A view from Clwyd South’s Member of the Senedd

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here).

Clwyd South MS Ken Skates writes…

The vaccine roll-out in Wales continues to accelerate, and we are now administering jabs faster than any other UK nation. The vaccination programme is the key to offering us a way out of the pandemic so that we, as a country, can begin the rebuild from the foundations that are already being laid.

At the time of writing, Wales had vaccinated 416,306 number of people. However, the actual numbers will be considerably higher than the published figure (which is updated at midday here).

It is important to make the point that – in Wales – vaccination data goes through what is essentially a form of quality control to make sure it’s accurate and reliable. GPs are asked to input data as soon as possible, and it is then checked and verified by the national immunisation service and Public Health Wales before it’s published.

Because of this commitment to accuracy in Wales, it can be a number of days after a person receives a dose for that data to be published – so the number of people vaccinated will already be far higher than the figures we see each day.

This different to the way the data is reported in England, which is why comparisons between each countries published figures are not straightforward.

The UK Government publishes ‘real time’ data for England the next day, which is then subject to changes a later date. This is why the official figures from NHS England can show a higher rate – because they are ahead in time compared to Wales. The figures published for England are also provisional and often later amended. Rather than publish provisional, inflated data, the numbers published in Wales are verified, accurate and reliable.

And, because the First Minister and Health Minister have access to the day-by-day data from the NHS, it enables them to have the confidence they have repeatedly voiced that our initial target will be met. We remain well on course to offer vaccination to the first four priority groups by mid-February.

Up and down the country, someone is being vaccinated every few seconds. A dozen people will have had their first jabs since you started reading this column. The rate at which the roll-out has accelerated is something we can all be proud of, and I want to pay tribute to the magnificent efforts of our teams in Clwyd South and the length and breadth of Wales. DIolch yn fawr iawn!

Since my last Wrexham.com column, I have continued to work on a number of important local issues including the Hafod Quarry landfill site and the campaign for a new Cefn Mawr health centre. I also visited Bangor-on-Dee to see the first-hand the remarkable recovery efforts following the recent floods caused by Storm Christoph, including the emergency services, council employees, Natural Resources Wales and volunteers.

I know that a number of other areas of Clwyd South have also been affected, including New Broughton and the Ceiriog Valley. The Welsh Government recently announced that it is working with Wrexham Council to offer support payments of £500 and £1,000 to those people who have suffered flooding in their homes or were forced to evacuate. I have written to the Minister for Local Government, Julie James, to ask for further details on how affected households can apply for funding, which will be announced shortly.

Last week, the Welsh Government announced further details of the £200m package of support for non-essential retail, hospitality, leisure and tourism businesses that continue to be impacted by the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic.
The latest funding is linked to the non-domestic rates system and will operate as a top-up to the Restrictions Business Fund which was put in place in early December. It is part of the £2bn-plus overall package of support from the Welsh Government, which has already seen more than £1.7bn reach our businesses since the start of the pandemic.

Although I am unable to hold public surgeries at present, my team and I are still here to help and I held my latest virtual surgery on Friday. If you need advice or support, please email [email protected] and include your full home address and a contact number. You can also find regular updates on my Facebook page (@KenSkatesMS), and I put out weekly e-newsletters, which you can subscribe to here. The Welsh Government continues to publish a wide range of advice and guidance on its coronavirus portal.

Wrexham.com has invited Wrexham & Clwyd South constituency Members of Parliament and Members of the Senedd to write a monthly article with updates on their work in Parliament and the Senedd, and closer to home. (You can view an archive here).