SENEDD Members called for annual health checks for firefighters in Wales, with a study showing instances of cancer are up to 323% higher than the general population.

Luke Fletcher, who has been campaigning on the issue over the past two years, led a debate in the Senedd on a cross-party motion calling for urgent action.

“The dangers our firefighters face do not end once the flames are out,” said Mr Fletcher.

“Fire creates a cocktail of toxic chemicals that are known to increase the risk of cancers and other life-threatening illnesses.”

The Plaid Cymru politician pointed to research commissioned by the Fire Brigades Union, showing firefighters aged 35 to 39 faced an age-specific cancer rate up to 323% higher.

Mr Fletcher added: “Firefighters serving 15 years or more were almost twice as likely to develop cancer than those who served less time.”

Calling for urgent reform to safeguard firefighters’ health, he said: “Across the world, countries like the US, Canada and Australia have recognised the link between exposure to toxic effluents and the increased incidence of cancer among firefighters.

“Legislation in these countries ensures firefighters not only receive workplace compensation when illness strikes but also have access to routine medical monitoring, designed to catch illnesses early. Yet here in Wales, as across the UK, little such support exists.”

Mr Fletcher criticised Welsh ministers for not committing to a specific health monitoring programme: “Every delay now carries consequences and we just need to get on with it.

“Further delays simply translate into more deaths due to cancer. The evidence is there, the stories are there – and the risk is very real.”

He concluded: “Quite simply, it is the right thing to do, to do right by our fire service people and the families who have lost loved ones because of this occupational risk.”

Altaf Hussain, a surgeon-turned-Senedd Member, said: “Firefighters regularly put their health on the line to deal with threats to ours and we regularly let them down.”

The Conservative added: “We, at the very least, owe this service a commitment to do everything to minimise and mitigate the risk of the job.

“That includes ensuring they are protected from toxins as well as monitored for exposure. This is not an issue that should be left to individual fire and rescue authorities.”

Rhys ab Owen, who sits as an independent, said: “The issues raised in this report cannot be kicked down the road for the next government to resolve. The risk, the danger and the responsibility sit firmly at the government’s door – and action must be taken.”

Responding to the May 14 debate for the Welsh Government, Jayne Bryant said ministers support the Fire Brigades Union campaign to reduce the risk of cancers firefighters face.

The housing and local government secretary told the Senedd all three fire and rescue services in Wales provide regular fitness and medical checks.

But Ms Bryant, whose responsibilities include fire services, stated the UK National Screening Committee does not recommend targeted screening programmes based on occupation.

She said Isabel Oliver, who was appointed the chief medical officer for Wales In January, will work with experts and relevant UK bodies to consider the evidence

“I’d like to reassure the Senedd that we remain fully committed to addressing these risks as effectively as possible,” she said. “We will continue to work in social partnership with employers and unions to do so.”

Senedd Members voted 30-0 in favour of the motion, with 14 Labour members and the Conservatives’ Tom Giffard abstaining.

SENEDD Members warned “something must be done” with smartphones causing disruption in classrooms and fuelling mental health problems among pupils.

Carolyn Thomas, who chairs the petitions committee, led a debate in the Senedd on May 14 amid a growing chorus of calls for restrictions on mobile phone use in schools.

The committee launched an inquiry in response to a 3,369-name petition submitted by Zena Blackwell, publishing a report with recommendations for the Welsh Government.

Ms Thomas told the Senedd her committee found no clear consensus, urging Welsh ministers to introduce national guidance rather than an outright ban.

Pointing out that 83% of children have a smartphone by Year 6, she said: “Classroom teachers… told us phones cause all sorts of problems in schools, we heard some quite shocking evidence on this.”

But she raised evidence from the children’s commissioner, NSPCC, Barnardo’s, and Parents Voices in Wales, which all expressed concerns about a ban.

The Labour politician, who represents North Wales, pointed to evidence from Diabetes UK that smartphones help children manage their condition throughout the schoolday.

Ms Thomas added that exemptions could be required for young carers and disabled or neurodivergent children who may similarly rely on their smartphones.

“We all struggle with the addictive nature of phones,” she said. “There’s the strong argument that children are that much more vulnerable and need greater protection.

“But they also need to learn how to safely function in a digital world. Legislators, and society in general, are still struggling to find the right answers.”

She said: “The evidence base is still quite limited but growing all the time. As a committee, we felt strongly that ‘something has to be done’ but actions need to be evidence-based.”

Calling for guidance to ensure a consistent approach across the country, she emphasised the importance of parental engagement and being mindful of teachers’ workloads.

South Wales East MS Natasha Asghar, the Conservatives’ shadow education secretary, similarly said: “We cannot continue with the… status quo – something needs to give.”

But Ms Asghar went further than the committee in supporting an outright ban on smartphones, save for exceptional circumstances such as medical needs.

She told the Senedd: “Mobile phones can indeed be a major distraction, taking our students’ focus away from learning, which is exactly what schools are for.”

Ms Asghar pointed to research showing pupils in schools with an effective ban achieved GCSE results up to two grades higher compared to children in schools with laxer policies.

Criticising plans to let Welsh schools set their own restrictions, she said: “The evidence shows that simply doesn’t work, with one in eight pupils saying schools never confiscate phones even when rules forbidding them are indeed ignored.”

