Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:47 pm on 14 June 2016.
I thank the Member for her contribution. I know that she represents Cynon Valley really well, and representing the many people who volunteer in her community; I also say ‘thank you’ to those. It was a rather sad indictment, really, that one of the fastest-growing businesses last year was food banks, and the fact of the matter is that I believe it is caused by austerity that we have to do this. But 40,000 people take time out to support each other in our community; we should, again, be very proud of that, and I place on record my thanks to the Trussell Trust food banks and all food banks that operate across our communities. It’s a very sad indictment that we need them, but we’ve got them and they’re run very well.
Community asset transfer is another element of complex programmes. What I’m keen to do—and this may sound challenging—I think we miss a trick because some of our communities that need these assets the most are the ones that are enabled. Actually, we have many aspects of community engagement where we have ex-professional retired people who can manage these organisations very well, but the communities where we don’t have these people living actually have the people who need them most, and that’s where we should be absolutely, deep-dive, looking at supporting our most vulnerable communities, where we should be encouraging more take-up of this.
The Member is absolutely right to raise the issue about well-being and mental health also. I said to Members earlier on that I think accessing volunteering gives people the softer option into possibly employment later on, but moving into a different space of building relationships with communities, with other individuals, when sometimes they may have had some very challenging personal issues themselves. So, I think volunteering is the correct route, and we should encourage all people from all walks of life. But, actually, with regard to the issue around supporting people with mental health issues, volunteering can be a great option.