3. Will the Cabinet Secretary make a statement on Welsh Government support for veterans in Wales? OAQ51787

Our armed forces package of support makes clear our commitment to supporting veterans in Wales.

Can I thank you, Cabinet Secretary, for your support for our veterans across the country? I know that your update to the cross-party group recently was very much appreciated by all of the members. Following your address to the meeting, the meeting obviously continued, and one of the issues that was taxing the minds of people around the table was that of the need to identify more veterans across Wales in order that we can offer them proactively the support that they may need. Now, one of the ways to achieve this is, of course, the adoption of a veteran ID card, something that the cross-party group and my party and others in this Chamber have considered on many occasions in the past. Whilst I appreciate that this is a recommendation to which you will respond in due course, I wonder whether you could give us the Welsh Government's thinking on this at this particular time, because I think it is something that we need to address sooner rather than later. 

I do agree with the point you make about recognition and understanding the nature of the community, where that community lives and how it lives, and the nature of that community. I think we do need greater understanding of that, and I do accept that point in full. I hesitate before giving a definitive answer to that question. I will provide a more holistic response to the whole of the report when I have the opportunity to do so. But let me say this: one of my priorities is to ensure that we are able to put resources where those resources are needed, where we deliver services to those people. Fundamental to that approach is understanding where those people are and what their needs are. So, I think we do need a greater understanding of the characteristics and the nature of the family and of the community. I think we do need to improve our understanding of those issues. How we do that I'm giving consideration to at the moment. I think the investment in liaison officers for local authorities, for example, has made a huge difference to our understanding of the community and its needs. So, I think there's more than one way to answer that particular question, and I'm certainly seeking to ensure that we will be able to respond in full in due course.  

Does the Cabinet Secretary welcome the contribution of volunteers in supporting veterans? Clearly, there are Royal British Legion volunteers, and I'm very pleased to be a member of the Barry branch of the British legion, which is doing so much not just in terms of raising money through the poppy appeal, but also through local initiatives such as Woody's Lodge—and I know David Melding has spoken about this—which was launched by Carl Sargeant in the Senedd last year. Although it's based in the Vale of Glamorgan, it has now secured funding to expand across the whole of Wales. But this is entirely a voluntary initiative, very much run and led by veterans themselves and providing not just signposting support, but also the support that they can give each other in terms of the all-importance of that social understanding of what people have been through.   

Can I say I absolutely agree with the Member for the Vale of Glamorgan in the points she has made? In many ways, she has echoed the point made by the Member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire in her first question this afternoon about the importance of volunteers, and the role that they play in our communities and our society in delivering services in a holistic setting, which enables them to deliver the services required by people who are facing difficulties in this way. I'm delighted that Woody's Lodge has also been able to secure funding to open in north Wales, I think, in 2020, and then also in west Wales as well. I think it's a great example of how local volunteers can come together, deliver a service—a fantastic service—to people where they need it, and then use that knowledge, use that experience, use that skill and use that commitment to expand that service to deliver something that, as a Government, we would find impossible. 

Cabinet Secretary, Jane Hutt has just highlighted the issue of the support of volunteers, but there are many organisations, big and small, and charities, that help to support veterans. An example of where they sometimes fall down and somebody goes through the net is where we had a veteran in Maesteg who was living in a car for seven months. He fell on bad luck after he left the forces; he wasn't automatically eligible for support for housing. But that shows an example of how the volunteers then got hold of him. But these small groups and these larger groups sometimes conflict with one another. Is it possible that the Welsh Government can bring together these organisations to look at how a co-ordinated approach can be put together to support veterans in their communities?

I hope so. One of the reasons why we have appointed armed forces liaison officers in different local authorities is to enable us to co-ordinate exactly that sort of work to ensure that the work that is done by volunteers in the third sector complements and is associated with the work that is done by statutory services. Working together, I believe we can deliver a holistic service to people who need that service, and, working together, I believe we can achieve far more than we do working in isolation. So, I do agree with you in the point that you make and I hope that by having locally based liaison officers in different parts of Wales, we're able to have that local knowledge and root services on local needs.