Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm very pleased to be able to open this debate on a very important issue in terms of public health, and very important in terms of the environment as well, namely air pollution. The evidence is very clear. I think that this is a significant problem. Air pollution will kill 2,000 people every year in Wales—think about that.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Both short and long-term exposure to ambient air pollution can lead to a host of conditions—reduced lung function, respiratory infections, aggravated asthma to name just three. Maternal exposure to ambient air pollution is associated with adverse birth outcomes, low birth-weight, for example, pre-term births, small for gestational age births. Emerging evidence also suggests that ambient air...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Will you take a brief intervention? I'd make a point that electric vehicles that use the power from the moving vehicle to charge the battery—and in so doing it slows the car down electrically, if you like—are much better than current vehicles in terms of the emissions from brake pads that we currently see.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you very much, Llywydd, and I thank everyone who has taken part in a debate that has genuinely been a constructive one this afternoon. I thank Andrew R.T. Davies first. I'm pleased to hear him echo the view I aired about the contrast between the lack of urgency towards tackling the problem of air pollution—the contrast between that and the expectation for urgent action if it was...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Certainly.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I agree with you, and there are other legislative tools that we have that can help take us to where we want to go, and the well-being of future generations Act is one of those. What we would have through this clean air Act is a real focus on a particular job that we need to do in cleaning up the air that we breathe, and it has to be legislation that certainly would have teeth and would demand...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Dai Lloyd mentioned in more detail the impact that pollution has on our bodies, and why this is such an urgent issue. Delyth Jewell was right to think of breathing clean air as a basic human right, and Caroline Jones was right to say that this is one of the biggest challenges that face us in terms of public health. I listened very carefully to the comments made by Hefin David. We are not...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 'Public Health Wales estimates that the equivalent of around 1,600 deaths are attributable to fine particulate matter...exposure and around 1,100 deaths to nitrogen dioxide...exposure each year in Wales.' So, actually, the Government figures that we are given from that paper given to Cabinet are actually higher than quoted originally by us and by yourself.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I appreciate the detail into which you have gone to evidence yourself where we believe the harm is and what effect it's having.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The point I would make—. You know, at the heart of this is that hundreds of people, probably thousands of people—in excess of a million people in a country like China—are dying every year as a direct result of air pollution, and, if that isn't something that is urgent enough to spur us into action, what could possibly be enough to drive us on? A clean air Act, certainly in our opinion,...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: We can always rely, fair play, on the consistent tone expressed by the independent Member for South Wales Central, and the Member for Islwyn. Rhianon Passmore made a completely uncritical contribution on the Labour Government's actions. No-one else in this Chamber, including the Minister, thinks that everything is being done as well as it could be. I will go back now to the comments that we...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: We need to act now, using the powers we already have.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Of course, you are entirely right about that. But frustration that there's not enough action is what's behind the fact that we have put this motion before the Assembly today. Without doubt, even though there are other levers that can be used now and in the future, we believe that a clean air Act must be at the core of what we do to clean the air that our children breathe in Wales, and, in...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 9. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Welsh Government's support for the future of the Prince Madog research vessel? OAQ55105
Rhun ap Iorwerth: I am very grateful for the Government’s response when I did draw Ministers’ attention to the risk that the capacity of the Prince Madog to do marine research work could be lost because of the concerns about the future of the vessel, which is moored, of course, in Menai Bridge in my constituency. That 100 days’ work certainly has been crucial in terms of ensuring the future of the vessel...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you to the Deputy Minister for the statement. I was a member of the health committee two years and a bit back when we published that report, and you, Deputy Minister, were a member of the committee at the time. It was a committee consultation that made quite an impression on me when one realises the impact on health, which is similar to smoking, as we've already heard, but it also made...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: 6. Will the Minister make a statement on the recruiting and training of dentists in north Wales? OAQ55079
Rhun ap Iorwerth: Thank you for that response. The truth of the matter is that a shortage of dentists is the major problem we are facing, rather than a lack of money, in this context, in terms of the provision of dentistry services in north Wales. We haven't been training enough dentists in Wales, and too few of the dentists who are trained come from Wales and intend to remain here. These may sound like very...
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The Royal Glamorgan Hospital needs its emergency department.
Rhun ap Iorwerth: The Royal Glamorgan Hospital needs its A&E, and it needs it to be consultant led to be able to deal 24/7 with acute medical emergencies and significant trauma. Of course, major traumas—burns and so on—are better treated in specialist centres, but lives will be lost and pressure will become unbearable on other accident and emergency units within the health board and beyond if the downgrade...
