Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:42 pm on 4 May 2022.
Well, I'm very pleased to have regular meetings with the older people's commissioner. In fact, I met with the older people's commissioner only a few weeks ago, and the topics that she wanted to raise with me were ways in which we could improve older people's rights in Wales, and we discussed a range of ways in which we can do that. She was very pleased that we said that we were going to not only boost the access to pensioner credit campaign, which is crucial to the rights of older people in Wales, but also look at issues, for example, like ensuring that our violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy also addresses issues relating to elder abuse.
It's critically important that the older people's commissioner stands up for the rights of older people in Wales. She is an independent commissioner. And, in my role, and indeed, the Deputy Minister for Social Services, we not only listen to the issues of the older people's commissioner, specifically around those policy areas we know, like the cost of living, which, of course, the Tory Government is making so hard for older people, but we're actually responding to those key issues she raises.