Carl Sargeant: I haven’t had a conversation with those particular organisations, but I will check to see whether my team have. In terms of the first point on local government reorganisation, I think what’s important is that there will be a consultation process, which Mark Drakeford will lead on, not myself, but I do have conversations with Mark about community resilience and what that looks like. I...
Carl Sargeant: Of course, and I think there are a couple of points there with regard to the independence of organisations. I and the Member meet many independent organisations that do a great job on a day-to-day basis in all of our communities, but we just can’t fund them all. But access to projects and access to influence is something that I would share with the Member in terms of developing well-being...
Carl Sargeant: Of course, I am aware of that event and I will give that some further consideration. As the Member will appreciate, my diary does get rather busy at times, but if I can come along, I will do so. I’m absolutely in the same space as the Member in terms of early intervention and prevention, but we’ve got to work on this together because if you come to us, saying, ‘Look, the waiting times...
Carl Sargeant: I thank the Member for her question. Our regional community cohesion co-ordinators and my community safety officials are working hard with our partners to provide reassurance. This includes monitoring and responding quickly to community tensions. In the longer term, we are working to foster cohesion, tolerance and respect, and to support communities to prevent hostility and extremism.
Carl Sargeant: Of course, and I regret heavily the fact that this person came from Cardiff and committed this tragic attack. Can I say that this isn’t a switch-on moment for us in Wales? We’ve been doing lots of work with our communities, and that one person was one of 3 million people that live in Wales. I’ve met with the senior police team, and I met with the faith forum this week as well, trying to...
Carl Sargeant: We have regular conversations, actually. The faith forum, which is chaired by the First Minister, often has discussions with representatives of the sector and who they are representing. In fact, I remember a discussion from the last meeting about a group that felt their voices weren’t as strong as they could be, and how we were going to address that, and what I’d like to do is make sure...
Carl Sargeant: Of course, and, as I said to Bethan Jenkins, this isn’t about one particular group of people. Actually, many of the referrals that come through the Prevent programme in Wales relate to far-right extremism as well, and that’s something I know the police are very keen to make sure they tackle, and front-line staff are given training to look at this in the public sector. The new Welsh...
Carl Sargeant: Thank you for the question. A wide-ranging engagement exercise was held with individuals, organisations and community groups across Wales on the Government’s new approach to resilient communities. It’s now for the lead bodies to engage with third sector delivery partners and local communities on their transition arrangements in line with our guidance.
Carl Sargeant: Indeed, and I am very familiar with that area. It wouldn’t be my first visit to Penparcau, indeed. I would ask the Member also to have a conversation with Hannah Blythyn, who is also very keen on developing structures. Flint castle is in a Communities First area in north Wales—again, people engaging in that sector of community, and embedding respect and opportunities in those fields. I...
Carl Sargeant: Well, I’m extremely proud of the Communities First programme that took place across our communities. The staff and volunteers across those programmes should be congratulated on what they did. They’ve stopped our communities getting poorer, from what I believe, and making sure that there is an opportunity to move on with the legacy funding that I announced earlier this year. It is now for...
Carl Sargeant: Our regeneration and infrastructure projects focus on tackling inequality. The community facilities programme, for example, provides capital grants for community-led projects.
Carl Sargeant: Well, I think the Member has several groups of individuals that he represents well, on the basis that they must come and see him on a weekly basis. But what I can say is that we introduced legislation here, which was the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, which embeds the principles of working together on exactly the issues that the Member raises today about co-production and...
Carl Sargeant: Thank you for the question. The Vibrant and Viable Places capital regeneration programme has been successful in providing support and investment across many communities across Wales. I will be announcing further details regarding a new capital regeneration programme shortly.
Carl Sargeant: Of course, the opportunities that the VVP programme has given have transformed some areas across Wales, and I will be giving that further consideration. My team didn’t believe that I would dare to say ‘Yabba Dabba Dare’ today in the Chamber, but I have, and I congratulate them again on the work that they have done in your community, making a real difference. The programme I intend to...
Carl Sargeant: I think David Melding was going to say ‘yabba dabba doo’ there at one point, if I was right. This is going to be great in translation, I would suggest. [Laughter.] But can I share with the Member that I think it was important that the VPP scheme did have a focus on housing regeneration alongside the general regeneration of a particular area. It still is a priority for this Government....
Carl Sargeant: Of course, the Member is right to raise the issue that there are many areas across Wales that need regeneration input in terms of some finance. But what I’m cautious not to do is spread the jam too thinly so that everybody gets a little bit but actually it doesn’t make as big an impact as it should do. I want that to be determined locally, so local authorities have those decisions. Of...
Carl Sargeant: Lead delivery bodies have developed detailed transition plans.
Carl Sargeant: Well, I’m very surprised by the Member’s question in detail, because Faith in Families have been running a media campaign since October announcing—warning—that they’ll have to make staff redundancies and close the new community hub in St Teilo’s once their Communities First funding ends. So, I’m really surprised that they’re telling you that they don’t know about transition...
Carl Sargeant: Flying Start and Families First work with the whole family, taking an individualised, tailored, and flexible approach to engage and support both fathers and mothers. Many services also provide dedicated support specifically adapted to the particular needs of fathers, including non-resident fathers.
Carl Sargeant: I think it’s regrettable, Presiding Officer, that the Member suggests that my answer was dishonest in respect of that. I would suggest that the Member—. I refer the Member to my first response. Supporting both fathers and mothers to adopt positive parenting behaviour is an integral part of Flying Start and Families First, and I’m extremely proud of the work that they do across all the...
