Huw Irranca-Davies: Thank you all very much for some excellent contributions. I won't be able to do them all justice because they were so detailed and so extensive. It shows the complexity of the challenges we have in this area of tackling isolation and loneliness, but also the fact that we need to do this in an intelligent and a comprehensive and joined-up way. What brought this home to me—as I suspect for...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Joyce, thank you very much. I think any Minister who stands in a position like this and says, 'We will be able to rule this out, any eventuality like this ever happening again', would be an unwise Minister. But it is within our power, both through the messages that we've just heard, through the frameworks that we've set in place—and do bear in mind that, within Wales, we're in some ways...
Huw Irranca-Davies: Yes, indeed. Thank you, Neil. You're right in drawing attention to some of the key parts of the report that say, for example, that professionals need to feel confident—to feel confident—when working with parents who are perceived as challenging and to be more empathetic in working with families, that all professionals need to have up-to-date knowledge of new guidance and legislation, and...
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...
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: 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: 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: 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: 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 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: 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, 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: 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: 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: 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: 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: I will indeed give way.
