Wales at the Covid Inquiry: Day one roundup
Scrutiny has begun into how the Welsh Government handled the Covid-19 pandemic
Last updated 29th Feb 2024
Scrutiny into the decisions made by the Welsh Government throughout the Covid Pandemic has begun as part of the Covid-19 UK Inquiry.
The inquiry opened with a 20-minute video, where people from across Wales shared their stories about went through during the pandemic.
One person who shared their story was Sam, whose dad died in hospital during the pandemic. She revealed how she had to text her final goodbye to her father to one of the nurses looking after him in the hospital, hoping the messages would be read to him.
"He died alone" Sam said. Her story was echoed throughout the video with countless families going through a similar experience.
For months, campaign groups such as the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives argued that Wales should have its own independent inquiry into the pandemic. The Welsh Government have refused these claims, with a Welsh government spokesperson saying scrutiny of the decisions made in Wales can only be achieved by a comprehensive UK-wide inquiry.
Chair of the inquiry Baroness Hallett addressed the concerns of those wanting a separate inquiry, explaining that, whilst that was not her decision to make, the inquiry ‘will do its utmost to investigate and analyse fully and fairly the most significant issues’ for people in Wales.
Anna Louise Marsh Rees is from the Covid-19 Bereaved Families for Justice Cymru. Speaking outside of the inquiry, she said "Whilst denied a Wales-specific enquiry by Mark Drakeford, we have dedicated the last few years to ensuring Wales is fully scrutinised as possible in the UK Covid Inquiry".
Counsel to the enquiry Tom Poole KC opened today’s proceedings by criticising the speed to which the Welsh Government first dealt with the emerging Covid-19 Pandemic.
He told the inquiry the Welsh Government Cabinet's first meeting to discuss Covid-19 was on the 25th of February 2020. This was almost a month later than the UK government cabinet, who had their first discussions on the 31st of January 2020.
Poole said the Welsh government needs to answer for why initial responses to the pandemic were so slow.
The use of WhatsApp for key communications came up as well. Throughout the UK Government and Scottish Government's inquiries, it was revealed WhatsApp had been used for key decision-making. Both inquiries also had issues with full chat logs being handed over, with thousands of messages either being deleted or with-held.
It was revealed that some WhatsApp messages from the then Health Minister Vaughan Gething had been deleted. The inquiry heard that Gething did have the disappearing messages setting turned on on his WhatsApp, which would automatically delete older messages.
However, the Welsh Government’s representative Andrew Kinnier KC told the inquiry that, unlike in the cases of Scotland and England, WhatsApp was not used to make decisions throughout the pandemic.
Despite not playing a key role in the decision making of the pandemic, WhatsApp messages from ministers and officials will still be discussed, as Tom Poole KC said they added context around wider decisions.
The First Minister Mark Drakeford and former Health Minister Vaughan Gething will give evidence to the inquiry within the next few weeks, with many watching to see how they respond to the criticisms about their reaction time in the early days of the pandemic. It is also still too early to say how much of an impact those missing WhatsApp messages will have on the Inquiry.
The inquiry starts up again from 10am tomorrow morning.