Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:01 pm on 12 October 2021.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:01, 12 October 2021

Well, Llywydd, as I've said, I've not had a proper opportunity to study the report, but even from the newspaper account that I have seen, it seemed to me to strengthen the argument for the Welsh experience to be properly investigated within the wider UK context. This report, as I understand it, was never meant to be about the experience in Scotland, Wales, or Northern Ireland, but it does set out very clearly the decisions that were made at a UK level, and without understanding that, you cannot understand the way in which decisions were made here in Wales. But let me repeat, because I know the Member has heard me say this before, that I have been very clear with the UK Government that the Welsh Government's decisions, and those taken by other relevant bodies in Wales, have to be scrutinised within a UK-wide inquiry in a full and comprehensive manner. Wales cannot and must not be an afterthought or a footnote in any UK-wide inquiry. I set out, as he knows, in my letter to Michael Gove on 10 September, a series of tests that we would apply to give us the confidence, or otherwise, that the Welsh experience was being given the attention within a UK inquiry that it needs and deserves, so that those families get the best possible answers.

Now, there are a number of tests coming up for the UK Government in this regard. I am yet to receive a reply to that letter, and I will look very carefully at it when it arrives. I'm hoping to have a face-to-face meeting with the Prime Minister within the next coming days, and I plan to use that opportunity to make these points directly to him. He has promised bereaved families that the lead of the inquiry—the judge, as I hope it will be—to oversee the inquiry, will be appointed before Christmas. I would expect Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to be properly involved in that appointment—not to read about it in a press release. So, there are a number of ways in which, over the weeks ahead, the UK Government can demonstrate that this is to be an inquiry that sets out the actions that were taken at a UK level, therefore providing the proper context to understand what happened in Wales, but has a focus on the Welsh experience, which will give confidence to people who will look to it that the actions of the Welsh Government and of others have been fully and properly scrutinised and the answers to questions that people have properly addressed in the process.