Questions now from the party leaders. Leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Paul Davies.

Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, yesterday you made it clear that you were seeking reassurances from the UK Government that a UK-wide COVID inquiry will have a sufficient focus on decisions made here in Wales. If you're so concerned that a UK-wide inquiry won't probe the Welsh Government enough, then why don't you commit to an independent Welsh inquiry?

Well, for the many reasons that I've previously explained, Llywydd. I had an opportunity yesterday to meet with the Prime Minister. It was a wide-ranging meeting, but I had two issues in particular that I wanted to make sure I put directly to the Prime Minister in that meeting. One was the issue of coal-tip safety and its importance here in Wales, and the other was to follow up the meeting that I had held with bereaved families here in Wales and to put some of the points that they put to me to the Prime Minister. And what I put to the Prime Minister was that, for Wales to be part of the UK inquiry that he has proposed and in the way that he has asked us to be involved, I needed to be able to provide assurances to others that Wales would not be, in the term that is sometimes used, a footnote in a UK inquiry, that the inquiry would provide a specific focus on the Welsh experience, that it would go about its inquiries in a way that provided ample opportunity for people in Wales to be directly involved in it, and that, when it came to reporting, there would be material in the report that was directly focused on the way in which decisions had been made here in Wales. The Prime Minister gave positive replies to all of that, recognising the points that were made and reaffirming his wish that the Welsh dimension, as he put it, of the coronavirus experience, would be properly investigated and then reported within the wider context, without which you cannot make proper sense of what happened in Wales or provide the answers that people, quite rightly, will look to the inquiry to provide.

But, First Minister, there's no reason why the Welsh Government can't take part in a UK-wide inquiry and a Welsh inquiry. An open and a transparent Government must be accountable to the people it serves, and the people of Wales deserve answers. 'Responsible, but not held responsible' seems to be the mantra of this Welsh Labour Government. Now, organisations like the bereaved families group, Medics 4 Mask Up Wales and the British Lung Foundation have all joined calls for a Welsh inquiry. It's time for your Government to do the right thing and commit to that inquiry. A Welsh inquiry is a necessary part in helping the country to understand how decisions were made and whether lessons have indeed been learnt. Therefore, do you accept that refusing a Welsh inquiry is not just insulting to those campaigners who are tirelessly fighting for answers, but it also undermines Wales's ability to mitigate against future threats, if we can't understand the process of decision making throughout the pandemic?

Well, Llywydd, I listened carefully to what the Member said in his first contribution on the floor of the Senedd this afternoon. I don't think using terms like 'insulting' is consistent with what he said earlier about the need to conduct public discourse on the basis of mutual respect and trust. I do not come to my conclusions on the basis of wishing to insult anybody; I come to my conclusions because I believe the answers that people in Wales need will be better provided, they will get better answers, if there is a Welsh focus within a UK inquiry. Because I don't believe that you can make proper sense of the many decisions that were made here in Wales without understanding the relationship between those decisions and the wider context within which they were made.

Our position remains as it has been for many weeks. Provided we get the assurances that we are looking for from the UK Government that there will be that focus on decisions here in Wales, that people in Wales will have answers to their questions within the UK inquiry, then I think that will give them better answers. If we don't get those assurances, if we're not certain that we will get the focus on the Welsh experience that we need, then that will give us pause to think again.

If you don't commit to a specific Wales inquiry, people will think that your Government is evading scrutiny and refusing to make itself accountable to its people. While the UK-wide inquiry will rightly consider inter-governmental decision making, a Welsh inquiry could solely focus on your Government's handling of the pandemic. And let us not forget that it was the Welsh Government that was responsible for people not being tested prior to being discharged from hospital, therefore allowing the virus to enter Wales's care settings. In fact, after England introduced mass testing in care homes during the first wave in 2020, you said that you could see no value in introducing tests across Welsh care homes. And let us not forget that it was the Welsh Government that was responsible for failing to get a grip on hospital-acquired infections. In fact, after reports of hospital-acquired infections rising 50 per cent in a week, the health Minister at the time said that he 'didn't think it's out of control, but is a real risk.' And let us not forget that it was the Welsh Government that was responsible for failing to send more than 13,000 shielding letters to the right addresses in April and May last year.

So, First Minister, the list goes on and on and on. So, why won't you give the families of those who lost their lives during the pandemic the answers they need and the peace that they deserve? And why won't you accept both a UK-wide inquiry and, indeed, a Welsh inquiry, so that your Government's handling of the pandemic can be fully scrutinised and your Ministers held to account? The Welsh people deserve that.

Llywydd, I'm completely committed to there being proper scrutiny of decisions that were made here in Wales, an inquiry into them and accountability as a result. I'm not persuaded that overlapping and competing inquiries will give the best answers for people who need those answers. While the Prime Minister—while his Prime Minister—continues to offer me the assurances that experiences here in Wales will get the attention they need and deserve and will do so within the wider context that only a UK inquiry can investigate, then I'm prepared to continue with the agreement that I struck with the Prime Minister at the outset. There are still some important tests for the UK Government, and they're coming in the short term. The Prime Minister has said to bereaved families that he will appoint a chair of that inquiry this side of Christmas. I expect First Ministers of other UK nations to be involved in that appointment. If I read about it in a press release, or I'm told about it half an hour before it is issued, then the sense of genuine involvement and a genuine opportunity to have the Welsh dimension scrutinised as it needs to be in that inquiry will inevitably be under question.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister assured me that devolved Governments would be properly engaged and involved in that appointment, in the terms of reference, in the working practices of the UK inquiry, and I look forward to that being borne out in practice.

