National Assembly for Wales

Whilst we support establishing an independent inquiry into the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, Welsh Government maintains that such an inquiry should be UK-wide given that a great deal of the response to the pandemic has been rightly managed at UK level. Our current focus, and the focus of many of those who would give evidence to an inquiry, remains on tackling the ongoing public health emergency.

The Welsh Government is committed to publishing national milestones in 2021 and we will publish a detailed plan in February.

Polyamory does not fall directly under the protected characteristics set out in the Equality Act 2010, although it may coincide with other characteristics which are protected such as religion or belief or sexual orientation. Protections for marriage or civil partnership status apply to those who are married or in a civil partnership but do not protect those not in a legal marriage or civil partnership. Our approach to the promotion of equality is set out in the Strategic Equality Plan 2020-2024.

Many of the rights and recognitions which relate to the relationship status of individuals fall to marriage law. At present England and Wales law only recognises marriage or civil partnership as a union between two people, polyamorous unions are not recognised as lawful. Marriage law is not devolved to Wales.

The Law Commission is currently reviewing Weddings Law. The scope of this review is limited to how and where marriages and civil partnerships can be solemnised. It does not extend to the legal status of being married and the consequences that flow from that.

It is not possible to isolate the funding provided to schools in Wales for free school meals because this is included in an overarching category of ‘delegated school catering expenditure’ in the Local Government Settlement.

To estimate the cost of providing free school meals, the Welsh Government has used an assumed annual cost of £440 per pupil.

The Local Government (Coronavirus) (Postponement of Elections) (Wales) Regulations 2020 changed electoral law to temporarily allow Returning Officers to identify the date when previously postponed principal or town and community council by-elections may be held. 

The Regulations stipulate the by-elections must take place during the period 1 February 2021 to 16 April 2021. 

Further changes will be made to change that period to 1 March 2021 and 6 May 2021 to reflect the present public health situation.

It will be for each Returning Officer to identify the date within this period when the by-election can be held, taking into consideration their specific local circumstances.    

Registered childcare remains open for all children up to 12 years of age, and this includes Flying Start provision and settings delivering the Childcare Offer.  Childcare is not currently restricted in any way as we consider settings safe, if they follow Welsh Government guidelines, and it is important that all parents are able to access childcare to work. Schools are making provision for the school‑aged children of critical workers and vulnerable children.

We are continuing to support parents with 3 and 4 year olds with childcare costs through the Childcare Offer for Wales.

We are monitoring the data and evidence and will review decisions as and when necessary as the situation relating to Coronavirus develops.

There are no current plans for the return of the coronavirus childcare assistance scheme.

An agreed UK approach is being taken to prioritisation. 

Frontline health and social care workers, defined by the expert Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) as they are at high risk of acquiring infection, at high individual risk of developing serious disease or are at risk of transmitting infection to multiple vulnerable persons or other staff in a healthcare environment, are considered of higher priority for vaccination than those at lower risk. Chapter 14a of the Green Book and the WHO/ SAGE roadmap provides national guidance to immunisers on these groups, and both these have been shared with health boards in Wales.

Administrative staff meeting this definition will be included, otherwise they will be vaccinated in line with the JCVI indications on age and clinical risk factors.

The support of the military is in place across Wales. We have: 14 immunisers; and 70 other personnel supporting at vaccination centres. All venues offered to Health Boards are considered on their merits.

The interest in supporting health boards with their local programmes and offers from national organisations for use of their premises and staff has been incredible. Health boards are actively considering adding more vaccination centres as we look to have at least one in each county of Wales. At the same time, the capacity at existing centres is also being increased.

The interval between first and second doses has been confirmed as “up to 12 weeks”. This is a UK-wide decision based on the latest scientific evidence and clinical advice. The JCVI and the 4 UK CMOs have confirmed that this is safe and effective for both vaccines.  Doing this will enable millions more to get that effective first dose earlier. More information on this decision can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/priority-groups-for-coronavirus-covid-19-vaccination-advice-from-the-jcvi-30-december-2020/joint-committee-on-vaccination-and-immunisation-advice-on-priority-groups-for-covid-19-vaccination-30-december-2020

NHS Wales management information showing the number of staff that are no longer in contracted employment one month to the next is provided in the table below. It is not possible to provide information for staff that have specifically resigned; the information below includes numbers of staff that have left NHS Wales for a range of reasons, including: staff retiring; resigning due to ill health; staff that resigned their contracted post but continue to be retained by the health services in a bank or locum capacity; end of fixed term contracts; dismissals; and career break or sabbatical. 

Additionally, from March 2020 a large number of staff were recruited to support our response to Covid-19, such as health professional students. Therefore the data for 2020 will contain a large number of ‘Covid-19 support’ leavers.

Between September 2019 and September 2020 the overall NHS Wales workforce increased by 4,359 (headcount).

