May I thank the Minister for his statement? Yes, indeed, the improving lives programme for those who have learning disabilities—and, of course, from that title, and from my personal experience over the years, there is a genuine need to improve the lives of those who have learning disabilities. If truth be told, these people have been forgotten. Perhaps I should state now that I have been a trustee with Swansea People First—the organisation for people with learning disabilities—for almost 20 years now. We have extensive experience locally of the co-ordination that we need with health services, and care services as well. But, first of all, I note the excellent work that the voluntary sector does in this area. Swansea People First, of course, and similar organisations in Wales as a whole, give excellent support to our people. But there is a significant challenge—there's never enough resource, we're losing services, issues are always at crisis point, the system is always under pressure, and the support staff are always changing because they lose their jobs or they're on short-term contracts.

And, of course, in how Swansea People First is run, we have meetings as a management board that include people with learning disabilities themselves. They're on the management board too and we produce minutes and so on in language that everyone can understand, with images and so on. We need more of that kind of collaboration and provision of information. The City and County of Swansea council are part of this very often, and, when they can, in a system that is also under pressure, they do excellent work.

I welcome the intention for the different sectors to collaborate, because there is a genuine need for the different sectors to collaborate, especially in times of austerity, as we're facing at present, and where budgets are very scarce. But, in acknowledging the need to collaborate, people do need to be able to work in the first place—that is, that we have enough staff, especially in terms of community nurses in the care sector. It's those specialist nurses that we need, who can provide the care for those with learning disabilities and sometimes very complex needs. We've seen, over the past years, a decline in the number of specialist nurses, especially those working in the community and in our social services. So, that's a challenge, and I would ask the Minister to outline what he's going to do about that challenge. I'm sure that there is a great deal of work happening behind the scenes. In terms of the statement this afternoon, we can't see all of the details, but it's fair to note that there are concerns about staffing levels.

There are also concerns with regard to the need to fund long-term projects. I'm aware that Swansea People First have bid for different projects over the years, and they are excellent projects, they're funded for a certain period of time, then the funding runs out, the project comes to an end, we lose the staff, we need to come up with a new idea for a project, and we need to bid for further funding. All of this sucks the energy from a system that's already facing more than enough pressure.

My final point—as well as all of this collaboration, people with learning disabilities need employment; they need careers. Only 6 per cent of adults with learning disabilities are in employment. Being in employment is one of the most important things that any individual can face. It defines us as an individual, and we're disenfranchising our people who have learning disabilities from having that hope. I hear what you say about the need to fund projects that do support people in work placements and in work experience, but we need to be much more proactive. I think we need to have a purposeful system to ensure that people with learning disabilities are in employment in the first instance, and to make that a priority. Thank you.