2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 21 January 2020.

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Photo of Llyr Gruffydd Llyr Gruffydd Plaid Cymru 2:45, 21 January 2020

Could we have a statement from the relevant Government Minister on the recent fire at Kronospan in Chirk, which has caused huge concern locally, of course? It's the third fire there in just three years, and it burned for a week, causing pollution across the town and further afield. Now, it took 48 hours for air quality monitoring equipment to be put in place, which missed, of course, the worst of the pollution, but nevertheless it detected formaldehyde, which is a known carcinogen, in the air, which, as you can imagine, is causing huge worry to the population locally.

We need an explanation in the wake of these events. We need to hear what Welsh Government is doing to ensure that this doesn't happen again. Will you join with me in calling for an independent inquiry to establish why the fire raged for so long and also why the response from agencies was so sluggish? We also need independent air quality monitoring equipment to be permanently sited there. I understand that the current temporary equipment had to be moved up from Swansea. Now, local residents deserve a robust response from Welsh Government on this, and, at the moment, I'm afraid they're not getting it.

Also, could we have a statement from the education Minister in the wake of a highly critical report by Care Inspectorate Wales into Ruthin School, which was published recently? The report says, and I quote:

'The leadership, management and governance relating to safeguarding was found to be inadequate and as a result, young people were not fully protected.'

And the report identifies

'Significant and widespread concerns in respect of the wellbeing of young people'.

Furthermore,

'arrangements for dealing with concerns about young people's safeguarding were inadequate.'

Now, that's wholly unacceptable, and I'm sure you'll agree. So, will the Minister make a statement regarding the Welsh Government's role in safeguarding children in private and boarding schools? Will she also make a statement regarding the interventions available in schools based in Wales that are not subject to local authority control? What oversight do statutory authorities, such as child protection, have over private schools in Wales? And is there not a case to be made that when child safeguarding is at issue, then earlier intervention is required? This is the second report in a year highlighting concerns about safeguarding issues at the school and we need answers from the Welsh Government on these questions.