<p>Questions Without Notice from Party Spokespeople</p>

Part of 1. 1. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 1:40 pm on 16 November 2016.

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Photo of Mark Isherwood Mark Isherwood Conservative 1:40, 16 November 2016

Thank you. Clearly, it is language, but this is a global movement with a global term, to which hundreds of organisations across Wales have now signed up. So, finally, you may have heard me—I think you did yesterday—refer to a report sent to me by the North Wales Women’s Centre, ‘Leading change: the role of local authorities in supporting women with multiple needs’, and although an England report, they referred to the information being applicable to our aims and joint working in Wales. This, again, states that meeting women’s needs should

‘be complemented by working with them to develop their own strengths and to build resilience—an approach sometimes referred to as “asset based”…places emphasis on a person’s strengths rather than on their “deficits” ’.

That is, the core principle at the core of co-production. How, therefore, do you respond to that and to their statement that seeking to identify and address unmet needs in young women, applied properly, would lead to

‘how many fewer women might be in abusive relationships if young women developed resilience and self-esteem through projects such as this; and how many fewer children would be involved in child protection proceedings or in local authority care if young women were supported in their own right and not just in relation to parenting abilities/capabilities’?

That is, turning it upside-down and applying co-production principles.