 Ie mwyn fiv ac wrth gwrs, yn ystod derive'r mesur diweddio i fynd i'r gwahanol ymwyntio containn, hynny oherwydd, ac mae gennych yn hynny'n gilydd honno ymwysig ar hyn o'r gwahanol unrhyw o'r gwahanol. Y peth o'r gwahanolion hwnnw oherwydd yma gweithfawr yng nghyrch a'r tîm hwn ar y gyr chainnydd yma. Mae hynny'n gwahanol unrhyw o'i gwahanol unrhyw o'r gwahanol ar gael. Three weeks ago when I was last here, at the last review, the public health situation had been improving steadily for many weeks. Cases were falling in all parts of Wales and we were hopeful that the worst of the pandemic was behind us. Unfortunately, today we face circumstances which have changed again. Cases are once more rapidly increasing across Wales. Now, this rise in infections is being driven along by a subtype of the Omicron variant called BA2. It's a faster moving, even more transmissible form of the virus than the Omicron wave itself which caused such a huge rise in cases over Christmas and the new year. And the majority of new cases identified in Wales are now caused by that BA2 variant. The slide you're seeing shows how the estimated percentage of the population with COVID-19 has risen quickly over the last few weeks in Wales, Scotland and England. The latest results from the ONS coronavirus infection survey suggest around one in 16 people in Wales had coronavirus. Today, a week later than that ONS survey, we think that might be as high as one in 12. Now, what you see on the slide is the pattern across the four nations. The yellow line at the top is the line that represents Northern Ireland and you can see what an incredible rise they saw, the plateau, but, and here is some hope for us, numbers now beginning to come down again. The blue line is Scotland and their numbers have risen very rapidly indeed and continue to rise and there is Wales in the red line at the lowest level of the four nations but with numbers here, as I've said, rising rapidly again. And now over those last three weeks, the case rate in Wales, based on positive PCR tests, has risen from around 160 to almost 430 cases per 100,000 people in the population. And as community transmission has increased, we have inevitably also seen a rise in pandemic pressures in our national health service. There are currently more than 1400 COVID-19 related patients in hospitals. Now, that's the highest level for more than a year. You have to go back to the start of March last year to see that number of people in hospital with COVID-19 and at this level, it's also inevitable that wider hospital services start to be affected because there are so many beds unavailable because of COVID. And as the risk of COVID increases in the general population, so the risk of catching it in hospital increases, and there are more people who would be working in our health and care services who are themselves not able to be in the workplace because they are ill with coronavirus. Now, the health service has worked so hard to reinstate all those other essential services it provides and to make inroads into all those treatments which were postponed during the pandemic. But with numbers as we have seen in the last few weeks, this increasing pandemic pressure puts pressure on that progress as well. Now, at the last review three weeks ago, we set out how we would move beyond the emergency response to the pandemic and to live safely here in Wales with coronavirus. We had hoped, as you know, to be able to take the next steps in that plan on Monday next week, the 28th of March, by removing the legal framework, which has underpinned the remaining protection of the pandemic. Now, the rapid spread of infections caused by BA2 means that we need to retain some of these protections in law for a little while longer. And at the same time, we will continue to issue authoritative advice to help people to be able to keep people safe. To do those small things that we have all learned to do, and which now are as important as ever. So, over the next three weeks, we will retain the legal requirement for the next three weeks. We will continue to advise people strongly to wear a face covering in crowded indoor public places, including in shops and in-house areas. We will continue to advise people to take a face covering in public areas. weithio cyfr� o bwysig o'ch cyflwynool yn y gweithwyr iawn, yw gweithgoffrthey, i fwyaf i gydag i'r cyfr� ymlaen o gweld a、 mewn cyfnodol i ddechrau'r maesbyn ni, i gynhyrch i'r ysgaf i'r cyflwyno a'r cyflwyno pública. Efallai mae'n unrhyw gael ei wertheg i ddadw o bwysig, ydych yn cael ei wneud, yn ei wneud o'r sgwrs yn bryd. Felly, wedi'u 3 wychliadau, mae'n gweithio i'r gweithio'r rhai. Mae'r gweithio ymgyrchaf o fynd i'w bellach, o'r fwyro a'r llwyddol, i'r gweithio'r rhai'r gwahodau ymgyrchion coronavirus. Felly, byddwn