Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:24 pm on 10 May 2022.
I think Mike Hedges is very right in terms of the interest that people have, particularly in local elections, as to where you're from, where you live and so on. So, I think that's another good idea from Mike Hedges that we can explore as we continue to develop this policy, which gives candidates and their families that level of privacy by not having their address revealed to the public, but also I think gives local people that information they desire in terms of understanding whether or not the local candidates are local to their area. So, good ideas this afternoon, which I think we can definitely look forward to exploring further.
And then the point about 16 and 17-year-olds voting for the first time is really important. We don't yet have the data on the numbers who exercised their right to vote. It'll be interesting seeing the Electoral Commission's data in terms of the pilot projects and whether they had a particular impact on encouraging 16 and 17-year-olds to vote. We have worked really closely with local authorities, with third sector organisations and other partners, including the Electoral Commission, to increase the number of 16 and 17-year-olds on the register. That, in itself, was an issue, if we all recall, back in our own election, that 16 and 17-year-olds hadn't been taking that opportunity to register to vote. We've also provided additional funding to increase capacity in local authority election teams, so that they have the ability there to do more work in terms of engaging young people, and we've also provided third sector organisations with grants to support the innovative, face-to-face work that they're doing with young people and also with the qualifying foreign citizens to support those individuals to access their right to vote. And we've also worked to increase the availability of resources and opportunities for teachers so that they're able to engage with learners in schools through the work of the Association for Citizenship Teaching, and also the Politics Project, which I was really privileged to be involved with and had the opportunity to speak to first-time voters in schools across my own constituency. And I found those conversations to be really, really wonderful in terms of understanding the young people's particular concerns and their hopes and their fears for the future. So, if colleagues have the opportunity to become involved in that, I would recommend it. And then we continue, as I say, to work closely with partners to identify what's worked, how we can build on these foundations that we've laid, but also what barriers continue to exist.
So, I think that brings my contribution to a close, but, before I do finish, Deputy Presiding Officer, I do want to say thank you to the leaders who I've worked very closely with, and my colleague Julie James has worked very closely with, who have either retired or who were not re-elected. So, Councillor Nigel Daniels in Blaenau Gwent, Councillor Philippa Marsden in Caerphilly, Councillor Emlyn Dole in Carmarthenshire, and also Councillor Rosemarie Harris in Powys, I'd like to say a big thank you for the leadership that they've shown in their communities. It's been a privilege to work with them. And then also Councillor Ellen ap Gwynn in Ceredigion and Councillor Neil Moore, both of whom are retiring this time—Neil Moore in the Vale of Glamorgan—both of whom it has been a privilege to work with.