Mike Hedges AM asks First Minister for more action in combating Type 2 Diabetes in Wales

Mike Hedges AM asks First Minister for more action in combating Type 2 Diabetes in Wales

Speaking after First Ministers Questions, Mike Hedges AM said…. Type 2 diabetes is growing alarmingly, along with obesity; the two are linked in the vast majority of cases. As such for a lot of people type 2 diabetes is preventable, especially if the Government can be to persuade to raise the profile of the Anti-Obesity work which it already does. It will do this when the new Anti-Obesity Strategy is adopted.  I would urge people to seek guidance if they fear they may be at risk of developing Type 2 diabetes.

7. Will the First Minister make a statement on the number of people in Wales with type 2 diabetes? OAQ52022

First Minister of Wales

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The national diabetes audit, which is part of the clinical audit programme for the NHS in Wales, indicates there were approximately 178,000 people registered with type 2 diabetes in Wales in the 2016-17 reporting year.69

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Can I thank the First Minister for that response? Genes do play a part in type 2 diabetes, but lifestyle choices are also very important. You can, for example, have a genetic mutation that may make you susceptible to type 2, but if you take good care of your body you may not develop diabetes. Will the Welsh Government consider introducing a national prevention week for type 2 diabetes? 70

First Minister of Wales

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Let me just give the Member a flavour of what we're doing. Of course we recognise the importance of prevention. We're aware of the NHS England programme. We don't think that this is right for Wales, because we know that obesity is a risk factor for a number of diseases, therefore a disease-specific approach is not warranted. We know also the evidence base for the effectiveness of a diabetes prevention programme is disputed. We do need to do something, clearly, so a broader and multifaceted approach is required; we know that. So, how will that be done? Well, the forthcoming obesity strategy will aim to put a strong focus upon prevention, and that will include exploring how we can scale messages across the population—I think a better way is to say, 'How we can tell people', actually, rather than putting it that way—by working with a range of partners, including with health boards, through delivery of obesity pathwa

MIKE HEDGES USES 90 SECOND STATEMENT TO PRAISE BAPTIST UNION OF WALES ON ITS 150th ANNIVERSARY

MIKE HEDGES USES 90 SECOND STATEMENT TO PRAISE BAPTIST UNION OF WALES ON ITS 150^th ANNIVERSARY

Speaking after the Plenary session of the Assembly, Mike said … ‘ the Baptist Union of Wales has a proud history of playing a central role in Welsh Life, often providing the first schools in communities and providing many community leaders who went on to make contributions to Welsh life in other fields. I feel that it was appropriate to commemorate these achievements through a statement at Plenary. I am sure that the Baptist Union of Wales will continue its achievements and contributions in Welsh Life. 

Diolch, Llywydd. I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to congratulate the Baptist Union of Wales on its hundred and fiftieth anniversary. I speak as a member of Seion Newydd, the Welsh Baptist chapel based in Morriston. Yesterday, I attended an event in the Pierhead to celebrate the hundred and fiftieth anniversary of Welsh Baptists, and I'm very pleased that so many Members, including you, Llywydd, were present.200

I want to highlight the role that the Welsh Baptists, along with other Welsh nonconformist chapels, played in the continuity of the Welsh language during the early part of the twentieth century. It also played a major role in Welsh politics, and provided many members to the Liberals, Labour and Plaid Cymru. The success of the Baptists' cause can be seen in the villages, towns and cities of Wales where there were in excess of 1,000 Baptist chapels.201

Welsh Baptist ministers have played a major role in Welsh politics at hymn writing. Lewis Valentine was a famous hymn writer, whose most famous hymn was Gweddi dros Gymru, but was also an early member of Plaid Cymru and one of the three who in 1936 set a bombing school on fire. Thomas Price was a leading figure in the political and religious life of Victorian Wales, and a minister at Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Aberdare, whose first job was as a pageboy. Joseph Harris, Welsh Baptist minister—who had 'Gomer' as his bardic name—on 1 January 1814 launched the first Welsh language weekly Seren Gomer in Swansea. We, as a nation, owe a great deal of gratitude to the Baptist Union of Wales for what they've achieved for the last 150 years.

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that Residential care savings limit increased

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that Residential care savings limit increased

A Local Assembly Members has welcomed the Welsh Labour Government’s announcement that, people in Swansea East are now able to keep up to £40,000 of their money before they need to self-fund the full cost of their residential care.