i'r gwahodau a'r gwahodau i'r gweithio'r gwahodau i'r gweithio'r gwahodau i'r gwahodau i'r gwahodau. A while self-isolation after a positive test will no longer be a legal requirement, we will continue to advise people strongly that if you are positive, of course you should self-isolate. The fact that it is no longer in law certainly does not mean that it is no longer important. Isolating if you have symptoms is one of the most important things any one of us can do to prevent the onward spread of infection and break the chain of transmission, not just of COVID-19 but of other respiratory infections too. Now in order to support that endeavour, free lateral flow tests will continue to be available in Wales for anyone who has symptoms. The £500 self-isolation payment will also continue to be available for people on lower incomes until June to support self-isolation. And our guidance to schools will remain unchanged until the end of this term and we will be working closely with our partners on arrangements for after the Easter holidays. In the meantime, while this term continues, face coverings should be worn by staff, secondary school learners and visitors in communal areas outside the classroom. Now the decision about whether to retain all the protections we currently have in law for another three weeks or to move forward slowly, relaxing some measures has been a finely balanced decision for the Cabinet. We have decided to keep those legal protections in place where they can make the biggest impact. Face coverings remain mandatory in health and care settings, those places where people are most vulnerable. And mandatory coronavirus risk assessments in businesses and workplaces will mean that they will be helped to stay open and to keep trading. Maintaining these very modest legal protections will give us more time as well to go on building the most important protection of all, our vaccination programme. Now you can see from this slide that our vaccination programme in Wales continues to be incredibly successful. And as I have before, I want again today to thank everybody who's been involved in that enormous effort. Almost three quarters of people aged 12 and over in Wales have had a booster now or a third primary dose and you can see Wales and Scotland together up there at 72.5%, England at 66%, the Northern Ireland performance at 62%. Over 92% of the population in Wales have had at least one vaccination against the virus and that is a fantastic effort. People are still coming forward every day in Wales to have their first dose of the vaccine. It is the single most important protection we have and as I've said many times from this podium, it is never too late to be vaccinated in Wales and to sustain that astonishing record of success. Now one of the reasons why the BA2 variant may have been able to gain a foothold in Wales and in the rest of the UK is because of waning immunity, especially amongst the older and the more vulnerable population. And that's why we have already started the spring booster campaign here in Wales. We began vaccinating people in care homes on 14 March and during the coming three weeks there will be a real focus on rolling out that booster to protect more older and vulnerable people. And at the same time I want to encourage more young people to come forward for vaccination and for parents to have those discussions and where they feel able to do so to take up the offer. Well this week we marked the second anniversary of the first coronavirus lockdown. It's been a period of reflection for so many families and as I look back in that spirit of reflection I've been struck by a feeling of sorrow on the one hand and of admiration on the other. Sorrow for everything we have lost, for those families who have lost loved ones and friends. But admiration as well for the way in which people in Wales have stood together in the face of this extraordinary crisis. It is that collective effort that has helped us all to keep one another safe. Now we can still begin to see a future in which every waking moment isn't dominated by this awful virus. A future where we can plan with confidence thanks to those efforts that have been made to keep Wales safe and together. By doing those things which each one of us can do in our daily lives we can keep on keeping Wales safe together. These will be broadcast live on our social media platforms. First of all this afternoon over to Jenny Reese at BBC Wales. Thank you. Good afternoon. The language you've used today makes the case actually for keeping current regulations rather than reducing them. What swung it? Why not keep them? If I can have the answer in Welsh as well please. Well there are a number of reasons why we struck that difficult but careful balance where we have struck it. We do