2. 2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 9 May 2017.

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Photo of David Rees David Rees Labour 2:23, 9 May 2017

Leader of the house, last week, we had a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children highlighting the statistics regarding grass fires across Wales and the reduction we saw. That was very welcome news, but two days later there was a huge grass fire within my constituency, which damaged a lot of the Mynydd Dinas areas. Can you also join me in thanking the firefighters for the work that they did? The efforts they put in made sure that that fire was controlled and maintained, and that no property was damaged. But can we have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary perhaps on discussions that he has had with the fire and rescue services as to the strategies they’re putting in place to ensure we keep that down to a minimum, and, when one occurs, how we’ll respond to it to ensure that minimal or no damage is done?

On a second point, this morning we actually received a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport regarding nurse training here in Wales. I very much welcome the announcement of an additional year of nurse bursaries to support the development of nurses here in Wales, compared to what’s happening in England, but can we actually have a statement from the Cabinet Secretary perhaps to look at the other areas that we need to look at, which is the specialist nurses in paediatrics, mental health and neonatal, and what the Government is going to do to support them in those areas? Perhaps he can actually add on whether he will then further support the bursaries for the nurses, because he's only made it for one year, and it would be nice to see it actually committed for the remainder of this Assembly term.

And, on a final point, the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure, could we have a statement from him on steel? Now, last week, we had the news that IG Metall, the trade union in Germany, was very concerned about the possible merger between Thyssenkrupp and Tata and, as such, that merger might fail. Can we have a statement as to what discussions he’s having with Tata to look at the implications for steelmaking here in Wales and what’ll happen to our Welsh steel plants?