Today is a pretty sobering day, isn't it, with the publication of that report by Members of the UK Parliament saying that the UK Government's response to the pandemic was one of the 'worst ever' public health failures. Those are pretty strong words. There's hardly a reference to Wales in that report—I'll get back to that in a second—but many of the questions around the response to the pandemic are just as relevant to Welsh Government, of course, including what happened in those very early days, and questions have been asked publicly today about that, both here in the Senedd by my colleague Adam Price, and also by journalists in the press conference earlier.

We have heard some contrasting responses about the pace of response here in Wales; the First Minister, during First Minister's questions, saying, 'We just didn't know how serious this was,' although I think we did, or the health Minister saying, 'We did know, but it was very difficult for Wales to act without England acting too.' Now, I'm not sure how you square those two responses, but the truth of the matter is, these questions have not been asked in depth. Members of Parliament at Westminster have had a go, as I say, in this report, which mentions Wales nine times, I think, isn't it, in 147 pages. But these are questions that the Welsh public expect to be looked at in depth, and the only way to do that, as has been proven again, I think, by this report today—. The way to do that in depth on these questions about the initial response, and so many of the questions about the response over the past 18 months, is to have a Wales-specific inquiry.

Now, I have met, on a number of occasions now, including once in person with representatives of the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice campaign. I'm pleased that the First Minister has also met them now. And their central argument is this. It's very, very simple: decisions taken in Wales must be scrutinised in Wales. It's a very, very easy principle for me to get my head around. If I can get my head around it, I think most people can. Decisions taken in Wales need to be scrutinised in Wales. Now, perhaps the Minister can tell us now whether there has been a response now, or even an acknowledgement to the letter written by the First Minister to UK Government, seeking assurances about how Wales would somehow fit in and have enough focus on it as part of a UK inquiry. And can I ask, how long is Welsh Government prepared to wait for a response before deciding, 'You know what; we're going to have to do this ourselves and set up a Welsh inquiry'? It is the only answer. 

I'd like to focus, secondly, on one word that we heard a few times from the Minister today: 'stable'—the situation in Wales currently is stable. Can I suggest, actually, we need three categories, not just 'COVID-stable' and 'COVID-urgent' going into this winter? This is urgent. This is urgent today. We perhaps need a 'COVID-crisis' if things become even worse, but we are in an urgent position. And let me just remind people what 'stable' looks like. Wales currently: over 500 cases per 100,000 people over a seven-day period—that's worse than any other nation in the UK; it's three times, almost, the figure for Ireland, almost six times the case rate for the Netherlands, almost 12 times the case rate for France and 20 times the case rate for Spain. The case rate for under 25s in Wales is double the average for Wales at nearly 1,000. Seven counties in Wales, including the one that I represent, have case rates of over 1,000. If that is not urgent, I do not know what is.

So, perhaps I can just pose these questions in closing. When does current Welsh Government strategy envisage we'll get down to levels in France, in Spain, in Italy and in any other western European country you could mention? Is getting there as quickly as possible even a part of the strategy? Or is stable, steady-as-she-goes the way things are going to be approached from now on? For example, we suggested last week that we could strengthen the COVID pass system, perhaps, as a means to ramp things up. What evidence can the Minister point to to show or to even suggest that the Welsh Government is trying to do everything it can to get those case rates down to the levels of our western European partners, because—