5. Will the First Minister make a statement on the outbreak of legionnaires' disease in Barry over the past 12 months? OAQ54496

I thank the Member for that question. Public Health Wales and partner agencies continue to investigate a higher than usual number of cases of legionnaire's disease in the Barry area. Extensive investigations have so far been unable to link any of these cases to a common source.

Thank you for that answer, First Minister. There are around 30 cases of legionnaire's disease in Wales each year, on average, but in the last 12 months there have been 11 in Barry. You're quite right that Public Health Wales has not yet been able to find a cause and does not consider it, yet, an official legionnaire's disease outbreak, but it's surely of great concern to residents. And they will remember the unfortunate deaths and serious illnesses in 1999 that occurred in the authority.

Members of the public, of course, can do many things to reduce their risk—basically to ensure standing water isn't left in taps, and draining water bowsers and garden hoses, and using commercial screen washes in their vehicles. Because I don't think many people realise that these are the vectors, often, and the way the disease is transmitted. Public Health Wales and their partner agencies, I understand, are advising employers to check their policies, because, unfortunately, the workplace has, in the past, also been a vector. Can you give us any specifics on what is being done to raise the public profile and, in particular, to ensure employers are doing what is their duty to do?

I thank the Member for that question and drawing attention to the advice that Public Health Wales, drawing on wider UK expertise in this area, has provided to citizens and to businesses in Barry. The last press release containing advice for members of the public and for businesses was released in September. Since then, the incident management team that has been set up has continued to take action in the Barry area. It's due to meet next on 21 October. It will look at the latest information, including, for example, the recent testing of all four registered local water cooling towers in Barry, none of which turned out to be a source of the legionella bacteria. 

Now, the incident management team will stay in place for six months beyond the latest incident, and the latest individual to be identified as suffering from legionnaire's disease was in August of this year. So, the incident management team will stay in place at least until the early months of next year. It will continue to work with businesses, it will continue to pursue any new avenues of inquiry that become available to it, and it will continue to provide advice for local citizens of the actions that they can take of the sort that David Melding set out: removing unused taps and shower heads, draining water bowsers and garden hoses, using commercial screen washes in vehicles, and so on—all of which are practical things that individuals can do and which will reduce the risk of further incidence of legionnaire's disease in Barry over the months ahead.