Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru

Welcome, everyone, and thank you for attending the meeting of the Wales COVID-19 Inquiry Special Purpose Committee. Can I welcome committee members and the public to the meeting? The meeting is, of course, bilingual, but headsets provide simultaneous translation on channel 1 and sound amplification on channel 2. Participants joining online can access translation by clicking on the globe icon on Zoom. We haven't had any apologies, but do Members have any declarations of interest that they wish to declare? No. 

Item 2. We'll move on to the motion to resolve to exclude the public from the remainder of today's meeting and the meetings on 27 January and 3 February. Before that, I just wanted to note that we understand the public's frustration when the committee meets in private. However, it's necessary for committees to use private meetings to plan inquiries and consider draft reports, along with other internal matters. Our next few meetings will be held in private as we continue to consider the responses to our recent consultation and discuss potential gaps in the preparedness and response of the Welsh Government and other Welsh public bodies during the COVID-19 pandemic that should be subject to further examination. 

In November last year, the committee commissioned Nottingham Trent University to complete a gap analysis of the UK COVID-19 public inquiry module 1 report with the Welsh interim operational review. At today's meeting, Professor Rowena Hill and Rich Pickford, who completed the gap analysis, along with Dr Simon Williams, the committee's long-term expert adviser, will present the draft findings to Members. As this gap analysis is still in draft form and will be used as part of our evidence base to support our work and identify gaps, we're holding these discussions in private. However, once the gap analysis report is finalised, it will be made publicly available on our website. 

On 6 January, the committee's public consultation closed and, at our meeting on 27 January, we'll meet in private to discuss those responses. We also anticipate that the Welsh Government will shortly publish its response to the module 1 report—. That obviously has now been published, and we will be considering that response, too. 

On 3 February, the committee will receive a private technical briefing from Welsh Government officials on resilience and civil contingency arrangements in the Welsh Government to also help inform our work. These briefings are fact based and intended to provide information. The committee will also be preparing for undertaking public inquiry-style questioning ahead of taking oral evidence in public sessions. This will be supported by external expertise. A draft work programme will be published on our website following this meeting. 

Therefore, I propose in accordance with Standing Order 17.42 that the committee resolves to meet in private for the remainder of today's meeting and the meetings on 27 January and 3 February. Are all Members content? I see that all Members are content, so we'll just wait to go into private session.