacted people's lives, they have damaged livelihoods as well. Mark Isherwood reminded us that the Welsh Government's handling of the pandemic has failed many businesses, crippling many in the hospitality, tourism and leisure sectors up in north Wales. The Welsh Government rejected a UK-wide approach to coronavirus control measures. They took decisions that differed from other home nations, decisions that undoubtedly led to us having the highest death rate of any home nation. They can't now hide behind a UK-wide approach by calling for a UK-only public inquiry. The people of Wales who lost loved ones to the COVID virus deserve answers, they deserve to know whether the actions of the Welsh Government Ministers contributed to the deaths of their family members, friends and colleagues. We can only provide those answers with an independent public inquiry—an inquiry for Wales, held here in Wales. I urge Members to support the motion this afternoon. Diolch yn fawr iawn.

The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? [Objection.]

Okay, we have one.

I will defer voting on the motion until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.

We will now suspend proceedings to allow changeovers in the Chamber. If you are leaving the Chamber, please do so promptly. The bell will be rung two minutes before proceedings restart. Any Members who are arriving after the changeover should wait until then before entering the Chamber.

Plenary was suspended at 17:23.

The Senedd reconvened at 17:41, with the Llywydd in the Chair.