Carl Sargeant: I thank the Member for her contribution. Clearly, she wrote the contribution prior to my making this statement, because all of the things I listed in the statement were what the Member didn’t mention. Purely politicising poverty is not the way to go forward, and the Member should know better about that. The Member started off by making reference to when I made statements back in 2011....
Carl Sargeant: Thank you, Presiding Officer. In October I set out my vision for a new approach to building resilient communities focused on employment, early years and empowerment. This ambition flows from the Government’s core commitment to investing in the prosperity of our nation: generating new jobs, creating 100,000 all-age apprenticeships, piloting a new Better Jobs, Closer to Home project,...
Carl Sargeant: Building resilient communities is the work of Welsh Government as a whole. We are committed to prosperity for all, a stronger economy that creates sustainable, quality employment opportunities and is accessible to all, delivered through a new joined-up approach that tackles individual issues through wider action. Llywydd, we will make the most of enabling and once-in-a-lifetime schemes and...
Carl Sargeant: The Member’s absolutely right. I was going to come onto that, in terms of the biggest influence in the early years of a child’s life being the parenting, and the process around what we can do to support a quality environment to support parents. We want to do that. We’re supporting that through our ‘Parenting. Give it time.’ programme, but there’s more we can do in that space. We...
Carl Sargeant: Indeed. Yes, of course.
Carl Sargeant: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Can I start by thanking Lynne Neagle for leading this debate today? It is a topic that’s close to my heart too, and I’m very grateful for the very powerful contribution that you’ve brought to the Chamber this evening. First of all, I’d also like to recognise the work of the Chair of the Children, Young People and Education Committee. The committee...
Carl Sargeant: I thank the Member for all her questions. I’m aware of DangerPoint and I visited there a number of years ago with the Deputy Presiding Officer, Ann Jones, in her constituency—a great programme, and, again, funded by many charities and businesses in that area. It works very effectively and I pay tribute to them. The Member raised many issues there around operational issues around the...
Carl Sargeant: Male champions are really an important part in terms of dealing with domestic violence and there are many fellow colleagues in this Chamber who champion this very issue. I, again, would encourage them to make a stand where we should do to support this very important process. The police deal with many issues, from school liaison officers to talking to our young people about well-being...
Carl Sargeant: I thank the Member for her comments. Wales is absolutely leading the way in the way we deal with youth justice. As I said to Mark Isherwood earlier on, the Charlie Taylor review is not helpful in terms of positioning a different opportunity for the UK to take forward, and I think, actually—. The Minister said to me in London, ‘Actually, we could learn something from Wales here’, which...
Carl Sargeant: I thank the Member for her concise questions. Indeed, on the issue around police and crime commissioners, I meet them on a regular basis, and also meet the chief officers. You’re right to raise the issue around the hate that is being perpetrated by many right-wing individuals. It’s something that the police are very keen to clamp down on. In addition to that, we invest around CONTEST and...
Carl Sargeant: I thank the Member for his wide-ranging questions. [Laughter.] I was rapidly running out of space on my page then, but I will try and cover most of the points that the Member raised. Can I start with his first point, and the Charlie Taylor review in terms of youth justice services? I have made the Welsh Government’s view very clear to the UK Government on Charlie Taylor’s report. I...
Carl Sargeant: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. The safety and security of our communities has always been a priority. This Government is committed to making our communities even safer in the future, and ‘Taking Wales Forward’ sets out our priorities for community safety for the next five years. Specifically, we will build on our work to address violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, and...
Carl Sargeant: Indeed, and the Member’s right to raise the issue. Empowerment isn’t about restricting it to class or culture; this is about all-inclusiveness. Interestingly, the Member Julie Morgan raised this very issue with me yesterday about the Unity Project. I understand it’s a project that was funded by the Big Lottery Fund. I think it came to an end yesterday, if I’m right in thinking, but I...
Carl Sargeant: Of course, and I said earlier on to a previous question what our vision is in terms of building resilient communities, and what is about economic regeneration, jobs and growth and what is about well-being. I’ve already had discussions with the Cabinet Secretary for health and other Ministers across the department about how we look at our funding streams and move into a prevention and early...
Carl Sargeant: I think the Member is absolutely right to raise this issue. The principles that the Government is working on are based on the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, about making sure that we can build this jigsaw together, but also put a picture on it so that we know and understand what the future looks like for our communities and our families across where we represent. The metro...
Carl Sargeant: I thank the Member for Monmouth for his question. My priorities for strengthening communities focus on three key areas: early years, employment and empowerment. I am currently considering views from a broad programme of engagement on a new approach to building resilient communities. I will make a further statement in due course.
Carl Sargeant: I can offer warm words; I can’t offer finances, unfortunately. It would be dishonest of me to say that, but I thank all of these organisations that step into the void sometimes where people are in need, and the third sector organisations are in the right place to deliver that; they understand communities very well. So, as much as I’d like to support all of the organisations in Wales, it...
Carl Sargeant: Indeed. I thank the Member for his question. The Red Cross and St John Ambulance both do some terrific work across Wales, and I would say—I don’t have the details of numbers for the Red Cross, specifically, in Wales—a big thank you to them. And the UK Government should be saying a big thank you to the Red Cross too. During the crisis that appeared over the border in a health setting,...
Carl Sargeant: The conversations I have with the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and CVCs are important ones on the basis that I know that if we didn’t have volunteers in our communities, statutory services would collapse; we wouldn’t be able to deliver the things that we want to do together. That’s why I value the work that these organisations do. But I’m under no illusion that what we have to...
Carl Sargeant: Thank you for your question. Almost 1 million people in Wales volunteer in some way every year, and their contribution to society is invaluable. I want to say a big thank you to them. I also want to give a big thumbs up to the Robins in your constituency. I’m sure if we could do three cheers, they’d have them here, but, indeed, Jayne, I’m grateful for your raising this with me today,...
