Part of 2. Questions to the Minister for Housing and Local Government – in the Senedd at 2:23 pm on 17 July 2019.
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.