Press release on the Welsh Water/Dwr Cymru Wrap up their homes up this winter campaign

Press Release
23 November 2015

 

Mike Hedges AM helps Welsh Water remind customers to wrap up their homes up this winter

• ‘Wrap Up Wales’ campaign highlights need to protect water pipes to prevent the inconvenience and expense of frozen or bursts pipes
• 3,500 calls a day made to insurers at height of 2010 cold spell for burst pipe damage with repair costs averaging up to £7,000
• Less than half of water customers have taken steps to avoid frozen pipes
• Fifth of population have no idea what to do if a pipe freezes in our home.

With the winter upon us, Swansea East  AM Mike Hedges is supporting Dŵr Cymru Welsh Water’s ‘Wrap Up Wales’ campaign which reminds customers to make sure that the water pipes in their homes are protected to avoid the disruption and expense frozen pipes can cause. The campaign is urging people to take a moment to protect their pipes from bursting and causing damage that could cost thousands of pounds.

The problem is usually linked to pipes that are exposed to very low temperatures, such as those in garages and outhouses.  These pipes expand when it freezes, which can lead to a burst when the pipes thaw. Urgent and expensive repair is then needed to fix the problem.

Recent research by Consumer Council for Water found that about half of households in Wales haven’t taken steps to avoid frozen pipes.  It found that people aged 24 to 35 are most at risk of not being properly prepared. While a fifth of us have no idea what to do if a pipe freezes in our home.

According to the Association of British Insurers (ABI), severe cold weather experienced during the winter of 2010 saw around 3,500 calls a day being made to insurers to report frozen pipes at its peak.  An average repair cost for damage caused by bursts pipes can be up to £7,000.

When a problem occurs on pipes in homes it is the responsibility of the home owner or landlord therefore it’s worth taking time to check they are well insulated.  The advice is also relevant to any type of property which might be left empty for a period of time over the winter.

Mike AM said: “I’d like to remind people living in Swansea East to take note of the advice in Welsh Water’s campaign and make sure they don’t get caught out by pipes freezing in their homes or businesses this winter. 

“Frozen pipes which burst can cause unnecessary inconvenience and expense however this can be easily avoided by taking a few moments to check and protect the pipes.”

Ian Christie, Welsh Water’s Managing Director of Water Services said: “If you’re planning to visit family or friends and your home will be empty over the winter you need to be sure that exposed water pipes are wrapped in insulation to protect them. Otherwise they could burst and you won’t know until you return.

“If you are unfortunate enough to experience frozen pipes then make sure you don’t leave taps open and unattended.  As the pipes thaw, the water will likely start to flow which could lead to baths and sinks overflowing if you are not around. 

“Our message is help us Wrap up Wales and take action now to prevent a problem that can cause  a tremendous amount of inconvenience and expense – at the time of the year when you’d least want to face it.”

Tom Taylor, Chair of CCWater’s Wales Committee, said: “Nothing can compensate you or your family for the misery and disruption that a burst pipe can cause.”

“Our message is simple – don’t take the risk. Take action now to make sure your home is wrapped up warm and ready for whatever winter may bring.”

 

More information on how to prevent pipes freezing can be found on the company’s website www.dwrcymru.com   There is also an opportunity to apply for one of the 2,000 free lagging kits we are giving away.

 

-Ends-

Enquiries to Welsh Water’s Press Office

Notes to editor:

How to prevent pipes from freezing:

• Make sure you know the location of your stop tap so you can reach it quickly in an emergency (TIP: It's often under the kitchen sink).
• Make sure any exposed pipes are wrapped or lagged.

• Keep an eye out for frozen pipes, bursts or leaks.
• Fix dripping taps – a gentle trickle of water can freeze and completely block the pipe

What to do if pipes freeze:

• Find your internal stop tap and turn it off.
• Turn on nearby cold taps, to allow the water to escape when it thaws.
• Don't turn hot taps on until the central heating is switched off.
• Move things that might be damaged if the pipe bursts when the water thaws.
• Apply a hot water bottle or hot wet towel to a frozen pipe.
• If you notice a leak after thawing, turn off the internal stop tap and call a plumber.
• If you are unsure of anything at any time call a plumber who is registered with the WaterSafe scheme at www.watersafe.org.uk

Advice on insulating water pipes can be seen on the Welsh Water website http://www.dwrcymru.com/en/My-Water/Prepare-your-home-for-winter.aspx

 

 

 

Press release on the implimentation of recommendation of the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery

Mike Hedges questions minister on the implementation of recommendation of the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery

 

Mike said… It is important to hold ministers to account over reports which they are responsible for implementing. I am very pleased to see that the proposals for a Merger between CADW and the Royal Commission on Ancient and Historical Monuments. There is overlap in their work and this duplication can be reduced through the merger.’

 

Mike Hedges

How many of the 62 recommendations made by the Commission on Public Service Governance and Delivery have been implemented?

