Last Friday, I visited the British Red Cross Abergele office to hear more about the Community Connect project to tackle loneliness and isolation and reconnect people with their communities, which Joyce Watson referred to, benefiting from the partnership between the Red Cross and the Co-op. This is because Conwy was one of the four areas that you referred to with 32 per cent of people living in single-person households and 25 per cent aged over 65. But, as you indicated, this is for people of all ages, and not just older people—to help them break that cycle of loneliness and isolation and reconnect them with their communities.

Personalised Red Cross support also includes schemes like Positive Steps to improve the lives of people over 50 across Wales, with eight weeks of intensive support, followed by volunteer-led, longer-term support in the community from RVS Cymru.

Above all, without the right support at the right time, feeling lonely or isolated affects well-being, it contributes to poor health and pressure on public services, so people must be helped co-productively, to identify the strengths they already have in order to tackle the problems holding them back.