Leader of Plaid Cymru, Adam Price.

Diolch, Llywydd. First Minister, today, your Government has announced the co-chairs of the independent commission that will be taking forward the national conversation on the constitutional future of Wales. In Professor McAllister and Dr Williams, I think that most people would accept that we have two incredibly impressive individuals to lead this work. Among its objectives, the commission is, and I quote,

'To consider and develop all progressive principal options to strengthen Welsh democracy'.

Can you confirm that that will include, for the very first time in the case of an officially established body, serious and substantive work on Welsh independence?

Llywydd, I thank Adam Price for what he said about the co-chairs of the independent commission. I think that he's right. It is hard to think of any Welsh figure who commands greater respect—not simply in Wales, but on the world stage—than Dr Rowan Williams. In Professor Laura McAllister, we have one of the leading experts on the subject matter that the commission will have at its heart.

I can certainly confirm that, as Professor McAllister has said today, the commission will look at the whole suite of potential constitutional futures for Wales. The terms of reference for the commission certainly allow for independence to be considered as one of these options. They allow for any person who has a view as to how Wales's constitutional future should best be shaped to come to the commission to make their case for that. It would be absurd—and I think that that was the word that Professor McAllister used—to rule out independence.

But, nothing else is ruled out either. If I have the opportunity, I will certainly give my evidence to the commission that entrenched devolution in a successful United Kingdom is the best constitution for Wales. But, Plaid Cymru—and I welcome very much what Plaid Cymru's spokesperson said about constructive engagement and making every use of the opportunity that it presents—will be able to set out its stall for a different constitutional future.

I'm sure that the First Minister wouldn't mind me saying that the implicit confirmation by a Welsh Labour Government that independence, though clearly not your favoured option, can be considered a progressive option, will be seen by many in the independence movement as a significant milestone. We do indeed, on our side, look forward to engaging constructively with the commission.

Whatever the report in the end concludes—whether it supports your preferred future, First Minister, of radical federalism, or our alternative future of independence—is not the commission's starting point as important as its end point, in this sense? Because it signifies a new, shared determination that we shouldn't wait for our constitutional future to be chosen for us by default by decisions in Westminster or, indeed, developments elsewhere in these islands, but that we should decide for ourselves; that we should neither be on the sidelines nor in the shadows of someone else's deliberations, but that we should place Wales front and centre of our own debate.

Well, Llywydd, I certainly agree that that is exactly the purpose of the commission: to take our future into our own hands. I think that this is a particularly important moment for us to do that. During this Senedd term, while we are all sitting here, it is very likely that there will be a further referendum on independence in Scotland.

I don't often quote Iain Duncan Smith here, Llywydd—[Laughter.]—but I'll make an exception today. I think that he said to the Conservative Party conference that the future of Northern Ireland was more uncertain today than at any time in the past, because of the impact of the Brexit decision and the uncertainties over the Northern Ireland protocol. The United Kingdom is in a fragile position, and it is very important that, as a responsible Government and as a responsible Senedd, we find a way of mapping out our own future in the turbulent times in which we live.

Llywydd, can I say that I was very grateful to the leader of the Welsh Conservatives, Andrew R.T. Davies, for making a number of nominations for someone to sit on the commission? Because I want the commission to be something that anybody who has a view about Wales's future and how best it can be secured, given the uncertain times in which we live, should feel confident that they can turn up to and make their case.

Constitutional commissions—and we’ve had a few, haven’t we, in Wales—by their very nature, because they’re a mixture of the political and the technical, mean that they sometimes struggle to engage the wider public. So, how can we ensure that the commission acts as a platform, First Minister, for that wider national and civic conversation? How can we go beyond the traditional forms of engagement—you know, the consultation, the opinion polling, questionnaires, focus groups or what have you? Can we try something new?

And would you consider, First Minister, inviting the commission to submit its interim report to a Welsh citizens' assembly—a people’s senedd, if you like—that could meet, perhaps, Llywydd, even in this Chamber, to discuss our nation’s future, as a symbol of that most basic democratic principle of all, that it’s the people, ultimately, all of them equally, that must decide our future as a nation?

Well, Llywydd, I’m very much in favour of citizen engagement. I think, in the interviews that he has given in the last day, Dr Rowan Williams has himself emphasised his wish to make sure that the commission works in a way that is genuinely accessible to and engaging of the citizens of Wales. But, it will be for the independent commission to decide on the method of that engagement, and a citizens' assembly is just one way in which that can be done.

I may be old-fashioned here, Llywydd, but I always thought that when I came here I was coming to the people's assembly, and that that is what we are. When we turn up here, we have been elected by people to be here. That does not mean for a minute that we have an exclusive right to express opinions, and there are many other ways in which people can be involved. But I do want the commission to have the freedom to decide on the best way to achieve a shared ambition, because I very much agreed with what Adam Price said on the ambition of engagement, and more than engagement, a sense of ownership of our own future in Wales.