1. Will the First Minister make a statement on coronavirus requirements for international travellers from Wales? OQ57043

Llywydd, international travel inevitably brings the risk of importing new coronavirus infections, especially new variants, into the United Kingdom. Border health measures are an important defence against such risks. The Welsh Government has consistently advocated a precautionary approach towards reopening international travel.

Thank you, First Minister. First Minister, I've stood here many a time, and I know you don't like answering individual cases, but I have been asked by a number of constituents about a matter that I'd like to raise with you today, here in the Chamber. Now, I've been contacted, like I said, by a family who are experiencing difficulty in obtaining COVID passports for foreign travel. Earlier this year, they were in lockdown in Portugal and, during this time, they were offered and received vaccinations and the appropriate cards recording this fact. They now find that countries they wish to travel to and visit are demanding official COVID passports, and failure to produce this further piece of documentation would require them to test and quarantine for two weeks. They contacted Wales's NHS COVID passport centre and were informed that there is no mechanism, per se, for issuing COVID passports for anyone not vaccinated here in Wales. On searching the Portugese web pages, my constituents found the authorities there are issuing COVID passports to residents free of charge, but they are, sadly, not Portuguese residents. Please could you advise how people here in Wales, in these circumstances, can obtain COVID passports to enable them to travel abroad freely? Thank you.  

Well, Llywydd, as the Member said, it is difficult to give advice on individual cases when answering questions. The general position is that the Welsh Government has agreed with the UK Government the expanded vaccine recognition arrangements, which were announced when the latest set of changes were introduced. That should mean that people who are vaccinated in other countries, where their vaccination regime meets the standards set out by our own regulator, will be able to get a vaccine certificate here in the United Kingdom and in Wales. But that is an important safeguard—that vaccines that are administered elsewhere in the world have to be vaccines that are recognised, that our system would regard as conveying protection on those individuals, and that the regime under which those vaccines are provided is one that would stand up to scrutiny. Provided those things are in place, then a significant liberalisation has been agreed across the United Kingdom, with more countries being recognised for these purposes, and more vaccine certification therefore able to be confirmed by our own system. Whether that applies in the case of the individual to which the Member refers, I would need some further particulars in order to be able to establish.