Welsh Labour pledged to increase the capital limit used by local authorities who charge for residential care from £24,000 to £50,000 during the current Assembly term, as part of their ambitious manifesto during the 2016 Assembly elections.

A capital limit determines whether a person pays for the full cost of their residential care, or whether they receive financial support towards the cost from their local authority.

The increase is being delivered in a phased approach, starting in April 2017 when the limit was increased to £30,000. The capital limit has today increased further from £30,000 to £40,000.

There are up to 4,000 care home residents who pay for the full cost of their care. Around 450 care home residents have already benefitted from the increase last year, with a steady increase in this

Mike Hedges AM said: “This is the second step in delivering one of our top six pledges to double the amount of capital a person in residential care can retain.”

“From this month the capital limit is rising from £30,000 to £40,000, thereby allowing residents to retain a further £10,000 of their hard earned savings and other capital to use as they wish. By the end of the currently Assembly, the limit will be raised to £50,000.”

“This is about Welsh Labour delivering on our pledges to the people of Wales.”

End

Mike Hedges AM welcomes over £9.7m for Swansea neonatal and post-natal services

Mike Hedges AM welcomes over £9.7m for Swansea neonatal and post-natal services

Mike Hedges said, ‘although not in my constituency, this is great news for mums to be from all over Swansea. It shows the ongoing commitment of the Welsh Labour Government to the local Health Service in Swansea. I look forward to visiting the facility when completed.’

Health Secretary, Vaughan Gething, has today announced over £9.7million funding to support neonatal and post-natal services at Singleton Hospital.

The funding will be used to develop a new seven bed Transitional Care Unit and Special Care Baby Unit to improve the quality of care of mothers and babies, and free up space within its current Neonatal Intensive Care Unit. 

Speaking ahead of a visit to the neonatal ward later today, Mr Gething said the changes would allow the health board to increase the number of births which can be treated at Singleton from the end of July 2019. This will increase capacity across the South Wales area, in line with the Neonatal Network plans and the proposals put forward in the South Wales Programme.

Vaughan Gething said:

“Our investment in Singleton Hospital demonstrates our commitment to improving services across the Welsh NHS. The important developments promise to improve quality of care for mothers and their babies, providing a safer environment, with 24/7 access to Neonatal transitional care nurses and access to much-needed neonatal critical care cots.”

The investment in Singleton Hospital will:

·         provide a new 7-bed Transitional Care Unit with specialist 24/7 nursing to care for those babies who require more than normal Post-natal care, but do not require admission to the Neonatal Unit, and overnight accommodation for Mothers, with single rooms and ensuite facilities to provide privacy and support infection control

·         provide a permanent 12-cot Special Care Baby Unit

·         increase Neonatal High Dependency Unit capacity by two cots and Special Care Baby Unit capacity by one cot

·         allow space to expand the High Dependency Unit 

·         Provide space for 9 additional special care cots. 

Mike Hedges AM Questions Welsh Government Minister about Swansea Tidal Lagoon project

Mike Hedges AM Questions Welsh Government Minister about Swansea Tidal Lagoon project

Local AM for Swansea East Mike Hedges has queried the fairness of the system used by the UK Government to assess the cost of the Swansea Bay Tidal Lagoon compared with Hinkley Point.

Speaking after Questions to the Welsh Government Leader of the House, Mike said…… ‘under the current arrangements, the Tidal Lagoon is not getting a fair assessment; for Hinkley Point, the decommissioning costs have been capped, whereas no part of the Lagoon project have been capped by the UK Government. We need a level playing field with all aspects of the respective projects assessed on the same basis so that a true comparison can be made. What we have at the moment is a system which massively favours the nuclear option; what we need is a fair system that allows the full and true costs of nuclear and green energy to be compared side by side.’

Questions to Julie James AM 24 April 2018

Can I ask for a Welsh Government statement regarding ensuring the fairness of price comparison between the Swansea bay tidal lagoon and Hinkley Point? As the decommissioning costs and storage costs for the Hinkley Point development have been capped, we're not comparing like with like. If the building cap cost of the Swansea tidal lagoon was capped at a level well below what it was likely to cost, then it would make it a lot cheaper to generate electricity there.103

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Yes, indeed. Mike Hedges makes an extremely important point. The UK Government has chosen to protect taxpayers from exposure to all of the costs of waste and decommissioning liabilities of new nuclear power plants through the Energy Act 2008. Our understanding is that the total decommissioning costs within the funded decommissioning plan, including the contingency, are estimated to be around £8.5 billion, but given the costed index-linked, actual costs by the end of the station's 60-year operational life could be as high as £116 billion, once inflation is taken into account. Now, clearly, that's not a level playing field. Discussions are ongoing between BEIS—the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy—the developers and the Welsh Government about the technical issues and actual costs associated with the Swansea bay tidal lagoon, including on financing the project to include other equivalent costs.

