2. Will the Minister provide an update on Welsh Government interventions to reduce incidences of wild fires? OAQ54248

Our fire and rescue services continue to take a range of actions to reduce the number of wildfires in communities across the country. Many interventions are directly funded by the Welsh Government, and these have resulted in a 60 per cent reduction in the incidence of wildfire since 2009.

Thank you, Minister. A short while ago, I had the privilege to meet with Craig Hope and other members of the South Wales Fire and Rescue Service at Aberdare Fire Station to discuss their innovative approach to tackling wildfires. Craig is internationally renowned for his approach to the issue, for example through the development of the wildfire toolbox and the focus on taking a year-round approach as well. We know that overall numbers of wildfires are currently declining, but the ones that are occurring are on a larger scale, which provides a different set of challenges for fire services and for communities as well. There was another major wildfire in my constituency on Abernant mountain just last week. How are the Welsh Government working with partners to reduce the incidence of wildfires, for example, through land management, the spread of best practice and the adoption of a 365-day approach so that lives and property aren't at risk?

I thank the Member for her question. South Wales Fire and Rescue Service are indeed internationally renowned for the work they're doing, and have actually provided support to fire services across the UK in terms of the expertise that they have built. And I know it already works hard to find that extra support for the specialised equipment that they need in the area. The Member is absolutely right that the emphasis needs to be on year-round and working in partnership. So, while the fire service are the ones on the front line, so to speak, a lot of support has been placed into prevention, the education programmes within schools and those groups deemed at risk, and that can only be done, like you said, in partnership with other stakeholders, such as Natural Resources Wales, the police and community stakeholders. And that is something that has come on since the rise in incidents we saw at Easter a few years ago, and that is some partnership working that we continue to emphasise the value of and take forward, and that's something I will certainly be following up on as the Minister responsible.

Minister, residents who live on or near to Kilvey Hill in Swansea have spoken about living in constant fear of forest fires on the hill. Some of the owners of the smallholdings there have taken to installing their own fire bricks, while Natural Resources Wales, as you've mentioned, have taken steps and, in this case, have taken down trees to reduce the risk to people's properties. I remember, growing up in Vikki Howells's constituency, getting people coming into schools and telling us about the dangers of mountain fires. Judging by the statistics you've given us to date, that probably seems to have worked for a certain generation, anyway. But is there any intelligence out there now that it's different people who are being implicated in the mountain fires that we do have, and whether education needs to be directed in perhaps a slightly different direction?

For your constituency you raise that you live with that apprehension about potential wildfires. Deliberately set grass fires of any shape or size are totally unacceptable. They're irresponsible, dangerous and criminal. They not only put communities at risk, but they put them in that position of fear, which is why the preventative approach is so, so important. We do full collaboration with schools, police and other agencies, but also other programmes such as Crimes and Consequences, and the Phoenix Project works with small groups that are identified as being at risk of offending to try and reduce that offending as well, and target that support, training and funding in those cases.

Also, we do hear of cases where they've been deliberately set by young people, but there are also cases perhaps when it's arisen from a landowner themselves as well. So, it's actually about keeping going with that cross-partnership working and looking at the preventative agenda. Sure, if any Members have any further evidence or suggestions in terms of how we could take that forward, I'm always happy to receive them as well.