Record of Proceedings 4th November 2014

Question to the First Minister on civil contingency and emergency planning in Wales
Janet Finch-Saunders

3. Will the First Minister make a statement on civil contingency and emergency planning in Wales? OAQ(4)1935(FM)
 

Carwyn Jones
The First Minister

Yes. We provide de facto national leadership in civil contingency and emergency planning, although much of it, of course, de jure is not devolved. 
Janet Finch-Saunders

Thank you, First Minister. According to the Wales Audit Office environmental health services are becoming unstable in Wales, with spending down to less than 0.5%, shrinking budgets since 2011, combined with further cuts to communicable disease budgets. It maintains that our authorities will be unable to complete their statutory duties. Against this is the backdrop of previous E. coli cases, the norovirus and now the potentially life-threatening Ebola pandemic. As the First Minister, you are charged with the ultimate responsibility for our public safety here in Wales. Given the threat of Ebola against a backdrop of such cuts, what assurances can you give me today that this is not a disaster waiting to happen and that all contingency plans will not be adversely affected by these cuts?
 
Carwyn Jones
The First Minister

I am quite stunned by that question—the way it was phrased. She will know that, some two weeks ago, I gave a very full answer in terms of our preparations for Ebola. It is something ultimately for Public Health Wales, not for local authorities; they are charged with environmental health and with trading standards. Public health is not a matter that they would deal with. That is a matter for Public Health Wales, funded through the Government. She will know, of course, that there is a public health Bill that the Minister will seek to promote through this Assembly in due course. There is no evidence to suggest that the preparations for communicable diseases, and she mentioned Ebola particularly, are anything other than utterly robust, and that is the case, I have to say, not just in Wales but across the rest of the UK as well.