MIKE HEDGES AM CRITICISES DECISION TO BOMB SYSRIA IN ASSEMBLY DEBATE

MIKE HEDGES AM CRITICISES DECISION TO BOMB SYSRIA IN ASSEMBLY DEBATE.

Speaking after the debate, Mike Hedges said…. ‘I have real concerns about what the UK Government is trying to achieve in Syria. Of course use of Chemical weapons should be condemned outright, but is military action going to lead to peace in Syria and the wider region. Use of Military Force in an area of long standing conflicts has rarely had the outcomes that were sought, and many innocent people have lost their lives in the process.

Surely sanctions and talks have a better chance of providing a long term solution to the issues in Syria.

Speech

Mike Hedges AM - Can I first of all say I voted in favour of having this debate? The second thing is: I'm very pleased to find that Theresa May has found this infamous money tree in order to be able to fund the bombing of Syria. I also think, if we live in a parliamentary democracy, the Westminster Parliament should have had an opportunity to vote on whether we went to war and attacked another country or not, and we didn't have to work to Donald Trump's timetable. If you look at what we've done so far, we wanted to bomb Syria, which would only have helped Assad, which would have helped Isis. Then, we bombed Isis to help Assad. Now, we're back bombing Assad, which would only help Isis. It's almost as if our policy is, 'Can we keep this civil war going for as long as possible?'577

We didn't bomb the site of the chemical weapons, thankfully. How do I know that? Because thousands and millions of people didn't die. Because if you bomb chemical weapon plants, the chemicals get put out into the atmosphere. The whole of the Middle East could have been covered in whatever chemical weapons are meant to be there. 'Ah', you say, 'they haven't been mixed yet'. Well, let's say they haven't been mixed—when you bomb them, what do you think you're going to do with the chemicals but mix them? If you bombed a chlorine plant we would have created absolute havoc. But we seem to have a policy of bombing for peace. It reminds me of the medieval idea of bleeding people to make them better. Neither work. 578

We really do need to intervene in Syria. It worked so well in Iraq and it's worked so well in Libya. After so much success—. Somebody once said, when we used to partition countries, 'It hadn't worked yet, but we hoped the next time would.' The next time never worked. Bombing countries never works. This can only be solved by negotiation, and we need to get peace in the Middle East and we need to get peace in Syria. And the other thing is: there is a worse case happening in the world today, and that is Yemen: the unthought of, unspoken area, where children are dying daily, but because Saudi Arabia are involved, the west is frightened to get involved. 

MIKE HEDGES A.M. WELCOMES NEWS THAT SWANSEA HAS BEEN AWARDED OVER £1 MILLION FOR ROAD SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS FROM WELSH GOVERNMENT.

MIKE HEDGES A.M. WELCOMES NEWS THAT SWANSEA HAS BEEN AWARDED OVER £1 MILLION FOR ROAD SAFETY IMPROVEMENTS FROM WELSH GOVERNMENT.

Mike Hedges AM said…. ‘This is great news for the city as a whole and for parts of my constituency of Swansea East; residents in Blaenymaes will be delighted with the award of £390 000 for road safety improvements in the area. The package of a whole shows the commitment of the Welsh Government to supporting the City Councils ambitious plans for Swansea. Improved transport links across the city will be vital to developing the economy of the City and the City Region.’

Local Transport Plan Funding  - Swansea

Safe Routes in Communities Partial funding for Phase 2 of the Gower scheme including new footway/cycle links, pedestrian crossing, speed reduction and traffic calming measures.   £364,800

 Road Safety Capital Grant City Wide Speed Camera & Speed on Green Camera upgrades – second phase of scheme will include the replacement of existing wet film cameras with digital cameras at a number of locations. £449,000

Area Improvement Works - Portmead & Blaenymaes – provision of 20mph zone, pedestrian crossings and islands, junction redesign and street lighting. £390,900

Road Safety Revenue Grant Road Safety Education and Training £128,694

South Wales Metro £700 000

Local Transport Fund South West Wales Metro Baldwin’s Bridge Interchange Active Travel Scheme Development £100 000

Active Travel Scheme £356 000

Local Transport Network Fund Strategic Bus Corridor Improvements £700 000