3. Urgent Question: Grass Fires

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:42 pm on 28 March 2017.

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Photo of Carl Sargeant Carl Sargeant Labour 2:42, 28 March 2017

I thank the Member for her questions. I’ll try and treat each one separately in detail. I recognise that the Member has used the figures—I assume from the Welsh Government’s own figures that were produced. We’ve looked at those very carefully on the basis of what was included in the numbers. The figures that are released were inaccurate in reporting this, and it’s through no fault of the Member raising those issues, but I will clarify them today. The figures that were published last month were for the financial year of 2015-16. They included all of the fires of 2015 but didn’t capture the success of last year’s campaign. I will be making amendments to that for Members. Fire service figures show a 41 per cent reduction during the calendar year of 2016 compared with 2015. So, there is a reduction. And the figures that the Member quoted I assume are wrong, but they are Welsh Government figures. And I accept that; they didn’t capture all of the data properly. I apologise to the Member for that, but will be amending those. There has been as significant reduction in the fires started in Wales, but it still has a lot more work to do.

It is far too early to suggest that this a worse situation at Easter this year, than compared to working up to Easter last year. Obviously, we’ll be working hard with the emergency services to clarify that position.

The Member, unfortunately, coming towards the end, tried to make a political point, regarding the Porth fire station. The Member is fully aware of the duties of the Cabinet Secretary today, and prior as a Minister. This is a matter for south Wales fire service and not a matter for the Government. And the missed opportunity the Member talks about is not one for the Government.