Carl Sargeant: Our programme for government, ‘Taking Wales Forward’, makes clear our commitment to supporting armed forces veterans in Wales, which includes those living in Caerphilly.
Carl Sargeant: I think the Member raises a very important point there. I was pleased last week to be at the launch of the Veterans’ Gateway service, a one-stop shop for veterans and family members to access services and support in place. Of course, there are lots of agencies that veterans can be signposted to. We have a cross-cutting theme across Government in terms of supporting veterans, and I’m...
Carl Sargeant: I’m glad the Member raised that very issue today. I was at the launch of the Nantgarw event only last week, and it was well attended, and, of course, I know your colleague Darren Millar does an awful lot with the armed forces, too, in the cross-party group. I would say this very important 24-hour helpline is an important one, and I was very pleased to show my support when the launch was...
Carl Sargeant: I thank the Member for his question. We are proud to contribute annual funding support to deliver Armed Forces Days in both north and south Wales.
Carl Sargeant: Of course, and I pay tribute to the many reservists and armed forces families and serving personnel, right the way across the UK and the world. We should be very proud of our history and support for them. I know the First Minister attended the Caerphilly event also with the Member, and we’re very pleased again to make support for that. I’ve recently been informed that next year, Conwy...
Carl Sargeant: Of course, and we have the armed forces covenant in place right across Wales, and the UK, actually, and all local authorities are taking part in that. It is based locally. We have free swimming for some veterans in areas that the Welsh Government support. I take advice from the ministerial advisory group for the armed forces, and they certainly tell me about how welcome they feel in Wales and...
Carl Sargeant: Of course, and what I can say is that, in Wales, we are very much at the forefront of delivery for our veterans and armed forces families, and we have many schemes in place. We invest £585,000 per annum into the veterans’ NHS scheme, working purely with veterans to access services—2,900 referrals through the scheme received. Also, I would ask the Member to perhaps put her influence into...
Carl Sargeant: I’m very pleased I can count on the support of the UKIP Members in taking forward our legislation on letting agency fees, which it is our intention to introduce, as the First Minister make clear yesterday. The sticking point was purely that of displacement of cost, and we would have to be convinced that the displacement of cost wasn’t attributed to the rents by letting agents. I know many...
Carl Sargeant: I’ve issued several statements on the childcare pledge, and I’m really looking forward to the start of that programme developing from September of this year. Indeed, in Blaenau Gwent, in my colleague Alun Davies’s constituency, the whole of Blaenau Gwent will be considered as a pilot scheme, and, therefore, our young children having free childcare places for working parents. This is the...
Carl Sargeant: Let me give reassurance to the Member again: there is no difficulty in terms of responsibility within the Welsh Government on this. I am the lead Minister on this, including the building regulations side, and the fire risk to any properties in Wales. I have had several meetings with the UK Government, and my Scottish and English counterparts, on this. This is a very live issue, which we are...
Carl Sargeant: I think the Member’s being rather overzealous in her questioning to me. I was very clear to her: I had one discussion with the prisons Minister prior to his announcement, which was on the day. Indeed, my team, and a team of other officials from another department, were engaged with the prisons Minister’s department in terms of deciding and offering sites that were available right across...
Carl Sargeant: I think what the Member is trying to relate to is the fact that, trying to develop an argument that this is our project. It isn’t our project. And it’s the same exactly with any other business investment that comes to Wales, whether that’s private or public sector. An engagement process takes place on land availability, and that is an action that takes place on a daily, weekly basis...
Carl Sargeant: Okay. Let’s take the two points that the Member raises. First of all, the Member’s incorrect in her assertion that I had an option in terms of the land issue regarding the prison. The Member said that we would discuss this at a further date, and I am more than happy to do that. The second point, and a very important one with regard to fire safety, is that my understanding, through...
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...
