Public Health in Newport East

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:15 pm on 3 December 2019.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:15, 3 December 2019

Well, Llywydd, I entirely agree with John Griffiths about the importance of the issue and the need for urgency. The Minister, Lesley Griffiths, will make a statement on the floor of the Assembly next week, I believe, on the clean air plan for Wales. In the meantime, it is very good to see that Newport council have submitted to the Welsh Government their new sustainable travel strategy, which has clean air at the heart of that. And, as John Griffiths said, Llywydd, the local health board for the Gwent area published in September 'Building a Healthier Gwent'; in a conference on 6 November, had the need for clean air and its impact on people's health absolutely as part of that very lively discussion. Because John is right: there's not a shortage of ideas in this area, and we, in many ways, will need to be bolder in our willingness to take on some of these ideas, which will undoubtedly have areas where people will find some difficulty in accommodating themselves to the steps that need to be taken. But we have to be serious about clean air—it's a genuine public health issue, and using the third sector, through the British Lung Foundation and others, to add to the repertoire is absolutely part of how we wish to go ahead.