Thank you. The Welsh Government recognises and values the contribution that older people across Wales have made and continue to make within our communities. I’m proud that we’ve led the way with our groundbreaking strategy for older people. First launched in 2003, it’s been recognised by the Institute for Public Policy Research as the most coherent long-term commitment to improving the position of older people in the UK. We broke new ground again in 2008, when we became the first country to appoint a commissioner for older people. The commissioner acts as an independent champion and voice for older people right across the nation.

Across Government, we’re continuing our long-standing commitment to improving the lives of older people in Wales and I outlined a number of these actions in my written statement to mark the International Day of Older Persons in October. In July 2014, we issued the declaration of rights for older people in Wales. The declaration outlines what’s expected of public services to ensure that older people receive the support they need whilst ensuring their dignity and rights are protected.

The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 came into force in April this year, with the rights of older people embedded within it. The Act gives people a stronger voice and control over the support that they need. It also focuses on early intervention and prevention to support people to maintain their independence and achieve the well-being outcomes that are important to them. We’re committed to ensuring that older people have good quality care and are treated with dignity and respect. We’re taking action to respond to the review undertaken by Dr Margaret Flynn and have appointed a senior quality improvement expert to take forward work, particularly in relation to pressure sores. For these reasons and more, we welcome and support parts 1 and 2 of today’s motion.

Turning to point 3 of the motion, however, the UK Government’s decision to delay its reform of the paying-for-care arrangements until at least 2020 has had serious consequences for Wales. It’s resulted in us not receiving consequential funding to support substantive reform of our paying-for-care arrangements. Nevertheless, this has not deterred us from pressing ahead with the reform that is within our existing powers and our available resources. A key commitment in our ‘Taking Wales Forward’ programme is to more than double the capital limit that people in residential care can retain from £24,000 to £50,000, and people will benefit from the first stage of the increase to £30,000 from April of next year. At the same time, we’ll keep our promise of the full disregard of the war disablement pension when paying for care.

The Welsh Government has, of course, already considered the findings of the older persons’ commissioner’s report on dementia, and we support this part of the motion. ‘Taking Wales Forward’ sets out our commitment to take further action to make Wales a dementia-friendly nation by developing and implementing a new national dementia strategic plan. The Welsh Government has also provided more than £8 million of additional funding over the last two years to develop dementia services across Wales.

Our third sector partners have a key role in the development of a new dementia strategy for Wales and the Alzheimer’s Society has been closely involved in the stakeholder engagement work, and this will inform the final version of the strategic plan. The plan will build on the existing good work and will include awareness raising, working with the Alzheimer’s Society and others to maintain the momentum of the dementia friends and dementia-supportive communities campaigns. It will also focus on improving diagnosis rates, providing practical and emotional help, and embedding a culture that puts the dignity and safety of patients first.

Turning to the final point of the motion, we want Wales to be a fair society and will continue our work with all protected groups to counter discrimination. I referred earlier to the declaration of rights for older people that we issued. And, as well as the rights embedded within the social services and well-being Act, in terms of potential future legislation, I can confirm that the First Minister has already had initial discussions with the older people’s commissioner in relation to strengthening the rights of older people, and supports the principle of a Bill. I’ve also had initial discussions and I look forward to meeting with the commissioner again later this month to discuss her legislative proposals in more detail.

I’m pleased to outline our support for all of Plaid Cymru’s amendments to the motion. The Welsh Government established the post of the older people’s commissioner to ensure that the voices of older people are heard. We welcome the commissioner’s continued engagement with public services boards and the fact that she’s already published guidance, which should provide public services boards with useful and practical recommendations to help ensure that older people’s needs are not overlooked when preparing the local well-being plans.

We have an ambitious programme for government target of an additional 20,000 affordable homes, and this lies at the heart of our comprehensive housing agenda, supporting key themes across other portfolios, including improving well-being in our communities—