8. What assessment has the First Minister made of the UK Government's ability to lead the inquiry into COVID-19 in Wales? OQ57921

Llywydd, the UK Government will not lead the inquiry. That will be the responsibility of its independent chair, Baroness Heather Hallett. Baroness Hallett is a highly respected former senior judge. She has extensive experience of dealing with high-profile, sensitive and complex inquiries, including within a devolved context.

You were clear when the news came that Boris Johnson had received a fine for breaking the law that he should resign as Prime Minister, and I agree with you 100 per cent. As he has refused to do that and so many other people in Downing Street have also been fined for breaking the rules, isn't it time to rethink, because they have commissioned this independent inquiry that is relevant to Wales? It's clear from all of the statements by everyone who lost loved ones during the pandemic how discontent they are that those who made the rules had been breaking them, and that they have lost all faith in the UK Government and this inquiry. Why do you continue to put your trust in Boris Johnson in terms of this inquiry into COVID-19? I don't trust him.

I'm afraid the Member simply misses the point. There are many legitimate criticisms that are there to be made of the UK Government, but the claim that the UK Government is to be responsible for the public inquiry is simply not one of them. As I explained in my initial answer, responsibility for the inquiry has moved into the hands of the independent judge who has been appointed to lead it. And under the Inquiries Act 2005, that means that all the key decisions about the inquiry now lie not in the hands of Downing Street at all, but in the hands of the inquiry itself, which will be entirely independent, both of the UK Government and of the Welsh Government, and of the other Governments of the UK whose work it will scrutinise. 

I'm pleased to see that there are already strong signs that the inquiry led by Judge Heather Hallett will be committed to ensuring that the inquiry is conducted in a way that is accessible to people in Wales, and provides them with the answers that they want. The very first place that the inquiry visited, as part of its engagement with the public on its terms of reference, was to make a visit to Wales and to hold sessions here in Wales, the first part of the United Kingdom in which it carried out such conversations. I'm pleased to say that if you go to the website of the inquiry, you'll find that it's already available in the Welsh language as well as in English. 

All of this says to me that the independence of the inquiry is being exercised in a way that is determined to give confidence to people in Wales that their voice will be heard, that their concerns will be addressed, that it will conduct its work in a way that provides the best answers it can to the questions that are legitimately there for it to investigate, and that it will do it now entirely on the basis of its own authority, and without interference from any Government, of any part of the United Kingdom. 

Thank you, First Minister.