Julie Morgan: Thank you very much for that wholehearted endorsement of this plan. I think your response is as usual, but, in any case, I welcome the fact that you want to work with us on this. I am sure that the Member heard me say that the detailed implementation plan will be introduced in August, so I think perhaps he had better wait to see that before he goes much further in his criticism of, in...
Julie Morgan: Diolch. I'm pleased to update Members on one of the vital areas of work that the Welsh Government is undertaking, to promote the rights and entitlements of some of the most vulnerable and often overlooked groups in our communities: people with learning disabilities, their families and carers. Following on from our groundbreaking Improving Lives programme, which ended in March 2021, I want to...
Julie Morgan: So, firstly, let me restate my commitment to making sure that all neurodiverse children, young people and adults, along with their parents and carers, have access to the services and the care they need. There is a lot to do, I absolutely acknowledge that, but we have taken big strides in moving forward, and this includes the success of the integrated autism service that is providing...
Julie Morgan: Diolch, Llywydd, for the opportunity to respond to this debate. Firstly, I'd like to thank my colleague Hefin for putting forward this really important topic. I know there is a lot of interest in the Chamber on this topic. Obviously this is so personal to him, and I'd like to thank him very much for sharing his personal experiences with all of us here today. Diolch, Hefin. I do recognise the...
Julie Morgan: I thank Mark Isherwood for that very important question. As I said in my response, we have commissioned a large-scale evaluation of the 2014 Act carried out by the University of South Wales. There have already been several reports about the process and the experience of implementation, and I think the conclusion from all the work that's been done is that the principles and what's behind the...
Julie Morgan: We are monitoring the implementation of the Act through a range of mechanisms. We are collecting data as part of the performance and improvement framework and undertaking an evaluation of the Act. I will be publishing the final evaluation report later this year.
Julie Morgan: Thank you for that contribution. I want to absolutely assure you that there is no lack of respect for all those ancillary workers in the care homes; we absolutely respect what they do and have acknowledged that by the two previous payments that we have made. But, as I said in response to the previous question, this is aimed specifically at registered social care workers, and those groups of...
Julie Morgan: Thank you. I thank Gareth Davies for that question, that supplementary question. Schemes in 2020 and 2021 provided payments of £500 and £735 to a wider of range of workers in the social care sector, including those valuable workers that he's mentioned: the cleaners, the cooks, the gardeners—everybody in the care system. These payments were to recognise the extraordinary commitment of...
Julie Morgan: Thank you. The additional payment scheme is aligned to our introduction of the real living wage. It demonstrates our commitment to further improving terms and conditions and career structures for registered care workers. Ancillary staff deliver highly valuable roles, but are not registered care workers, and therefore are not in scope for this scheme.
Julie Morgan: —and we'll continue to work in partnership to develop actions for the childcare and play sector, because I think this is an absolutely crucial sector. So, in conclusion—I think there are lots of other points that I would like to cover, but in conclusion, the Government is absolutely committed to extending childcare. We believe that free childcare should be available to all those...
Julie Morgan: The Welsh Government has always had a strong focus on children. Successive Governments have placed the rights and needs of children high on the agenda, from the appointment of the first Children's Commissioner for Wales in the UK to leading on the promotion of children's play and the introduction of a child-centred curriculum. The Welsh Government values Wales's children and young people and...
Julie Morgan: Thank you, and I would like to start by thanking the committee and my colleagues for participating in this important debate.
Julie Morgan: I think this has been an absolutely great debate, and it's been so good to hear from everybody and people's personal experiences and the great commitment that has been shown in this Chamber and by the committee to expanding childcare and recognising its importance, because I think wherever you live or the circumstances you're born into should not determine your future. We need to have high...
Julie Morgan: Thank you very much for that question, and thank you for your recognition of the importance of the £500 payment to the carers who will be eligible for it. I think that the point you raised is very important, because we know that unpaid carers did manage, in some cases, through the whole of the pandemic without having any additional support at all. In fact, some of them didn't take any...
Julie Morgan: Today I announced a £500 payment for over 57,000 unpaid carers across Wales who are in receipt of carers allowance. Also, unpaid carers in north Wales continue to benefit from the additional £10 million we allocated for a range of carer support services in 2021-22, including £3 million for respite.
Julie Morgan: We are working to improve recruitment and retention in social care through a national recruitment campaign. Our real living wage commitment and the new rebalancing care and support programme will be working at both a national and regional level to strengthen arrangements for commissioning social care services across Wales.
Julie Morgan: Thank you very much, Joyce, for your support for this legislation. I absolutely agree with your introduction, where you say it is right for the state to intervene, and the importance of the state protecting its citizens, I think, is absolutely crucial, and who could be more important to protect than the children? I think you're also right in saying that, if we weren't doing this, we would be...
Julie Morgan: Diolch, and thank you very much for that heartfelt support for this Act, and also for recognising that this is a historic moment. In terms of the points that you made, I think it's important to stress that everyone's ability to protect children will be improved by this Act. This Act was widely welcomed by all the health professionals—the health visitors, the doctors—and everybody who...
Julie Morgan: Yes. There was a YouGov survey yesterday that showed that 68 per cent of the public in England thought that this legislation should be introduced in England, and I think that you'll find that this is the way the mood is going. There was a time when physical punishment was accepted, but now, in all our surveys it shows that younger parents, younger families don't even consider physically...
Julie Morgan: I think this is a fantastic move by the Welsh Government. It has committed itself to children, and we're also in tune with the public. There was a survey—[Interruption.]
