Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:54 pm on 23 January 2019.
It's absolutely right. Any discrimination on the grounds of age is something that shouldn't be tolerated, but, unfortunately, too many people are getting away with it. I think there will be a perception that there may be some political tribalism going on here. I can't guarantee that that's what the perception will be, but I think some people will perceive it as that. It's certainly been implied, I think, by the fact that one party is taking a different approach than the others. And I was very supportive of the need to do things on the wider rights agenda, which is why I've accepted the invitation to be with you at the meeting on 6 February, although we know that that was a very hastily arranged meeting. The older people's commissioner only received an invitation yesterday, as did I, in an attempt to thwart this particular proposal from making progress in this Chamber. We know that that is the case, so I am a little bit disappointed that there have been these last-minute attempts to nudge people in a direction against the Bill.
Jenny Rathbone, you made an interesting speech, but you didn't stick to the theme here. You were talking about the whole paying-for-care agenda and the Holtham agenda, but of course I'm focused here purely on rights: making sure that those rights are accessible to older people; that they can realise their rights; and that they can have some redress to make sure that their rights are protected, promoted and respected by everybody in Wales, particularly in our public services. That isn't the case at the moment. All too often, older people are not given the opportunity to be consulted, for example, on huge things going on in their local communities. Usually, it's purely via web portals that people have the opportunity to look at consultation documents and respond to them. So, I think that there is a concern in that regard.
As Huw Irranca-Davies quite rightly pointed out—he spent time holding the older people's brief, and I wish Julie Morgan all the very best in taking this on—he knows, as well as I do, that when you go around speaking to older people, they are not aware of what their rights are. Young people are because of the success of the Rights of Children and Young Persons (Wales) Measure 2011, but older people have no idea. So, it's all very well saying they've got an older people's commissioner who can help them and deal with their complaints, but if they don't know what their entitlements are, they can't realise those entitlements and make a complaint when they feel that they're being breached. I'll take the intervention from Huw Irranca.