have to find a way of living safely with coronavirus. It is going to be with us not just for the next few weeks but through the whole of this calendar year. And we can't go on relying forever on the force of the law to keep us safe from it. We're able to move forward on some of the measures because we have other protections in place. The vaccination programme which we saw on the slides is the single most important protection that we have and the rates of vaccination we have in Wales continue to provide the strongest protection for us all. But because we've seen the numbers rising we're not able to do what we had hoped to do on the 28th of March. There are still some protections which we think because they will operate in those places where the greatest vulnerabilities are to be found need to be in place for a further three weeks. So it's a challenging balancing act. You could cut it in different ways of course but we think that we have tried to find that spot where we recognise and respond to the growing numbers but keep us on the basic journey to where we will be living with coronavirus but not on the emergency basis that we've needed for the last two years. So bydd ma'r cabenet wedi neud dros yr oedd nôs dweitha e wedi triall i ffindio'r lle ble allwn ni symud ymlaen a ar y daeth i byw yn ofalis ac yn saf gyda'r coronavirus ond hefyd i cydnabod y ffaith mae'r anifeir o bobl sy'n cwmpondos yn cynnyddu. So ni wedi cadw rai cyfyngiadau a mewn lle ble mae'r acidestin yn fwy breges ond ar yr ochr arall i dal i symud ymlaen i byw gyda'r virus yn y dyfodol. Mae'n heriol, wrth gwrs, ond ar ôl cael y cangor ni'n cael oedd i wrth y brif swyddog meddygol a pobl eraill sydd ymgynghori ni, ni'n meddwl ni wedi ffindio'r lle gorau i cario'n lan ac i cadw bobl anghymru yn ddiogel. Yn ddא�ch BÜNDNIS? Yn oedd mewn cael ei bod yn sefydlu ychydig, maen nhw pe rankiaeth o'u cydweithio? Dyma? Mae'n hoffa'r hyflol a chael y bobl feddy nesaf. Mae'n hoffa'r hyflol o bobl wedi wedi'i cyfyngiadau. i'w eu gwirio. Rydyn ni'n wneud llyfrgellai o'r rhannu hyn arwag sy'n llyfrgellai i ni, a'r angen i wych yn ni'n bythwyd i ni, yn y berydd y cwmffin hwn yn y c Fold yw Gwmdddol Cymru, mae'n cymdeithas i'r angen i ddim yn wirio'r cyfnod mewn hynny'n gwybod. Ac wrth hyn yn cyfrifio, mae'n mynd i dillunio'r cysyllt ganod i ni'n gwybod i ni. Yn cymdysg ymlaen amser, mae'r ddiogelio Cysyllt yn cael eu cyfnod ratedau yn ein llyfrgelladau gyda'r ymgyrchol Cymru, yn y byddwg a gwasanaeth yn y nifer o gweithio iddyn nhw'n credu cyfnodol. Y rhaid yn y gweithio gweithio'r ysgol yng Nghymru yn ynnigafodd gyda'r hynny, ac yn argylchedd, a oedd yn meddwl am y terfynu llai. Wrth gwrs, mae'r hefyd yn ymgyrchol i'r hynny, wrth gwrs, rydw i'w ychydig mewn ymgyrchol. gyntaf y lleigau y bydd ar-tod ac ymarfer sy'n gymryd y bydd y cyhoedd y swydd iawn i'r cyfan, fydd efallai y ddal cael ei fod yn ystod arweithio ar ganes eu cyfan, sydd yn y byddol yn yr ymddangos Crop Aelodau Cymru. Y peth oedd gennym ni'n clywed i dda ni, sydd yn y cyfroedau 1400 yma, oedd cryfu yn y cyfan yn yr ymddangos Crop Aelodau Crop Aelodau Crop Aelodau. Yn rwy'r cyfan arllent yma,ohon, ar hyn yn rwyf a nhw ar ôl ymddangos Crop Aelodau Crop Aelodau. тыchnau ychydig yw o 10 oedd hyn yn dda, sy'n ddigon nhw'n ddigon nhw'n ddigon nhw'n fawr yn ymwyfyr, ac rwy'n dweud i farwch Cymru, ac mae'r gael ei ddim yn holl gwrthogol yn gweithio'r gweithiolaid, ac yn cael ei gweithio'r gweithiol, rwy'n dweud eich bod yn gweithio'r gweithiol yn dweud o'r gweithiol i'r cyfnodau cerddiau sy'n dweud â'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithiol yn llwygol i'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio. Wel, y llai ddweud hefb am hyiaeth, mae'r gwasanaeth iechyd Cymru yn dal i fod yn straun, mae'n trwy allu delio gyda'r unifer o bobl sy'n cwmpondos gyda'r unifer ac ar yr un amser i'r rhoi y tryniaueth i bobl a gyda'r cyflwyr eraill hefyd, yma hwnna yn heriol. Ond achos mae'r brechwyn ddani, un pedd poisegu yw, mae'r unifer o bobl sy'n cwmpond mordost bydd y rhaid i ddyn nhw cael a gofal ddweus, a mae'r unifer hwnna ddim yn cynaddu, a mae hwnna'n mwyn a lai fel oedd e a tyrwthnos anol. So mae'r gwasanaeth iechyd yn gweithio mord galed gyda pobol sy'n wedi bod rhan nôr y rymdrech am dwy flynedd a dweitha. Mae'n heriol pan unifer o bobl yn gwellion yr ysbytau ar y lefel ddim weld hefyd ond bob dydd mae'r ymdrych yn mynd ymlaen i tynnu'r tir nôl i'r rhoi tryniaueth i bobl sy'n dost achos mae'r pethau eraill a sy'n angen reidio i ddyn nhw cael. Jenny Dieutl-W surprising to go over to Dean Thomas Welsh at ITV Wales. After you, First Minister, do you understand some people's apprehension to the lifting of these measures, particularly those most vulnerable in society considering the case numbers still so high? Felly