 

Leighton Andrews

We set an ambitious reform agenda for public services in Wales last year and we are implementing the strategic actions committed to in that announcement. These relate to 60 of the 62 Williams commission recommendations, but are not limited to them.

14:48

Mike Hedges

Thank you, Minister. I expected a number then. Will the Minister produce a timeline for the implementation of the rest and indicate which ones are no longer being brought forward?

 

14:49

Leighton Andrews

Well, I’m happy to publish an update on the implementation of the Williams recommendations and, let me say, there are two, specifically, that are not being taken forward, which are recommendations 12 and 19 in respect of community health councils and in respect of a proposed merger of Cadw and the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales.

 

press release on question re establishment of Senior Salary board

Mike Hedges AM calls for Senior Salary Board be established to oversee senior public sector salaries.

 

Swansea East AM has called for the establishment of a Senior Salary Pay Board which will oversee and set senior public sector salaries in Wales. He asked Leighton Andrews, Minister at Welsh Assembly -

 

14:39

Mike Hedges -

Public sector goes beyond local government itself. Will the Minister consider setting up a senior salaries board for bodies funded by the Welsh Government that could set recommended bands for senior salaries across the whole of the Welsh public sector?

14:39

 

Leighton Andrews -

One of the issues I think we have to look at as we create one Welsh public service is that there are different terms and conditions in different parts of the public services in Wales. We have established the Public Services Staff Commission, of course, on a non-statutory basis, and next week the draft Bill will set out our proposals for establishing the Public Services Staff Commission on a statutory basis. There are a number of issues that will arise I think that we will have to consider as we move forward on public service pay and public service rewards, and it’s important, I think, that those considerations are given the right framework. I think the Public Services Staff Commission does that.

 

Mike Hedges said….’ I think that if such a commission were established it would take some of the heat and controversy about the size of public sector senior pay and would provide a mechanism for ensuring that some public sector senior salaries do not reach absurd limits which draw public criticism’

 

Ends

 

Speech on Trident Replacement 18 November

 

            SPEECH ON REPALCEMENT OF TRIDENT 18 NOVEMBER 2015

 

Every political party is signed up to the international efforts for world-wide nuclear disarmament, but not every party is prepared to do anything about it. Let’s assume you believe that nuclear weapons act as a deterrent. If you believe that they stop wars, if you believe that they make the world safer, surely the logic of that argument is that every country should have them. We should not be trying to stop countries having nuclear weapons; we should be encouraging every country to have nuclear weapons, because we believe they act as a deterrent. We believe they stop us having wars, therefore, we should make sure everybody has them. We should be exporting enriched uranium so that they can make the bomb that is necessary for the safety of all of us—making nuclear bombs out of enriched uranium, once you’ve got enriched uranium, is not particularly difficult.

 

 

So, that’s what we should be doing if we actually believe it’s going to make the world a safer place by having nuclear weapons. Great Britain has had an independent nuclear deterrent since it became the third country to test its own nuclear weapon in October 1952. Since 1998, we’ve had the Trident programme, which is thought to have 200 thermonuclear warheads, 160 which are operational at any one time, although, again, the Government refuses to tell us the exact number. I’m sure that most other countries in the world that are our likely opponents could probably tell us, but the Government doesn’t think we ought to know.

 

The dictionary definition of ‘deterrent’ includes ‘military strength’ or ‘an ability to defend a country or retaliate strongly enough to deter an enemy from attacking’. If Britain’s nuclear deterrent were to work, no non-nuclear power would dare to attack us or any of our dependencies, any of our allies, or any of our overseas territories. Evidently, the script wasn’t read by the Argentinian junta, who invaded the Falklands without any fear of nuclear attack. The nuclear deterrent completely failed to deter Argentina. It believed, correctly, that not only would Britain not use it, we wouldn’t even threaten to use it; we wouldn’t say that we were thinking about using it if we were losing, which we were at one time. Other countries we have failed to deter with our nuclear weapons include Iraq over the invasion of Kuwait and Egypt over the annexing of the Suez canal. I don’t want to continue, but it’s certainly not deterred anybody.

 

 

The USA has nuclear weapons—probably the most nuclear weapons of any country in the world—but when it was fighting in Vietnam, it used conventional bombing; it also used things that I don’t think it should have done, such as Agent Orange and napalm, but it never threatened North Vietnam with a nuclear attack let alone used nuclear weapons on it, despite being forced out of South Vietnam. The USSR, which is now Russia, which we think about as a state that will do almost anything and which we have to be frightened of, was forced out of Afghanistan. The Taliban was not deterred by their nuclear arsenal

 

 

 

Sorry, I thought a deterrent’s real purpose was to deter, and it certainly hasn’t acted as a deterrent. Supporters of nuclear weapons would say, ‘They have stopped a major war in Europe’. Interestingly, supporters of the European Community make exactly the same argument. But, even if the mutual assured destruction of the nuclear arms race was true of the immediate post-war period until the fall of the Berlin wall, it’s certainly untrue now. Does anybody seriously expect present-day Russia to start invading the rest of Europe? If they do, shouldn’t we be getting nuclear weapons to Norway and Finland immediately? If it wants to make an aggressive act, it is more likely to turn the gas supply off than to fire nuclear weapons.

