Preventing Electrical Fires

Part of 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services – in the Senedd at 2:56 pm on 3 October 2018.

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Photo of Nick Ramsay Nick Ramsay Conservative 2:56, 3 October 2018

Joyce Watson has covered most of the bases of this question with her supplementary question. I've also read the same report and I think it was interesting if you look at what is not causing this rise in domestic fires as much as what is causing it—e-cigarettes have been ruled out, an ageing population has been ruled out, and smoking. So, it's a very specific increase, from a low base admittedly, in one specific area of fire as a whole in Wales. This must come back to raising awareness and it must come back to education. This can't simply be left to firefighters, who often have to pick up the pieces when it comes to dealing with the fire at the end of it. I wonder if you could tell us a little bit more, Cabinet Secretary, about how you intend to raise awareness and how you intend to educate the population, possibly working with the Cabinet Secretary for Education, possibly from an earlier age to make sure that people are aware of the dangers of out-of-date electrical installations, of the dangers of out-of-date equipment, and of the need to make sure that there is monitoring going on in the home to make sure that we eliminate all the possible causes of domestic fires.