dyna'r rhai oedd yn bwysig ymlaen nhw, mae'n fawr o'r lleol ar gyfer gweithio'i ddweud ar gyfer gweithio. Mae'r ddweud yn bwysig. Mae'n fawr o'r leidio'r gweithio, ac mae'r ddweud ar gyfer gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'r gweithio'u ddweud ar gyfer gweithio'i gweithio'u ddweud ar gyfer gweithio'u ddweud. ond, sef y cyfnodd y cerddur dylai yn unig, sef ydych yn y rhannu'r gael rhagor, yw'r rhan o'r ddiweddol y gallwn yn gweithio'r gael rhagor yn y lle yw'r unig, ond yn ni'n gweithio'r rhagor yn gyfle hwnnw, nid yw'r cyffredinol, sy'n ddiddordeb sydd yn ei wneud y gallwn ffordd o'r ffordd i'r ffordd, dwi'n ffordd i'n wneud yn gweithio'r ffordd, pan ble eu hyn yn o'r fick, y casu bwysig, mas Hwylwyddodd maen nhw yn ddigonol mwy, ynglynfaeth yn casu i fynd yn gwneud yn allan cyhoeddiol. O fod wedi'u gwahaniaeth maen nhw yn ymddangos elwedd, rhan hygynch yn yr awdurdod, sydd o'i'r cwestiynau argynhafyd ar hyn o'r casu. Fynd i'n cael ei fod yn cyflawni i'w cymryd ymwyng ymddangos a'r cyflawni i'w dryfydd, yn ymgyrch. If you catch the measles, you don't go to work with it, you don't go out and about with it. There's no law that tells you you've got to do that. It's just that we understand that it would not be the right thing to do to be out there spreading a contagious disease to other people. The same needs to be true about coronavirus as well. It's really important for those people that you mentioned, Dean, that when they go out they feel that they are re-entering a society in Wales where people are still thinking about them, are still thinking not just what can I do for myself but how can my actions help to keep other people safe as well. We've done, I think, incredibly well to sustain that way of behaving over the last two years and we need to go on doing it that way. Is there a danger that people may see this as the endgame for measures tackling COVID, particularly the removal of the legal requirement to self-isolate when you have COVID? Well I agree that that is a risk, but it's a risk I think we can mitigate. We can mitigate it by the seriousness of the messaging that we will provide and by relying on that sense of responsibility that has been the hallmark of the response to the pandemic here in Wales. See, interestingly in Scotland self-isolation was never a legal requirement. All the way through it has simply been strong advice to people in Scotland that if you suffer from coronavirus of course you should stay at home. You should not be out there spreading it knowingly to other people and there's no real evidence that levels of self-isolation have been lower in Scotland than elsewhere in the United Kingdom. So as we make the move away from relying on the law to relying on our sense of responsibility and the strong advice that we will get through the chief medical officer and others, then I think we have to be optimistic that we will be able to keep that sensible, responsible way of behaving in place here in Wales and as a government we will do what we can to support that. The £500 self-isolation payment will be there over the next three weeks and beyond to help those families who without it would face those invidious choices between being able to have the income they need while not being in work. Thanks very much Dean to Daniel Bevan at LBC. Thank you First Minister, good afternoon. Actually picking up on what you were just saying there about the legal requirement to self-isolate ending. Are you concerned at all that it could lead to people testing less particularly with the ending of free testing coming down the road? Won't that have an impact on surveillance of the virus and the ability to pick up future spikes? Well here in Wales free lateral flow tests will be still available for anyone who thinks they have COVID-like symptoms. So you'll be able to order them and you'll be able to use them and if you think you might be suffering from coronavirus then of course you should take that test and if the test tells you that you are positive you must remain at home that is what the advice in Wales will be. The wider point Dan is an important one how will we know in future whether there are local outbreaks or whether there is a new variant of coronavirus. I regret the fact that the UK government has withdrawn a whole series of protections that were available but we will still have ways in which we can keep a close watch on coronavirus here in Wales. The chief medical officer was outlining a number of these yesterday so we will be strengthening some of the existing surveillance methods that we have in intensive care and in primary care. We will continue to use for as long as we can the wastewater survey that gives us an early insight into whether or not numbers are rising or falling in different parts of Wales and we