With more and more countries “waking up to the damage phones are doing in our schools”, Ms Asghar called for a non-ambiguous approach to ensure consistency.

She said: “I believe a ban, which sees phones locked up at the start of each school day in lockers and retrieved at the end of the day, is the best approach. It’s the right thing for teachers, it’s the right thing for children and it’s the right thing for parents.”

Cefin Campbell, Plaid Cymru’s shadow education secretary, suggested national guidance with local implementation by schools would be the best way ahead.

Mr Campbell said: “We have to strike the right balance… between not harming learners – and there is evidence, of course, that that’s happening – and, on the other hand, preparing them for the technical world we live in today.”

John Griffiths emphasised the importance of considering screen use at home as well as in school, with children from “alarmingly” young ages spending a lot of time on smartphones.

The Labour Senedd Member, who represents Newport East, expressed concerns about psychologists being drafted in to make mobile phone games as addictive as possible.

“I see evidence of that in my own family, as I’m sure just about everyone else does,” he said.

Rhys ab Owen, an independent member of the petitions committee, agreed phones can be more of a problem at home with children staying up late at night. “Very often that’s when the bullying happens, at home rather than at school,” he said.

Backing an outright ban, the Tories’ Gareth Davies raised restrictions introduced by France from 2018 with a “digital pause” seeing pupils hand over phones at the start of the day.

Lynne Neagle set out the Welsh Government’s formal response to the report, accepting three of the committee’s five recommendations in full and the other two in principle.

Wales’ education secretary said: “Like the committee, I recognise that an outright national ban does not allow the space for schools to manage the needs of their learners.

“Our approach has always been to give schools autonomy to make decisions on the use of mobile phones… however, I also recognise the need for additional support.”

Ms Neagle told the Senedd an expert group will examine mobile phone use, developing national guidance and exemptions alongside the wider school community.

SENEDD members voted down Conservative calls to cut taxes for 1.7 million people in Wales.

Sam Rowlands said his party would use devolved tax powers to put more money back into people’s pockets, saying the average working family would be £450 a year better off as a result.

The shadow finance secretary explained the Conservatives would cut the basic rate of income tax by 1p, with people paying 19% in the £12,571 to £50,270 band.

The Tory motion also called on the Welsh Government to restore tax relief for the hospitality sector to 75% and abolish business rates altogether for small companies.

Mr Rowlands told the Senedd: “We believe people up and down Wales know how to spend their money better than the government does.”

But Heledd Fychan, Plaid Cymru’s shadow finance secretary, warned deep cuts to public services would be needed to find almost £300m for such an income tax cut.

She said: “Unfortunately, although we have bidden farewell to the Tories from 10 Downing Street, any hope for change with the arrival of a Labour government has also been dashed.

“The pledges of no additional taxes on working people and no more austerity have been utterly demolished by their actions.”

Labour’s Mike Hedges argued: “Taxation is the price we pay for being part of a civilised society. We cannot have Scandinavian-quality public services and American levels of taxes.”

He added: “It’s not by random chance or serendipity that those countries with the highest tax levels have the best public services, and those with the lowest tax levels are the poorest.”

Finance secretary Mark Drakeford began by referencing Winston Churchill’s response when asked about the message voters had given the Conservatives by booting them out in 1945.

“He replied by saying he thought the electorate had said to the Conservative Party it needed to be a very long time before they heard from them again,” the finance secretary said.

“That was good advice in 1945 and it’s very good advice 80 years later.

“If there’s any topic on which the Welsh public was entitled to a period of silence from the Conservative Party, then surely it was the economy. Because here is a party that gave the people of Wales austerity, … Brexit, the party that raised taxes to a 70-year high.”

Prof Drakeford told the Senedd the Tory motion would cost the public purse £660m in total.

“We heard the pretence that all that money… can be found from waste,” he said. “The last refuge of any economic scoundrel, it seems to me, that idea.”

The former first minister rejected the notion of closing overseas offices as he made a case for inward investment and economic growth.

He said: “The other idea I heard was that it was to come from the Heads of the Valleys road… there is no saving at all to be made from that bright idea.”

“Instead, the money will have to come from social services for older people, services for children in care, support for bus services, cuts to childcare and to colleges, cuts to support for businesses, cuts to housing support and homelessness services.

“There is no way at all – in the real world of government – that the budget consequences of this motion could be accommodated without harm.”

Prof Drakeford urged members to “vote to put the original motion out of its misery”.

Darren Millar, leader of the Tory opposition, hit back, saying: “Well, as entertaining as they are, I will take no lectures from Professor Drakeford.”

Replying to the debate on May 14, he accused Labour of trashing the economy: “We’ve got taxes going up, unemployment going up, growth going down, new jobs tax, new inheritance taxes for people to pay, new tourism taxes on the way and massive hikes in council tax.”

Mr Millar warned taxpayers are getting increasingly less in return, with cuts to bin collections, libraries and public toilets as well as more potholes and litter on the streets.

“It is totally unacceptable and that’s why we need to see a change,” he said. “I am proud to say I’m a Conservative because I believe in low taxation, unlike the parties on the left whose instinct is to tax anything that moves or anything that thrives and to choke the life out of it.”

Senedd members voted 33-12 against the Tory motion before the Welsh Government’s “delete all” amended version was agreed, 23-13 with nine abstaining.