Call’s for Wales-specific covid inquiry
The UK-wide covid inquiry has been ongoing for a few months, and took a deep dive into what happened in the early stages of the pandemic, all the way through until the end. It looked into preparedness and planning, and now politicians in Wales want to see the Welsh government undertake its own inquiry.
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00:00 So Minister, do you still believe that a full Wales inquiry into the pandemic is unnecessary?
00:07 And if so, why?
00:08 Well, I do think it's unnecessary for the reasons that have been said over and over
00:14 again in this chamber.
00:17 What we have seen in the inquiry is plenty of evidence to suggest that actually the link
00:22 between the decision making in London and the decision making here, that we were restricted
00:29 by certain issues in relation to our ability to put in, for example, some supportive funding
00:39 if we wanted to lock down for longer.
00:42 So there were some areas where it's almost impossible for us to take different actions.
00:51 Another example, of course, is our ability to close the borders.
00:55 Pandemic accidentally became one of the best things for the exposure of devolution in Wales.
01:00 Prior to COVID, many people wouldn't have been able to name the Welsh Health Minister
01:03 or possibly even the First Minister for that point.
01:05 But now they're household names.
01:07 The fact that Wales had its own lockdown and pandemic related protocols skyrocketed people's
01:12 awareness of devolution and showed Wales had powers from within Wales.
01:17 These powers, though, according to some people, have not been scrutinised in the same way
01:20 the UK government has been through the COVID inquiry in London.
01:24 There have been elements that look into Welsh element of lockdowns and COVID rules, but
01:28 politicians in the Senate want to see a Wales specific COVID inquiry that takes a deeper
01:32 look into Welsh government decisions during the pandemic.
01:35 Clearly, we haven't really started on the interrogation of module 2B yet.
01:43 And I think there will be an opportunity after that for the committee to undertake more scrutiny
01:50 because then the gaps will become a bit more obvious.
01:53 Mabonogh Gwyndyfyr wants to make sure that the Welsh government are properly held to
01:57 account for decisions made during the pandemic and thinks the Welsh specific inquiry is the
02:01 only way forward.
02:03 Boris Johnson and London were certainly to blame for a number of things.
02:06 Here in Wales, the government decided to introduce mask wearing at a later date than in England,
02:12 for instance, and it was the Welsh government that decided to release or allow elderly people
02:17 to go back to care homes.
02:18 So, those are entirely Welsh government decisions.
02:21 We also have best practice in Wales.
02:22 Look at the test and trace in Ceredigion, which then rolled out to other parts of the
02:27 UK.
02:28 So, we've got things that we need to learn and lessons to learn here in Wales.
02:32 A creation of a Welsh specific inquiry will not only give the thousands of bereaved individuals
02:38 across Wales the answers and the closure they richly deserve, it will also ensure that the
02:43 experiences of the pandemic can effectively inform future preparedness and resilience
02:48 measures.
02:49 The pandemic was a frightening, confusing and strange time for the people across the
02:53 country and hearing about errors during the last section of the Covid inquiry only gave
02:57 us more questions than answers.
02:59 But who's to say what will come out in any future inquiries?
03:01 Jamie Peach, Watkins, reporting from Wales.
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