certainly hope that the UK government will go on funding the ONS survey. I was quoting it earlier on the screen that has been across the whole of the United Kingdom probably the most powerful way of us tracking the movement of the virus. We're yet to have confirmation from the UK government of funding for that survey into the next financial year but I think it's absolutely essential that it goes on being part of that surveillance repertoire otherwise the risk is that by the time a new variant appears in the United Kingdom somewhere and it is spotted it will already be spreading and too late to take some of the actions but might have been effective in containing it. Thank you and what should employees do if they test positive from Monday? Of course you say they should self-isolate but what if their boss is insistent that they come into the office or to another workplace? What's your message to employees who are going to be put in that position and indeed to the bosses who might put employees in that position? Well I think it's the second part of your question that is the most important because no employer should put their staff in that position. They shouldn't do it for all the good public health reasons that we've been rehearsing this morning but they shouldn't do it for their business either. You know I was very struck yesterday at the social partnership council the strength with which employer organisations endorsed that point. If you allow somebody with coronavirus to come into your workplace all that will happen will be is that more people who you rely on will fall ill and your business will be infected and affected in that way so it is for solid business reasons why nobody should be obliging somebody who is ill and infectious to other people to come into the workplace. For an employee who is put in that position we have I think very good guidance available there on the Welsh Government website that tells you what you can and you can could do in those circumstances and of course you know you'd expect me to say as a Labour First Minister here in Wales you should be a member of your trade union because that's your first protocol to get the help and the protection that you need. Dan thank you very much Drhowey Howell Griffith. Rhondda Prif Weinidog you've marked it being two years now of pandemic response in Wales two years where your government has made decisions in Wales that have defined what you've called a different approach in Wales why repeatedly refused to have those decisions scrutinised here in Wales with a separate Welsh inquiry rather than depend on what would inevitably be a far far wider UK inquiry. Because I believe and continue to believe that the best answers that can be provided to the scrutiny of the decisions that were made here in Wales is to understand those decisions in the wider UK context. A narrow inquiry focusing only on the things that happened here in Wales would not be able to draw on evidence and advice about that wider picture and without the wider picture you simply will not get the depth of understanding that is needed to provide the sorts of answers to people who absolutely rightly want to see those questions pursued they won't get the answers they want if you simply have a narrow look at things that happened exclusively in Wales. Now on this I'm glad to say that successive discussions with the UK Government including with the office of the Prime Minister give me confidence that that UK inquiry is now going to be led by somebody who understands the devolved context and the terms of reference that have been published in our consultation make it absolutely clear that there will be a focus on decisions that were made in different parts of the United Kingdom and the working practices of the inquiry are becoming clearer it will visit Wales it will take evidence in Wales it will put a spotlight on decisions that were made here in Wales but it will understand them in the only way that I think you can provide a proper understanding by seeing them within the constraints of the wider UK context. Looking to future months and maybe years as you've said this isn't the end of the pandemic how prepared are you to bring back legal restrictions if we have particularly a large winter wave do you see a situation where we could once again be legally required to self-isolate legally required to wear a mask in public settings? I think it is unlikely that we will need to return to the level of protections that we have seen in previous winters largely because as I've said we now have the protection that vaccination offers the JCVI was meeting again yesterday to plan ahead for the way in which vaccination will continue to be part of our defence against the virus there are new treatments becoming available antivirals and so on