Questions now from the party spokespeople. The Welsh Conservative spokesperson first, James Evans.

Diolch, Llywydd. Deputy Minister, are you aware that the latest figures from the Intensive Care National Audit and Research Centre suggest that a staggering 81 per cent of patients confirmed with COVID-19 in Wales had a BMI of over 25, when the healthy range is between 18.5 and 24.9. We're already seeing the stage when nearly two thirds of Welsh adults are overweight or obese, with a quarter of Welsh adults being obese. This is one of the highest rates in the UK. Obesity causes one of the biggest risks to your health, from heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol and orthopaedic problems, and this costs the NHS millions of pounds each year. Minister, do you think that 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' has reduced obesity figures over the last few years or is it yet again a Welsh Government strategy that is simply not working?

Can the Deputy Minister's microphone be unmuted, please? Lynne Neagle. Yes, there it is; sorry for that. Deputy Minister.

Thank you. Thank you, James, for that question. I haven't seen the study that you have referred to, although of course I'm very well aware of the link between being overweight and increased susceptibility to having serious COVID. But I completely refute your suggestion that our strategy, 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales', is just another Welsh Government strategy. We're investing £6.6 million every year in this strategy, which is about to be re-launched and will take account of the fact that the pandemic has actually worsened the problems that we face with obesity. We will have a range of measures in place to drive down the levels of obesity, which are not just a problem in Wales, they are a problem throughout the UK.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. And I do appreciate it isn't just a problem in Wales, it is a problem across the UK. You said to myself and colleagues on the Children, Young People and Education Committee that you're due to set out a new delivery plan for 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' between 2022 and 2024 on 1 March, which is due to be a cross-departmental effort, with seven national priority areas. I'd just be interested to know, given that the previous delivery plan was published less than a year ago, how much progress has been made on the eight national priority areas in that plan. And do you think that the £6.6 million in the 2022-24 budget for 'Healthy Weight: Healthy Wales' is enough to carry out your aims in the new delivery plan, considering the rising numbers of people becoming overweight?

Well, in terms of the delivery plan we've been working to, that had to be adapted because of the impact of the pandemic. The pandemic has undoubtedly had an impact on our ability to take action in this area and, as I've already said, has actually worsened the problems with obesity and people being overweight. I set out the figures that we are investing, which are very substantial, in the children's committee last week. But we are keeping the delivery plan under regular review, so that we can actually flex our actions to respond to the outcomes that we're seeing. For instance, I referred in the committee last week to the investment that we're putting in to the children and families pilot. Well, obviously, we'll want to look at the impact of those pilots, identify how we can use the learning, and then, if necessary, will use further funding to take that forward. So, I don't see the document as being set in stone at all. Obviously, it's something that has to be a living document, particularly in light of the impact we've seen the pandemic having on people's physical and mental health; we're all moving less, and that presents more significant challenges.

Thank you, Deputy Minister. And I do agree that these documents should be live, working documents that do change and adapt, but it is nice to see what delivery comes from those sorts of measures that are in those documents.

Finally, you mentioned last week that the diabetes prevention programme was now live in Wales, and I'm really, really pleased to see that. But I am concerned that we have a lot of catching up to do with our neighbours, given that the English NHS launched their own programme in 2016, and the Scottish NHS not long after, in 2017. Current estimates suggest that one in five of the Welsh population are at risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and this is going to cost the Welsh NHS up to £500 million a year to help manage diabetes and the complications that come with that, so we need to be reassured that this new programme will be a success. So, I want to know what milestones and targets you're working towards in the programme, and how you will ensure that it's reviewed honestly and regularly. Diolch, Llywydd, and thank you very much, Minister.

