3. 2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:39 pm on 18 October 2016.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 2:39, 18 October 2016

Can I call for two statements, please? Firstly, on community safety in Wales, following the Auditor General for Wales’s report of that name, launched today. This says, rightly:

‘Community safety relates to people’s sense of personal security and their feelings of safety in relation to where they live, work and spend their leisure time.’

But it goes on to say:

‘The Welsh Government has no single strategy for community safety and has focussed its activity on delivering the Programme for Government. Whilst all local authorities and the four Police and Crime Commissioners have plans, these are not consistently aligned to ensure the best use of resources and maximise impact and there are no areas where national, regional and local bodies have the same priority. Disjointed planning and poor co-ordination can create a risk of organisations either duplicating activity or no one focussing on the most important issues.’

And they recommend that you, with the police and crime commissioners and local authorities,

‘improve strategic partnership working by formally creating effective community-safety boards’ to replace the current mechanism. This is clearly important. It’s received, rightly, widespread attention today and it does merit a Welsh Government response to this Assembly before we hear a more detailed response outside it.

Secondly, on a theme we’ve heard much about today, I call for a Welsh Government statement on its proposals, as we look ahead, for autism legislation. I’ve had, since the vote last week, some distressing reports to me of people who have self-harmed. There is a letter to the Senedd from the Autistic Women’s Empowerment Project, which says:

‘This week the Welsh Assembly, a beautiful, swoopy glass building, voted against an Autism Act for Wales. 24 to 27. So close. So few minds to change to change my world, but change they did not. Why oh why would we need such a thing? An act just for autism? An act of autism? An enactment of autisming? Because of me. Because of people like me. Because of my autistic community, my people and their families and carers. Because it matters.’

She concludes:

‘Wales, I love you. I adore you. Your people, your greenness, your mountains, your valleys. Only you know my hiraeth when I’m not here. Nowhere undulates like you. Nowhere is warmer and kinder. But you’ve let me down. You’re letting me down every day. And we need you.’

Well, we heard earlier from the First Minister that the agreement with Plaid Cymru included a statutory underpinning for the other legislative and procedural changes the Welsh Government is implementing. The Minister said that the people he spoke to in the autism community said they didn’t know what legislation would do, but that’s not what the overwhelming number of people in north, south and mid Wales have been telling us for years, and as recently as last Friday night in Wrexham, as recently as last Sunday in Towyn and Kinmel Bay. We know what it’s about. We know the Welsh Government said it’s going to monitor the implementation of its refreshed strategy and national plan and legislation but people on the autism spectrum need certainty. So, when will you be carrying out the initial reviews? How will you be reporting that, and how will you ensure that that legislation and that statutory underpinning will be brought forward at the earliest opportunity?