that will change the way in which we can deal with this virus and unless something entirely unexpected happens like a new virus that escapes the vaccine then I don't see us returning to the sorts of restrictions that we've had to live with over the last two winters does that mean that in Wales we rule something out that we say we will never do something well no of course not you know no sensible person dealing with something as unpredictable as coronavirus has turned out to be should ever say to you that we've ruled something out forever do we expect to have to do the things howl that you've suggested the answer to that is no but there've been as we've seen with the last week alone the experience of coronavirus does not always proceed in the way that has been predicted. Diolch yn fawr over to Will Hayward at Wales online. Thank you First Minister free lateral flow tests are going to stop at some point and so many people rely on these every day and with an increased cost of living would like clarity on when this additional cost could hit them can you tell us exactly when lateral flow tests will cease to be free in Wales and if you can't give a specific date could you say the earliest point that it could happen? Well we intend with the budgets we've got available to us currently will to continue them into June at that point I hope we will have final clarity from the UK government of the budgets that may come to Wales to deal with the coronavirus impact in the next financial year beginning in only a week's time and we still don't have that clarity if we are in a position to go on providing tests beyond June and certainly if the context were to demand it then that is what we would wish to do but it is a mixture of the availability of the tests on the one hand and the availability of the funding needed to sustain a testing regime beyond June we're using our own resources to keep them in place for longer than they are available elsewhere and then we will have to make an assessment based on the capacity we have beyond that date. Thank you you've said that self-isolation payments are going to end in June it seems likely you will still be strongly advising people to self-isolate with Covid after that point will this not simply create a situation where the poorest in Wales will be given advice they can't financially afford to follow meaning that if you're poor you're even more likely to be sick? Well in a way it's the same answer you know using the money we have ourselves we have been able to stretch self-isolation payments in Wales into the first quarter of the next financial year if circumstances of coronavirus are such that people are having to self-isolate on the scale that we see at the moment of course we would wish to keep those self-isolation payments available for longer but while we wait that's our final details of the funding we will have for coronavirus purposes we're not able to plan beyond that first quarter and it may be we won't be able to do it despite everything that you've said and I recognise by the pressure that that will create but if the tap has been turned off across the whole of the United Kingdom then the funding tap has been turned off here in Wales and there is a limit in the end to how far we are able to go on doing the things that we regard as important and necessary when we've no help to do it. Thank you. Well thanks very much indeed over now to Will Hardy at CJS News. Thank you very much First Minister. Firstly why relax the rules now in particular when cases are rising why not instead wait until they drop again? Well well as you know we set out some weeks ago our transition plan to move beyond alert level zero when we deal with coronavirus in the way that we deal with other infectious diseases doing it through the services that are available the advice that public health clinicians provide and then relying on people's own good sense to do the right thing for a disease that is moving from being pandemic to endemic then the public response to it has to move as well because the numbers have grown in a way that was not anticipated three weeks ago we are unable to move at the pace that we had originally anticipated and we're having to slow down the pace at which we move in that direction and that's the decision we've made today you know to retain some of the measures for longer than we had hoped and anticipated while still being able to give up other parts of the legal basis because we think that people will be able to continue to do the right thing on the basis of their own experience of two years of dealing with the virus and the strong advice that they will continue to receive in Wales. And I was going to ask you as well on a light note after his performance last night do you think Gareth Bale should be the next