Diolch, Llywydd. I move the motion seeking the Assembly's agreement to allow me to introduce a Member Bill on older people's rights.

As a nation, we can be very proud that many of us are living longer and are healthier in our old age than ever before. And we can be proud of the excellent track record that we have in championing and supporting our older people here in Wales. We were the first nation in the world to appoint an older people's commissioner, the first UK nation to incorporate the UN conventions on the rights of the child and older people into domestic law, and the first to establish the public sector equality duty under the Equality Act 2010. Today, the National Assembly for Wales has the opportunity, once again, to lead the way by supporting proposals for an older people's rights Bill. 

We have the highest proportion of older people in the UK—one in four people living here in Wales is over the age of 60—and that demographic rise is set to continue. It's estimated by Age Alliance that, by 2030, the number of people aged over 65 living in Wales will increase by more than a third. And, when it comes to the over-85s, that's going to increase by a staggering 80 per cent. Now, some have complained that such an increase in older people is placing a burden on society, yet these people never mention the enormous contribution that older people make to our country. The Royal Voluntary Service has estimated that people aged over 65 make a contribution of over £1 billion annually to the Welsh economy, and that's net of pension, health and social care costs. Age Alliance have suggested that the value of childcare provided by grandparents in Wales is over £0.25 billion per year, and the value of their volunteering is estimated to be just shy of £0.5 billion. Yet, in spite of this huge contribution, it's true to say that some of our older people may need extra support or assistance, when compared to the rest of the population.

Many are frequent users of public services; they can be more dependent on the care of others and they may be—and often are—subject to age discrimination. Older people can be disproportionately impacted by the closure of facilities such as public conveniences, banks, libraries, post offices, hospitals or the withdrawal of public transport such as bus services. And at a time when more and more key services are only available online, more than half of adults, we must remember, over the age of 75, have never ever used the internet. All of this can make older people more vulnerable and more likely to lose their independence, and therefore they are at greater risk of their rights being violated.

Many older people are carers and compared to the rest of the UK, Wales has a higher number of older carers who are often in poorer health themselves. Living with a long-term illness or disability is challenging at the best of times, but all the more so when you have a caring responsibility. But many older people do not have anybody close by to support them. Loneliness and isolation are daily realities for many older people, and it's tragic that, according to Age Cymru, around 75,000 older people in Wales have reported—and I quote—'always or often feeling lonely'. Lonely people are more likely to suffer poor health, become vulnerable, and have their rights violated. 

Research has also indicated that Wales has the highest prevalence of elder abuse in the UK. Action on Elder Abuse have found that 12.5 per cent of those over 65 in Wales have been subject to abuse, representing almost 100,000 people a year, but the current system isn't sufficiently identifying abuse cases, and victims often don't feel empowered to tell people, and perhaps this is why fewer than 1 per cent of cases result in a successful criminal conviction. 

And then we have the problem of ageism. It's an issue that we rarely talk about, but its impact upon older people can be just as devastating as racism, sexism or homophobia. Negative stereotypes of older people are still common, as is the derogatory and disrespectful language that is often used to describe people once they reach a certain age.

It's for all of these reasons that I'm seeking permission from the Assembly today to introduce an older people's rights Bill. The purpose of the Bill is to build on Wales's excellent track record to date by embedding a rights-based approach in the development, planning and delivery of public services that affect older people in Wales. If given permission, I will seek to consult with stakeholders to develop a Bill that will further enshrine the rights of older people within Welsh law, by placing a duty on Welsh Ministers to have regard to the United Nations Principles for Older Persons when making decisions that may impact upon older people in Wales; that will provide for the ability to extend that due-regard duty to local authorities, health boards and other Welsh public authorities; that will place a duty on Welsh Ministers to promote knowledge of and understanding of the UN Principles for Older Persons; and that will require Welsh Ministers to publish annual reports on their compliance with their older people's rights schemes—something that doesn't happen at the moment.

Now, this approach might sound familiar to some people in this Chamber, and that's because the duties are very similar to those that have been set out in the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011. That legislation, of course, was very well received by stakeholders, and it's made a positive impact on children's experiences and in raising awareness of children's rights across the country. Now, I'm very confident that we can secure some similar results through legislation on older people's rights.

I first suggested a Bill of this kind during a short debate back in January of 2012, and since then a great deal has happened. Later that year, the First Minister established an advisory group—the then First Minister—to explore the development of a Welsh declaration of rights for older people. And then, in 2014, the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 finally embedded the UN Principles for Older Persons into Welsh law for the very first time. We then had the Welsh declaration of the rights of older people, which was finally published in 2014. In the following year, 2015, the older people's commissioner at the time, Sarah Rochira, called for better protection of older people's rights, and she went on, in January of 2016, to publish 'Making rights real in public services', which provided guidance to leaders in the public sector on how they could embed the human rights of older people into their public services. Now, all of this progress, of course, is very, very welcome. In January 2016 as well, this National Assembly voted for an amended motion that called on the Welsh Government to, and I quote,

'work with the Older People's Commissioner to bring forward legislation to protect and promote the rights of older people.'

And it was the then health Minister at the time—now the First Minister—who accepted that amended motion, and all political parties in the Senedd voted for it. I regret, though, that the outcome of that vote has never, ever been fully implemented, and that the progress that we have made has stalled. [Interruption.] I'll happily take an intervention, yes.