Diolch, Llywydd. I’m very pleased to have the opportunity to bring forward this debate today, as in recent months I’ve been able to meet with representatives of Electrical Safety First and talk to them about the statistics that they have provided, particularly in relation to fires caused due to the lack of care with electrical appliances and devices. And I’m also pleased to give Mike Hedges a minute of my time for him to contribute to this debate.

It is, perhaps, timely that this opportunity has come up for me to speak now on this subject, when my own mother has recently been the victim of a house fire, which has led to her having to move out of her home, probably for several months. The fire was almost certainly caused by either faulty wiring or electrical equipment. She was out walking her dog at the time the fire started, but fortunately she was only away for about 20 minutes, so, when she came back, she was able to get help quickly and before the fire had taken hold of the whole house. Despite that early action, the fire and smoke damage was significant, and the whole house has to be renovated.

In Wales, statistics show a steady decrease in the number of primary fires between 2010 and 2015, but saw an increase in the year up to 2016. Fires from white goods seem to be at a generally consistent level for the same period, and there has been a noticeable, consistent decline, as we would probably expect, in chimney fires. But we have not seen an overall decrease in accidental fires. The answer to why this might be could lie in the title of this debate: electrical fires in today’s technological age.