Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that Three more manufacturing businesses to produce scrubs for Wales’ healthcare heroes

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that Three more manufacturing businesses to produce scrubs for Wales’ healthcare heroes

Speaking from his Morriston office, Swansea East AM, Mike Hedges said… ‘ I welcome the news that Welsh firms are reorientating to support the Welsh NHS. I am pleased that a local firm, Red Dragon Flags is one. If we are to beat this virus, it is vital that we all pull together and do our bit. Local firms have as big a role to play in this as multi national companies. I salute the efforts of Red Dragon Flags’

Three small Welsh manufacturing businesses are joining the fight against coronavirus by producing scrubs for Wales’ healthcare heroes, Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport Lee Waters has announced.

A Clydach firm which specialises in the production of flags for films, TV, festivals, and castles among other uses, and two independent seamstresses, from Swansea and Carmarthen, will all be making vital supplies to support the NHS in Wales.

Work is under way at Red Dragon Flagmakers, which has already received fabric, while seamstresses Tesni Owen and Bethan Jones Boutique are set to start producing scrubs this week.

The Welsh Government linked them with Alexandra, a UK-based company that supplies the NHS with scrubs but is heavily reliant on overseas markets for both material and production, after securing a large amount of fabric from within the UK market when it was notified the Far East and sub-continent would be partially closing down production due to coronavirus.

It also managed the logistics of delivering fabric from Alexandra to the three companies to speed up the production process and support the supply chain.

Together the three businesses will produce 1,000 scrubs per week.

Bethan Jones, of Bethan Jones Boutique, said:

“As the owner of boutiques in South Wales it is an honour for myself and my team of skilled staff to work in association with the NHS at this difficult time. In the fight against the COVID 19 virus it is vital that all front-line workers are protected. In the production of the necessary PPE, assurance is given that all the possible safety will be given to the wonderful people who risk their lives in the fight against the virus.”

Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport Lee Waters said:

“The response to the First Minister’s call for help in making PPE from Welsh companies has been fantastic.

“As a result we are currently self-sufficient in manufacturing scrubs in Wales for the first time, and the efforts of these three businesses will bolster that further.

“There are few positive stories as a result of this pandemic but bringing back overseas jobs producing critical medical equipment and anchoring them into our Welsh economy is most certainly one.

“Our healthcare heroes are doing an incredible job saving lives by providing high-quality care for people with coronavirus, and we will continue to do all we can to support and protect them.”

ENDS

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that £10m allocated to support recovered Coronavirus patients back home

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that £10m allocated  to support recovered Coronavirus patients back home

Speaking from his Morriston Office, Local AM, Mike Hedges said… ‘i am pleased that this funding has been provided by the Welsh Government to enable health and social care organisations help those who have been hospitalised by Corona Virus move back home. 

We are all aware of stories of elderly people remaining in hospital when medically they can be discharged; this funding will help ensure that care and support is available when people are ready to leave hospital, and they do not have to remain in hospital once they have recovered. I am sure that relatives will be relieved that loved ones will be home with them as soon as ready to leave hospital – with support and adaptions available to assist them.’

£10m of funding is being provided to Wales’ health and social care organisations to help get those recovered from Covid-19 home sooner.

Today’s announcement will fund new and enhanced home care packages to support patients to leave hospital for their ongoing assessment and recovery. It will also help fund crucial community services supporting the Covid-19 response that are helping people to stay at home safely.

The £10m will help provide for:

• The expansion of discharge from hospital schemes
• Additional capacity within the community to care for people discharged form hospital
• Maximising patients’ independence post Covid-19, including the purchasing of equipment for their home
• Enhanced community-based services to reduce pressure on primary and secondary care.

The aim is to limit unnecessary time in hospital settings and help prevent readmissions and new admissions.

Made available through Regional Partnership Boards that bring together Health Boards, local government and the third sector, the funding will be used to build upon or extend already established models of integrated care.

The £10m is in addition to £40m in support - announced earlier this month – which is available to Local Authorities to meet the additional costs for providers of adult social care.

The Health and Social Services Minister, Vaughan Gething, said:

“Our health and social care services and organisations are absolutely key in getting those who have recovered from Covid-19 back to where they should be - home. This funding will ensure that when they leave hospital, they are fully supported in a way which is right for individual needs. This is paramount.

“Across Wales there has been a clear and integrated collaborative approach; from point of admission, to enhancing community capacity, to optimising flow to free-up essential hospital capacity. The funding will ensure this continues as Covid-19 patients continue to recover and are released from hospital.