 

So, why do we continue to want to invest in nuclear weapons that we will not only not use, but not even threaten to use, even when a British overseas territory is invaded? The terrible nature of nuclear weapons together with their environmental impact means that it is unlikely that any respectable Government would use them for fear of the political backlash from the rest of the world.

 

Interestingly, hydrogen bombs have not been tested in recent times. We don’t actually know it works, because it hasn’t been tested—not that I’m arguing it should be tested, but it could just be filled with hydrogen and it wouldn’t cause a thermonuclear reaction on explosion. We don’t know that. I think the last time they were tested by the Americans or the British or even the Russians was probably back in the 1980s. So, we don’t actually know it works.

 

So, why do we continue to sustain it as a misnamed nuclear deterrent? We’re not even independent; we’d only fire it if the Americans said so, so we’d have to ask, ‘Please Sir, can we fire our independent weapon?’ I’m not sure how independent that makes it. The answer appears to be less military than political. It guarantees our place on the UN Security Council. So, why do we want to upgrade Trident? It’s not rusting away. It will still continue to work. It will still continue to work for the next 40 or 50 years. It’s not going to be used anyway, so why waste billions of pounds on upgrading it to buy another system? I’m old enough to remember the argument over upgrading Polaris into Trident. We’ve had one upgrade and nothing has worked. I think really the argument is: why spend money on something not only that we won’t use and won’t threaten to use but that everybody else in the world knows we’re not going to use?

 

Press release for positive parenting campaign

MIKE HEDGES AM WELCOMES POSITIVE PARENTING CAMPAIGN LAUNCHED

 

Welsh Labour’s Communities Minister, Lesley Griffiths has launched a new Welsh Government campaign which offers tips and advice to parents on positive approaches to raising children.

 

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that the Welsh Government is supporting positive parenting.

 

Mike said…. ‘I welcome this news that the Welsh Government is supporting positive parenting. Spending time with children is vital for parents and this campaign will give parents and guardians support and suggestions on how to spend time with their children along with other organisations who can help support parents.’

 

 

The new ‘Parenting. Give it Time’ campaign was launched on Universal children’s day and shows how offering encouragement and praising children for good behaviour is more effective than harsh punishments when children do things wrong.

 

The campaign provides a dedicated website and Facebook page offering tips and information for parents about ways to help take some of the stress out of everyday family activities, such as bed time, bath time and the weekly food shop. The website also provides details of organisations for parents who may need further help and support.

 

‘Parenting. Give it Time’ encourages parents to talk and listen to their children and encourage better behaviour by adopting positive parenting strategies. The campaign also sets out the importance of parents looking after their own health and well-being to help them better manage stressful situations.

 

The campaign is intended to run for three years. The first phase will run from November 2015 until the end of March 2016.

Question on potential closure of HMRC offices in Wales

Mike Hedges AM asks Minister Questions RE Potential Closure of HMRC offices

 

 

 

Swansea East Assembly Member, Mike Hedges asked questions to Ken Skates AM regarding the proposed closure of the HRMC office in Swansea. He asked if he could clarify the Welsh Government had had any discussion with the Westminster Government regarding right to transfer to Cardiff or redeployment within the Civil Service.

 

The Minister confirmed that he would have discussions regarding the possibility of the staff having the right to transfer and or redeploy

 

Mike Hedges said ‘I welcome the comment from the Minister that he will discuss what options are available for the staff. I am aware that this will be a very trying time for the staff in the run up Christmas but we know that the issues are being looked at by Welsh Government Minister. I hope that a resolution can be found which will allow as many people as possible to either transfer to Cardiff or redeploy to other jobs.

 

 

Press release on Health and Education spending in Wales

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that Wales spending more on health and education

Official figures by the UK Government show that spending per head on health is higher in Wales - and has increased faster than any other part of the UK.

 

Mike Hedges AM said…. I welcome this news which shows the Wales Labour Government delivering on its commitments to the Welsh People. It is good news that Education and health spending are higher than in England. This Government is committed to raising the living standards of the people in Wales and will continue to deliver for them.’

 

The Country and Regional Analysis for 2014, published by HM Treasury, shows that expenditure on public services in Wales stood at £9,904 per head - 11 percent higher than the UK average.

Their analysis also shows that the amount of money the Welsh Labour Government spends per head on health and social services in Wales increased faster last year than any other part of the UK and is 7% higher than in England.

On education, spending per head in Wales is 4 per cent higher than in England.

 

Despite the unprecedented £1.3 billion real terms cut to the Welsh budget which has been imposed by the Tory UK Government, the Welsh Labour Government has provided an extra £150 million for the Welsh NHS this year.