Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. First of all, can I thank Janet for bringing this debate in front of us today, and also the other Members who have contributed, and those who have stayed here to listen to this important debate as well, on a very important topic? I also begin by paying tribute to the commissioner for older people, Sarah Rochira, who I met with early on in my...
Huw Irranca-Davies: It showed us that older people are, as has been mentioned in the opening remarks, particularly vulnerable to loneliness and isolation, and I'll come back to that in a moment. We all see that, by the way, as individual Assembly Members and in friends and neighbours and within our own communities, so I'll come back to that. We know from the assessment that there are increasing numbers of older...
Huw Irranca-Davies: I will indeed give way.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Indeed, I'll turn to that. He's foreshadowed some of the remarks I was going to come to, so bear with me and I'll come to that issue of what it looks like. The strategy, which encompasses the age-friendly communities, must promote the important role that older people play in society, including, as has rightly been remarked, those people who in older years want to continue working, and will...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Suzy, thank you very much for raising this important point. As well as raising this point, it would be worth mentioning the work of the cross-party group on sepsis, which has raised the importance of this, particularly across social care training as well, and I look forward to responding to that after discussion with my officials. We're all very aware now of the heightened awareness of...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much. Just to be clear, the figures that I have on the element of match funding are not the same. It certainly isn't 44 per cent. Of the £7.15 million funding to the regions to deliver social care training by Social Care Wales, I'm informed that 25 per cent of that—so, a quarter of that—is match funded by local authorities. But I'll go away and look at that figure of 44...
Huw Irranca-Davies: There two things. One is that there is no one answer to this—there are a multiplicity of ways in which we take this work forward—and secondly to say it won't be overnight. But you are absolutely right in saying that some of the issues that you've raised already are important. We are working with social care workers themselves to try and devise the right package of incentives that shows...
Huw Irranca-Davies: The observation is well made and we know the continuing times we are in with stretched budget pressures, and there's no point ignoring this place and stand on my feet and say that we can do remarkable miracles—we're working within the constraints that we have. What we do have in Wales, I have to say, is a very different approach to what we're doing within social care and with...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you, Dai. A couple of things here: one is that, as you know, in stark contrast to what has happened over the border—I don't want to compare with what's happened over the border—what we have done is, in health and social care combined, which is the approach that we're taking, based on the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 and other legislation here, about that idea of...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Well, Dai, thank you for raising that point. As you know, through not only the consultation that preceded this, which was quite extensive, but the bringing forward of the regulations—a wide range of regulations—part of this is also what we do with the nursing requirement, particularly in accommodation care settings. The traditional approach has been to say, in effect, 'If you can provide...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you very much. First, I'd like to start by congratulating Vikki Howells for securing an important debate here today in the Chamber.
Huw Irranca-Davies: A very important debate, and I thank Vikki as well for all her time and hard work in this policy area since she's arrived here, and her passion for championing inclusive play, both here and also in her own constituency, and others as well, as Jane has just reminded us. Thank you as well to Bethan and to Michelle for their contributions to this debate. It is a very welcome opportunity to...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Indeed. I will give way.
Huw Irranca-Davies: I'd be absolutely delighted to take that opportunity up because part of the challenge here is seeing what good looks like and then making sure that good appears everywhere right across the country, with partners on the ground, with every local authority. But the statutory underpinning is there; it's making sure now that that's delivered on consistently everywhere. And it will be diverse...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you to Vikki Howells for the opportunity to discuss inclusive play. It is important that we continue to work with our partners to ensure that our children can play in our communities. So thank you very much.
Huw Irranca-Davies: We can see that there's an agenda here to take forward, and I thank her and other Members present today for giving play this airing it deserves more frequently.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I move the motions, and, for obvious reasons, I urge Members to pay particularly close attention to every word I say, because I'm losing my voice. Firstly, the Social Care Wales (Specification Of Social Care Workers) (Registration) (Amendment) Regulations 2018 seek to alter existing regulations to open up the workforce register to domiciliary care workers from April...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Diolch, Simon. This young person's life was lost in the most tragic of circumstances and I think the publication of the review will be a difficult time for his family. They and we would expect Powys to expedite the necessary improvements to ensure that the very best care and support is always provided.
Huw Irranca-Davies: Can I thank Simon both for bringing this to our attention today, but also for the pertinent questions he's raised in his and others' continued focus on these very important matters? Let me deal with each of the points that he has raised. First of all, I just want to thank the young man's parents for their assiduity in pushing for this child practice review. There were different ways of taking...
Huw Irranca-Davies: On the latter point—thank you for those queries—indeed, if I could refer the Member to the quite extensive statement that we've made jointly today, because it signals the higher level of engagement that we now have directly with Powys on a corporate level, on a cultural level and on a leadership level, which goes beyond the sphere of purely social services. I thank my colleague for the...
