Fresh calls for Wales specific covid probe following UK report
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Emily Price
Fresh calls have been made for an independent Wales-specific public inquiry into the Covid-19 pandemic following the UK probe’s first report.
Published today (July 18) the Wales section of the UK Covid-19 Inquiry described the Welsh Government’s preparations for a pandemic as “labyrinthine” with the reality not matching the rhetoric.
Outgoing First Minister Vaughan Gething said the publication was an “important moment for Welsh families bereaved by Covid-19” and for the frontline staff who “worked so hard” during the pandemic.
Opposition politicians and those who lost loved ones during the crisis have renewed their calls for the Welsh Government to agree to a separate probe into how the pandemic was managed by ministers and public bodies in Wales.
Both former First Minister Mark Drakeford and former Health Minister Vaughan Gething have consistently rejected such calls.
Chair of the UK Covid Inquiry, Baroness Hallet, previously said in reference to Wales that only the most “significant and the most important decisions” could be covered.
This raised questions about how much evidence was being missed because Wales and England were being investigated together despite areas such a health and education being devolved.
Deal
The Wales Covid-19 Inquiry Special Purpose Committee was set up as part of a deal between Welsh Labour and the Welsh Conservatives to identify any gaps in what the UK Inquiry says about Wales.
Its remit was agreed by a majority of Members of the Senedd but has only met a handful of times behind closed doors since it was established in May 2023.
The Committee says it’s been gathering expert advice whilst awaiting the UK Covid-19 Inquiry’s published report.
Co-chaired by Labour’s Joyce Watson and the Tories’ Tom Giffard, it will now begin it’s work identifying gaps in the preparedness and response of the Welsh Government and other Welsh public bodies during the pandemic.
The Committee says it will also continue to monitor the progress of Module 2, including Module 2b, which addresses issues from the perspective of Wales.
Dates of the next evidence sessions will be publicised in the new Senedd term after the summer break.
The Committee has been long criticised by the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru campaign group.
The group represents thousands of families who lost loved ones to the Covid-19 virus in Wales during the pandemic.
In response to today’s report, they said the Welsh Government had turned their backs on them adding that Welsh Labour, “must stopping blocking a Wales Covid inquiry”.
In a statement the group said: “This cannot happen again and yet there is no indication 4.5 years on that any progress has been made. Wales still does not have it’s own risk register. More must be done now.”
Plaid Cymru says it’s “not too late” for the Welsh Government to commit to a Wales specific probe.
Spokesperson for Health and Social Care, Mabon ap Gwynfor MS said: “This is a damning report which exposes serious and significant failings on the part of the Labour Welsh government.
“The report will make difficult reading for covid bereaved families and our thoughts are with them today.
“A picture of over complex structures, lack of accountability, important work left unfinished and a general feeling of unwarranted over-confidence in preparedness plans is laid out in stark terms by Baroness Hallett.
“It is of deep concern to read that some of the lessons have not been learned.
“The Welsh government should not only admit to its significant failings but commit to implementing the recommendations of module 1 in full with a detailed plan to ensure that Wales will never be as underprepared for a pandemic ever again.
“It is also not too late to commit to a Wales specific covid inquiry, which is the ultimate way to hold the Welsh Government to account for all of its decisions.”
Lacking
Leader of the Welsh Conservatives Andrew RT Davies also called for a Wales probe.
He sad : “It’s abundantly clear from this report that Labour ministers were out of their depth and had no idea of the state of Wales’ pandemic readiness.
“The evidence heard revealed the Labour Welsh Government to be wholly unprepared and lacking a plan.
“We need a Wales-specific Covid Inquiry to rectify these blatant errors.”
Welsh Conservative Shadow Health Minister Sam Rowlands added: “Only through a Wales-specific Inquiry can we ensure that these lessons are learned and we are prepared for future public health emergencies.”
A Welsh Government spokesperson said: “Our position on this is clear – the UK-wide Covid Inquiry is the best way to fully scrutinise the interconnected nature of decisions taken by the four UK governments during the pandemic.”
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I didn’t initially have a strong view either way as to whether there ought to be a Wales-specific enquiry into the governmental response to the pandemic.
But since Lady Hallet’s initial UK-wide report has made criticisms of the response of all the UK governments’ to the crisis, and given that the various governments adopted rather different policies in dealing with it, I’m beginning to think that a separate enquiry here in Wales might prove to be useful after all.
As someone who worked in the health service during the epidemic there were a few noticeable things that don’t seem to crop up. Eg: 1)When Wales was in lockdown but England wasn’t the traffic on the M4 was still fairly high, but when England too went into lockdown it was noticeable how much less traffic was flowing. 2) There were a significant number of people who had second homes but lived in areas that were at the time classed high risk moving to their ‘safe’ addresses and bringing Covid with them. Governments do have a responsibility but surely so do… Read more »
You have a point. I recall, during the peaks of the pandemic, informal posters being put up in places in the west of Wales, which are very much in normal times on the tourist trail, requesting – indeed demanding – that refugees from areas of high coronavirus infectivity in England turn their cars around and go back home. And also, for that matter, pleas from medics in rural west Wales that people from elsewhere shouldn’t flood in fear and panic into their second homes in relatively sparsely populated areas of Wales because NHS facilities there are geared to a smaller… Read more »
That’s exactly what was happening. I know the report shows the government was ill prepared but I think that our society is also failing to take some responsibility too.
No, waste of time and money. Our politicians and Civil Servants hadn’t a clue and still haven’t. The most ridiculous thing was Wales having it’s own rules and systems at no doubt vast cost. Britain is one island, viruses don’t read maps and multiple systems just leads to confusion and resentment
The ‘vast cost’ was experienced in every developed country which the pandemic reached. I’ve seen no evidence that the situation in Wales was to any significant degree worse than that which pertained anywhere else in, say, the rest of western Europe.
I thought Welsh Gov had deleted Covid altogether…
And anyway Baroness Bumble would just say no, again…
The number of Tory politicians who thought all roads lead to Ynys Mon during Covid was remarkable…