Data from October 2020 is not currently available.

The member will be aware that at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, the Welsh Government provided funding to support the set-up, construction and purchase of equipment, to establish 19 temporary field hospitals across Wales, as part of efforts to rapidly scale-up health and care capacity in anticipation of significant predicted increases in demand arising from the outbreak.  On 29 September, I issued a statement setting out how additional bed capacity would be met for the remainder of 2020/2021, including the retention of ten of these temporary field hospitals across four health board areas. 

The cost of building each temporary field hospital is not centrally held by Welsh Government.  However, I can confirm that the following allocations were made to health boards to enable them to establish field hospitals in their area:

Welsh Government receives a daily return from NHS Wales Informatics Service (NWIS), which includes the number of beds occupied, at a hospital level and local health board (LHB) level.  As this data is provided daily, I am unable to provide a total figure for patients treated at field hospital sites due to the risk of double counting and the figures will include the same patients across a number of days. However, local health boards will hold information regarding the total number of patients treated at field hospitals within their area.

Data for bed use for field hospitals, by local health board is published daily on the StatsWales website at the link below:

https://statswales.gov.wales/Catalogue/Health-and-Social-Care/NHS-Hospital-Activity/nhs-activity-and-capacity-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/nhsbeds-by-date-localhealthboard

The latest daily figure for beds occupied at each of the four field hospitals currently open to receive patients on 13 January 2021 is given in the table below:

Two field hospital sites were in operation during the first peak of the Covid-19 pandemic and as these sites have since been decommissioned, I am able to confirm the total number of patients admitted to these sites during the time they were operational.  A total of 46 patients were treated at the Dragon’s Heart Hospital at the Principality Stadium in Cardiff between 28 April and 4 June 2020; and 34 patients were treated Ysbyty Enfys Caerfyrddin between 22 June and 14 August 2020.

Local health boards are responsible for the clinical models in operation at field hospital sites within their area, and these models are subject to change based on the nature and level of local demand.  All four operational field hospitals are currently being used as step-down facilities for patients who are ‘recovering’ from Covid-19, but have been symptom-free for at least 10 days or for low-level acuity non-COVID patients who require additional time and/or rehabilitation before being safely discharged.

Sites not yet open to receive patients are currently being used as COVID / flu mass vaccination centre and training facilities.

Wales, like the other UK nations, is vaccinating people who are most at-risk of catching coronavirus and developing serious illnesses first, in line with the recommendations from the expert Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI). It has recommended the vaccine is offered, in the first instance, to care home residents and staff; frontline health and social care workers, people aged 70 and over and people who are clinically extremely vulnerable.

Our Vaccination Strategy sets out that we will offer vaccination to these first priority groups by mid-February.

The contribution of critical workers during the course of the pandemic has been incredible. The JCVI has not identified teachers and lecturers as a specific priority group for vaccination, many people working in the sector will fall into the age-based or clinically vulnerable groups on which the roll-out of the vaccination programme is based. 

The JCVI is considering its advice on the second phase of roll out beyond the priority groups one to nine. Further information about these groups are in our Vaccination Strategy

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We have carried out some indicative modelling for free school meal eligibility based on a number of different scenarios. The Minister for Education will lay a document setting out the indicative modelling in the Senedd Library by the end of January 2021.

We have carried out some indicative modelling for free school meal eligibility based on a number of different scenarios. The Minister for Education will lay a document setting out the indicative modelling in the Senedd Library by the end of January 2021.

Further to the response to WQ81811: We have established a Hospitality Stakeholder Group which is attended by representatives from:

The British Beer & Pub Association;

The Welsh Independent Restaurants Collective;

UK Hospitality Cymru;

Welsh Drinks Cluster;

Trade Unions;

Disability Rights organisations;

Local Authority Licensing Teams and the WLGA;

South Wales Police and Welsh Ambulance Service.

The UK Treasury has confirmed that the announcement of £227m does not include new money for Wales. This funding is already within our existing COVID funding guarantee. Greater transparency is urgently needed to prevent the confusion these UK announcements cause for people and businesses across Wales.

The Welsh Government has provided nearly £2bn to support businesses through the crisis, the most generous support package across the UK and the biggest business support package ever seen in Wales.

This includes our announcement before Christmas of a further £450m for hospitality and retail businesses affected by the latest restrictions. Funds are reaching businesses as quickly as possible and more will receive support over the coming days and weeks.

Our latest Restrictions Fund has already seen over 14,000 grants paid automatically to impacted Hospitality businesses - totalling over £50m. Registration has commenced in for non-essential retail businesses to now also claim.

The £180m Sector Specific Fund opened on Wednesday 13 January. Eligibility checker went live on 10 December.

We will continue to do all we can to support Welsh businesses through these incredibly difficult times.

I refer you to the answers previously provided to WQ81811 and WQ81812.