4. What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary held regarding the funding of community groups in light of the decision to bring Communities First to an end? OAQ(5)0171(CC)[W]

Thank you for the question. A wide-ranging engagement exercise was held with individuals, organisations and community groups across Wales on the Government’s new approach to resilient communities. It’s now for the lead bodies to engage with third sector delivery partners and local communities on their transition arrangements in line with our guidance.

I thank the Minister for that reply. Turning from the general to the specific, I know that the forum in Penparcau are looking forward to welcoming the Minister, visiting in September I think, and if he looks around the new building outside, he’ll see—. First of all, he’ll see the place where I live, but then, more importantly, he’ll see the place where people have lived in Penparcau for at least 3,000 years, which is Pen Dinas hillfort, which is one of the most significant hillforts in mid Wales, and an underutilised tourist attraction for Aberystwyth and the whole area, it has to be said.

The forum there are very interested in developing ideas in which they become part of the custodians of that hillfort, in that it brings the community together, it raises community pride, it tells the story of the community that’s there, it involves young people, it involves a potential of outdoor benefits, and, of course, it could become a way of attracting tourists and visitors to the area. So, in terms of heritage and this particular undervalued and underused aspect, perhaps, of community cohesion, what discussions can he have with Ken Skates in advance of his visit in September about how we can bring the community together in Penparcau and work together with the statutory bodies and the local community to make the very best of one of the greatest natural assets we have?

Indeed, and I am very familiar with that area. It wouldn’t be my first visit to Penparcau, indeed. I would ask the Member also to have a conversation with Hannah Blythyn, who is also very keen on developing structures. Flint castle is in a Communities First area in north Wales—again, people engaging in that sector of community, and embedding respect and opportunities in those fields. I will talk to Ken Skates, of course, prior to my visit, on the basis that you’ve told me that’s what the discussions may lead to. [Laughter.] I am encouraged by the Member’s positivity, but, more importantly, I’m encouraged by the residents and members of Penparcau, because they’ve seen an opportunity, post Communities First, to develop an opportunity for the future.

Well, six years after you chose not to be advised by the Wales Council for Voluntary Action report, ‘Communities First—A Way Forward’, which said the missing ingredient was community ownership, and after £0.5 billion having gone into the programme, you told the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee last week that the programme would not be replaced, that the record of its work in Wales’s most deprived areas had been mixed, and that the figures aren’t moving. You’ve now said that joined-up Government would ensure that all spending decisions would have tackling poverty in mind, which, of course, is what you and your predecessors have consistently said. But how are you engaging with the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and its partners on this agenda to ensure that that missing ingredient doesn’t remain missing as we move forward?

Well, I’m extremely proud of the Communities First programme that took place across our communities. The staff and volunteers across those programmes should be congratulated on what they did. They’ve stopped our communities getting poorer, from what I believe, and making sure that there is an opportunity to move on with the legacy funding that I announced earlier this year. It is now for the partnerships locally to determine what their well-being assessments are for those communities, and we’re working very closely with them to ensure that we have the best available opportunities. Ken Skates and I—Ken is the lead Minister on tackling poverty—believe fundamentally that the route out of poverty is quality jobs and skills, and that’s what we will be pursuing, with vigour, across all our communities across Wales.