Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Presiding Officer. Today’s debate provides me with an opportunity to confirm the Welsh Government’s commitment to supporting disabled children and their families, and to talk about the significant investment we’re making to ensure that they receive the services and support they need. The Family Fund is one element of the support that we have put in place, and it must be seen...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I move the motion. The amendment regulations before you support the implementation of the Social Services and Well-being Act 2014. They relate to the functions in Part 2 of that Act concerning the production of area plans. Along with supporting statutory guidance, these were subject to a 12-week consultation, which closed on 3 October, to which there were...
Rebecca Evans: We’ve continued to protect social care with significant funding. An additional £55 million has been made available for social care in 2017-18, and this includes the £20 million for social care announced earlier this week. We have also provided £60 million for the integrated care fund.
Rebecca Evans: Well, the majority of funding, as you’ll know, provided by the Welsh Government to local authorities is unhypothecated through the revenue support grant, so that does give local authorities the freedom to spend this funding according to their own priorities and their own needs that they’ve found. But, it’s important to recognise that specific grants do have a role to play in ensuring...
Rebecca Evans: Taking Wales Forward’ sets out our commitment to embed healthy living in all of our programmes and to publish a ‘healthy and active’ strategy. This will build on our current legislation, programmes, and work across Government that aim to support people to make healthier choices.
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for that question. Over many years we have seen some good success in terms of reducing smoking levels in Wales. Actually, fewer people now smoke in Wales than have done since records began, but I think it’s fair to say that we still have some way to go. In order to move towards getting to our target of 16 per cent by 2020, we’ve established a new tobacco control strategic...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. Lawrence Conway has agreed to remain as interim chair for the remainder of the year, and I will shortly announce an interim vice-chair to be appointed from within the existing board membership. This will provide stability and continuity to the leadership of Sport Wales.
Rebecca Evans: I thank you very much for those questions and for the opportunity to address them in the Chamber. I think it’s helpful if I start by reminding Members as to how we got to this point today. A number of issues were raised in the lead-up to the vote of no confidence that was taken in the chair of Sport Wales in November, and during the course of the assurance review undertaken by my officials....
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions. I think that it is fair to say that Welsh Government has taken appropriate action at every step along the way since we were first notified of concerns within the board of Sport Wales, very shortly before the vote of no confidence in the chair that was undertaken back in November. So, I am confident that at every step we have taken appropriate action, and that...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions. I have to say that I don’t time my announcements for the convenience of Gareth Bennett or any other Assembly Member; and I have to say that I didn’t want the process to take any longer than it had to, and I didn’t want it to drag on for the benefit of all the people concerned as well. You suggested that this is a bad-news story, but actually, I think...
Rebecca Evans: I can confirm that I will certainly use the regular process for appointing a chair for Sport Wales. I think it is important now, though, that the organisation does have some period of stability. I should also say that I plan to use my power under the governance code on public appointments to appoint an interim chair without competition while a recruitment campaign is undertaken to fill that...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. I’d like to begin by joining the other speakers in thanking the petitioners who raised this important issue, and also put on record my thanks to the Petitions Committee for its thoughtful consideration of the matter and its report and recommendations, and also all the speakers in the debate for their thoughtful and powerful contributions. Ovarian cancer can affect women at any...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you and I’d like to thank Steffan Lewis for raising this important topic and for promoting this debate today. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE is a progressive, degenerative disease of the brain found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including recurrent episodes of concussion or repeated blows to the head. The potential for links between the condition and...
Rebecca Evans: The evaluation strategy for the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act will be published in the autumn. It will set out how the impact of the Act on children and young people will be evaluated, with a particular focus on those who need care and support or are carers themselves.
Rebecca Evans: Thank you. It’s now a year since the landmark Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 came into force and we are seeing the way care is being delivered on the ground being transformed to meet the needs of the individual. People have a stronger voice in improving their well-being and deciding what support they need to help them live independently. Care is being co-ordinated with the...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions. I’m very familiar with the Track the Act campaign from Carers Wales, and I actually really welcome the input and the constructive challenge that they are providing us, and the positive engagement of the third and voluntary sector in the whole co-productive approach that we have through the social services and well-being Act, working in partnership with us...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you for those questions. I’ll start by recognising, as you did, the great, important strides that we’ve made in terms of improving adoption services in Wales. Also, just to update Members, the National Adoption Service, as one of its priorities, is seeking improvements in life story work and adoption support as well, because we know that those are things that are really important...
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those questions, and I’ll start on safeguarding. Carl Sargeant and I work really closely on all aspects where our portfolios do have crossover, and there are quite a few, particularly with regard to the Act. But on safeguarding particularly, I most recently met with Carl Sargeant last week to talk about safeguarding, particularly, actually, within the sporting field....
Rebecca Evans: Thank you very much for those questions, and I’ll deal with the last issues you raised first, in terms of what we’re doing to ensure that social care in Wales is safe, and that has to be absolutely the starting point in terms of ensuring that care is safe. CSSIW does a series of inspections and undertakings in all care settings across Wales, and they do a very good job in terms of...
Rebecca Evans: I thank you for those questions. I’ll begin on the point that you made about access teams. Access teams are really important in terms of the gateway to all that the Act can offer individuals, especially through the assessment for all care and support needs, and so on. I’m aware that various different organisations have expressed concern that perhaps the access groups aren’t fully aware...