First Minister? Well I'm very happy to say that the next time there is a vacancy I'll make sure he knows about it he's certainly a genius on the football field that's for sure and watching him last night you do think you're watching one of those once in a generation footballers who do magical things on the pitch that mere mortals can only think of. Well thank you very much indeed over to Tom Magner at Carersworld Live. Good afternoon First Minister and thank you. For my first question I'd like to focus on your government's announcement of £500 payments to unpaid carers on the basis they're receiving carers allowance on March 31st this year which of course is next week. I'm aware that some unpaid carers are waiting confirmation from the Department for Work and Pensions about whether or not they'll get carers allowance so could miss out on the first March criterion for £500. Further to that we've estimated about 10% of unpaid carers across Wales receive carers allowance so on that basis 90% wouldn't get the £500 when in fact in reality all unpaid carers need it. Would you agree with me that the extra money while welcome to some isn't nearly as generous across the borders first appears if you don't agree with me I'd be interested in your reasons. Well Tom I think it's a question of should you do nothing or can you do something? Of course I understand that the payment will not reach everybody who needs help but it's in the order I think of £25 million that's been found for this so it's not an inconsequential sum and you know in government you're always having to think of the opportunity costs that £25 million could have done other things that are important to other people as well so I think the payment will be welcomed by those people who we are able to help with it. You have to have some definitions otherwise there's no where you can design or administer a scheme. I'm aware of the point that you make about the 31st of March you have to have a cut-off point in any scheme I hope the DWP will process as many of those payments as they possibly can so that we can get the £500 to as many people who qualify for it. Thank you for that. Can I pick up on Hal Griffith's question about the UK COVID-19 public inquiry and ask you to assume that the inquiry is underway so fast forwarding and let's say the first interim report is issued on the subject of the economy for example and you see that Wales has been fairly and properly scrutinised. The second report then comes out on say education and there are fewer mentions of Wales. The third interim report comes along say on health and social care and there's barely any mention of Wales and you start to see a trend of Wales fading into the background. This is not about questioning the credibility of the independent and the highly respected judge leading the UK inquiry. It's about the sheer scale of the unprecedented number of strands that the inquiry has to cover in depth perhaps against the tight timescale. What is your current opinion on how you would react to seeing actions in Wales not being fairly and properly scrutinised? Should Wales in my example effectively fade into the background? Well first of all I think that is just highly, highly unlikely. We've received assurance after assurance that the inquiry will have the capacity and the time it needs to focus on decisions that are made in every part of the United Kingdom and I cannot imagine that the inquiry would be doing its job if it did not do that in the field of health and care for example and there will be many, many voices determined to ensure that that does not happen. You know there will be groups from Wales who will be recognised by the inquiry as core participants who will be there making sure that those issues, those questions, those decisions that need to be scrutinised and under the spotlight that there is no escaping the focus that needs to be put upon them. So I think there are many, many safeguards in the system that will prevent that sort of you know declining interest in what happens elsewhere in the United Kingdom from happening and the Welsh Government absolutely would not wish to see that happen. You know I'm completely committed to their being that independent, thorough going inquiry that looks into every aspect of what has happened in the last two years, that it thinks it is important to pursue and the Welsh Government will be a full participant in the inquiry providing every bit of information that we can, every opportunity to make sure that decisions here in Wales are given the attention that they need and I think that we have to give the inquiry a fair chance to demonstrate that it will live up to the ambitions that has been set for it and which it itself I think wishes to embrace. Diolch yn fawr. Thank you all very much indeed.