It's a pleasure to take part in this debate on the annual report by the older people's commissioner. I welcome the opening address by the Minister and his new title—I didn't realise that there had been an addition to the title. But, primarily, in this debate, we are paying tribute to the work of the commissioner, as we've heard, who is leaving after six years, and it has been excellent work. As Chair of the Health, Social Care and Sport Committee, we've collaborated several times with the older people's commissioner on several inquiries, and her opinion and her evidence have been of great benefit every time. Only last week we launched the report on the use—or the inappropriate use—of antipsychotic medication in care homes, and there is a great challenge before the Government and everyone in the field there to realise the aspirations of that report. Also, the older people's commissioner was involved in several other inquiries, including our report on isolation and loneliness, and her experiences in meeting people across Wales did help to steer the recommendations of that report.

We, as a party, will be supporting the amendments of the Conservatives this afternoon. This place does need more powers in terms of rights for older people and, of course, with the Wales Act 2017 and, of course, the EU exit Bill, we are losing powers from this place. I welcome the idea that even the Conservatives want more powers in this place. So, naturally, we will be supporting those additional powers for the Assembly.

There are several themes, briefly. We've heard a lot about the burden in terms of older people, but, at the end of the day, we also need to celebrate the fact that we have so many older people in our country. People are very willing to criticise our health service, but it's true to say that we have the largest number of older people here ever, and many of them still fit and active—more people than ever before.

Back in 1950, as I've said before, only 250 people throughout the UK reached the age of 100. By 1990, that figure had risen to 2,500 people reaching 100 years of age and receiving a birthday card from the Queen. Two years ago, that number had reached over 14,000 in terms of the birthday cards that the Queen had to sign. So, very evident implications in terms of the procedures of the Queen, if nothing else, but also a sign of the success of the NHS, clean water, immunisation, a better diet, better housing and so forth—but specifically the NHS, which is always being criticised. But we have to plan for that growth in the older population, not only by adding to the Minister's title but also by planning, and it's the care service that we need to plan, and that needs to be prioritised more. It's always in the shadow of the NHS, and the care service needs more priority and funding, and to be on the same wavelength as the NHS, and also with housing provision.

The austerity agenda in England and the underspend on care services in England have led to 22,000 deaths amongst older people every year. That’s the result of a British Medical Journal survey last year. Think about it: 22,000 older people dying prematurely because of a lack of social care provision as a result financial savings. A lack of funding has led to raising the threshold for care in some English counties, with that lack of care then leading to premature deaths.

Therefore, in conclusion, this is a challenge for society. Do we really respect our older people, respect our older generations? Do we respect and give dignity to older generations who have been through a lot? They have the experience and the ability. They’ve seen everything before. And yet we disregard their experiences. Do we celebrate their survival, or are we willing to continue with the underspend on those fundamental services that are there to assist them? We need far better provision of care services in our communities and we need the provision of respite care when people are ill in their old age. We need to increase the number of beds in communities so that people can look after each other with dignity and with respect.

Therefore, thank you very much to the older people’s commissioner for knocking firmly on the doors that needed to hear that and for raising her voice. What about Government to respond?