Thank you, James. As I said last week in the committee, we've been piloting the diabetes prevention programme, and what we're doing now is upscaling that across the whole of Wales. But that is not the only measure that we're taking to prevent type 2 diabetes. We've also got the all-Wales weight management pathway, which covers children and adults, and I think we shouldn't forget that, unfortunately, we're seeing more children now being at risk of type 2 diabetes, which is incredibly worrying. But also, in terms of what we are doing as Ministers to drive delivery in this area, both myself and Eluned Morgan have been very clear that we see this area as a priority for prevention. It has been set out in the measures that have been issued to NHS bodies in Wales by the Minister, and we are both making sure that, in our discussions with the NHS, we continue to drive home the message that we expect them to deliver on this agenda and to make a difference in this agenda. It is challenging to set targets in this area, especially as we come out of, hopefully, the pandemic, because things like the child measurement programme have been affected, but we have been very, very clear that we expect those services to be recovered, and that the expectation of Ministers is that reducing levels of overweight and obesity is a priority for us, and that's something that we will be measuring going forward.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Rhun ap Iorwerth. 

Thank you very much, Llywydd. Seventy per cent of care home residents live with dementia, and social contact, particularly with family or informal carers, is very important to them in terms of keeping hold of their cognitive skills and so on. The safety measures during lockdown were crucial in terms of preventing the spread of COVID, but given the evidence, such as research by the Alzheimer's Society, that suggests that 82 per cent of people with dementia had seen their condition decline during the first lockdown and that the reduction in social contact was a major factor in that, would the Minister agree with the principle of what John's Campaign is calling for, namely that we must find ways of safeguarding those contacts, even in the face of the challenges of COVID? And is the change in legislation to make visiting rights a fundamental human right for patients with dementia, as the Plaid Cymru MP Liz Saville Roberts called for recently, something the Minister could support?

Thank you very much, Rhun. I am highly aware of the fact that so many people are experiencing dementia the length and breadth of Wales, not just those in care homes, but there are many people living at home too who have been isolated, have had less social contact, and we have seen decline during that period among elderly people particularly. And that is why, time and time again, we have ensured that we look in detail at what the guidance should be in terms of visiting care homes. We have tried to strike the right balance, and it is difficult to do that, because everyone would be screaming and shouting if we had seen a system where we were introducing omicron or COVID into care homes. So, we have to strike the right balance, and it's difficult. 

Our guidance is clear. People do have a right to visit a loved one in a care home, but the problem is that most of these are privately run homes, run by people who have to pay for insurance, and they fear that their insurance wouldn't safeguard them if COVID was introduced into their care home. So, in terms of a change in legislation, I think that would be a very major step to take in terms of what constitutes a human right. Now, a human right says that an individual has a right to a family life—I think that's the wording, I'm not sure. So, I'm sure you could appeal to that already. So, the question following on from that is whether that would stand up in a court of law. I think it would be very difficult to go any further than that. I don't know if there are other examples elsewhere in the world, but that right already exists, the right to a family life. 

Thank you for that response. And, yes, it would be a major step, but an important step too. And the whole point of placing it in legislation would be to ensure that the principle couldn't be ignored; one would have to act on that principle.

In Wales, very promising steps have been taken—the principle of care partners in the Wales dementia action plan, for example—but there is a great gulf between what is described in that plan and the reality of the situation. There are health and care settings where guidance isn't followed. As the Minister mentioned, there are additional problems in terms of having insurance for issues related to COVID in care homes, and I echo Care Forum Wales's own request for an indemnity scheme, similar to the NHS's indemnity scheme, for the care sector. But as we are now in the last year of the current dementia plan—and this is the key issue—how will the Government seek to ensure that positive words are made a reality?

Thank you very much. We have set out the guidance clearly. I know that Julie Morgan has ensured that she's done everything in her power to allow people the access they need to go and visit their families. The current dementia plan—. We're looking to the future now, and I think there is an opportunity there to see how far we could go with individual rights. But I would have thought that rights—. A right is a major legislative step to take. Clearly, we would then need to make place in the political agenda to deal with that. It would be a very major step. So, I'm willing to look at the issue and to consider whether it would make sense, but I think the best thing would be to try to continue to convince those who haven't been following guidance that it is part of their responsibility to do so. And, of course, most of these care homes are in receipt of funding from local authorities, from the Government, and therefore there is a possibility there to try and see what impact we could have through the contracts that we provide to these homes. 

The next question is to be answered by the Deputy Minister for Social Services and to be asked by Natasha Asghar. That's question 4.