“I want to personally thank our health and social care workforce for their fantastic efforts in these challenging times, for protecting and supporting our nation.” 

ENDS

Notes:

MIKE HEDGES AM WELCOMES NEWS THAT THE WELSH GOVERNMENT IS DEVELOPING AN EV CHARGING STRATEGY.



Speaking from his Morriston Office, Swansea East AM said… ‘This is the third time I have raised the issue of electric charging points for vehicles in the last few months. Ensuring that there are sufficient charging points in public areas must be part of the future for electric vehicles across Wales. Not everyone is going to have a home charging point (e.g. if you live in terrace houses) and if electric vehicles are going to become the norm we need to put the infrastructure in place before people make the change. I look forward to studying the EV Charging Strategy mentioned in the Ministers Reply.

 Ken Skates –

You asked the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd during Business Statement on 21 January for an update on publicly available Electric Vehicle (EV) charging points. I have been asked to respond, as this falls under my portfolio.

As I have stated previously, we expect the vast majority of EV charging points will be delivered by the private sector. A recent report estimated the cost of rollout of EV charging infrastructure in the UK to be £49bn, so we have to ensure that we allocate public funding efficiently. That is why I have committed to developing an EV Charging Strategy this year, which will help to prioritise Welsh Government action to ensure that electric vehicle users in Wales are well served.

Tesla operate some charging stations which are for the exclusive use of their cars but they represent a small proportion of the total number of EV chargers. As noted in the debate, the number of charge points in Wales is increasingly rapidly to meet current and future demand.

More generally, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Act (July 2018) gives the UK Government powers to standardise payments, ensure key charge point information is made public, and compel deployment at motorway service stations. It also gives the UK Government the powers to ensure that charge points are ‘smart’ and able to respond to the needs of network operators and suppliers to manage demand. This may allow Government to introduce secondary legislation relating to interoperability in the future.

We will continue to liaise with the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and others to work to ensure the roll-out of accessible and convenient EV chargers in Wales

Mike Hedges AM welcomes Welsh Government announcement that Tennent rights are to be strengthened with new laws.

 

Speaking from his Senedd office, Swansea East AM Mike Hedges said… ‘I have long campaigned on Housing issues as I believe good quality housing to be one of the most basic of human needs. Recent years have seen the growth of the private rented sector and as I said in my speech, most landlords are decent people, in it for the right reasons, who maintain their properties and treat their tenants with respect. Sadly however, there are some rogue landlords who do not maintain properties and who are out to take advantage of situations to make money.

The new rules outlined by the Minister will provide a framework for ensuring that tenants are treated fairly and landlords must provide appropriate reasons when evicting someone. It increases security of tenor for tenants and will mean greater stability for children who might be faced with moving schools at short notice.  

Good landlords have nothing to fear from these new laws, rogue landlords are about to find life tougher.’

Mike Hedges AM - Can I thank the Minister for the statement? I believe that housing is one of the most important things that we have and I think that it really is important that the housing sector, both private, local authority, other social housing landlords and the private sector are all of a high standard.209

Most tenants and landlords have a good relationship. I mean, most landlords look after their properties and treat their tenants well, and I think, sometimes, when we start bringing in legislation, discussing these things, we give the impression that we think all landlords are bad. Also, most tenants pay their rent on time, look after the house, cause no problems to those living around them, and in a lot of places, including large parts of my constituency, you wouldn't know which houses were owner-occupied and which were lived in by people who were privately renting, some of whom do it for several years. And some of the nicer parts—. If I can go into your constituency, Minister, and if you go down into the marina, large numbers of properties there are privately rented, they're all of good quality, and there are no problems being caused by them, as I'm sure that you're more aware than I am of that.210

Unfortunately, there are some bad landlords and there are some bad tenants, and I've talked to people who have rented their houses out to get them back without any internal doors and semi-demolished. So, there are bad tenants. I've also seen people who are tenants living in properties where you could put your fist between the wall and the window frame. So, you've got bad people on both sides. I think we do need to acknowledge that.211

I welcome the fact you're ending retaliatory eviction. I think that was always the case: 'Please will you repair my house?' 'Get out in three months' was acting as a dissuader.212

I noticed you didn't make a mention of this in your statement, but, as you know, I'm very keen on smoke alarms, electrical and gas certificates and those checks. I mean, they're still in the Act, I understand. Are you going to say how often they have to be checked after they have been installed? Because that's something that a lot of people are very concerned about, in that they're checked once, but if somebody lives there nine or 10 years, are they going to be checked again? And that's a question, perhaps, that some of us who are owner-occupiers would ask ourselves: 'How often do we check our smoke alarms, make sure our gas is safe and check electrical safety?' So, I think some of us could certainly learn from that as well.213

The last question I've got is—. I mean, obviously the greater security is welcomed. You mentioned six months a lot during it. I'm not going to read them all out to you because the Deputy Presiding Officer, amongst others, wouldn't allow me to, but you mentioned six months a lot. Why have you chosen six months as opposed to three months or 12 months? I hear what you said about no-fault evictions, that you have to have reasons why people can be evicted even if they have no fault, but I think the general principle of no-fault evictions is one that many of us like and it means that, when people leave, it does show that they haven't been evicted for that. They can be evicted if somebody has to live in the house or the person who owns it goes bankrupt or whatever reason due to financial problems, but actually having it on the statute books that we support no-fault evictions is something I'm not quite sure why you don't want.

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that Swansea Council have given the go ahead for a futuristic building in Lower Oxford Street which will include greenhouses on the roof spaces.

Speaking from the Senedd, Chair of the Environment, Climate Change and Rural Affairs Committee, Swansea AM Mike Hedges said… ‘This is exactly the sort of new build that is going to regenerate the city centre with innovative schemes to enable residents to have green houses on the roof space. This scheme will be the first of its kind in South West Wales and will be the first of many. Making use of roof space to grow fruit and vegetables. I am pleased to see Swansea leading the way in this type of new development.’

A futuristic "living" building which will be home to plants, vegetables, fish and people has been given the go-ahead by Swansea councillors.

The Picton Yard scheme will transform the former city centre Woolworths store, and Picton Lane to the rear.

Greenhouses, terraces and rooftop gardens will sit above two floors of shops and offices.

A 12-storey tower at the rear will contain 44 flats, plus office and educational space lower down.

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that Swansea Council have given the go ahead for a futuristic building in Lower Oxford Street which will include greenhouses on the roof spaces.

Mike Hedges AM welcomes news that Swansea Council have given the go ahead for a futuristic building in Lower Oxford Street which will include greenhouses on the roof spaces.

Speaking from the Senedd, Chair of the Environment, Climate Change and Rural Affairs Committee, Swansea AM Mike Hedges said… ‘This is exactly the sort of new build that is going to regenerate the city centre with innovative schemes to enable residents to have green houses on the roof space. This scheme will be the first of its kind in South West Wales and will be the first of many. Making use of roof space to grow fruit and vegetables. I am pleased to see Swansea leading the way in this type of new development.’

A futuristic "living" building which will be home to plants, vegetables, fish and people has been given the go-ahead by Swansea councillors.
The Picton Yard scheme will transform the former city centre Woolworths store, and Picton Lane to the rear.
Greenhouses, terraces and rooftop gardens will sit above two floors of shops and offices.
A 12-storey tower at the rear will contain 44 flats, plus office and educational space lower down.

Mike Hedges AM welcomes announcement that Welsh government proposes to end ‘no fault’ evictions

Mike Hedges AM welcomes announcement that Welsh government proposes to end ‘no fault’ evictions

Speaking from his Swansea East Office, Mike Hedges AM said…. ‘I greatly welcome this announcement by the Welsh Government. People living in private sector rented accommodation often live with the threat of receiving a 2 month notice to vacate the property which can cause significant disruption to their family’s life.  People should be able to live with a degree of security, free from the worry of an eviction notice from the landlord. Giving people a 6 month notice period will give people greater security and time to find alternative accommodation. It is a reform that is long overdue’

The Renting Homes (Amendment) (Wales) Bill and the accompanying Explanatory Memorandum have today been introduced into the National Assembly.

The Bill will amend the Renting Homes (Wales) Act 2016 (“the 2016 Act”) to provide greater security for people who rent their homes in Wales. This will particularly affect those who live in the private rented sector and occupy their homes under a ‘standard occupation contract’, the equivalent to the current assured shorthold tenancy, after the 2016 Act comes into force.

This additional security will primarily be achieved by extending the minimum notice period for issuing a section 173 notice under the 2016 Act (the equivalent of the current section 21 notice under the Housing Act 1988) from two months to six months.  Landlords will also be prevented from issuing such a notice until at least six months from the date of occupancy, meaning that those renting their home will have a minimum of 12 months security of tenure from the outset of their contract (representing a doubling of the current position).  Further provisions will also ensure that landlords are unable to issue rolling ‘speculative’ notices on a ‘just in case’ basis, which can undermine the sense of security that those renting a home should be able to enjoy.