Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:54 pm on 24 May 2022.
Thank you very much, Jenny Rathbone, for that contribution. It's great to hear about St Teilo's and about Bridgend College. I've had constituents from my own area who have attended Bridgend College, and, indeed, I think it's an excellent place. I think every family's worry and fear is what's going to happen after the colleges end, and one of the priorities listed here is to do something about better employment opportunities for young people with learning disabilities, and that's one of the areas that is planned to be followed up in the detailed implementation plan. It's certainly been flagged up by people with learning disabilities as one of the very important areas that must be covered. There have been efforts made to approach employers to employ people with learning disabilities, and I was very pleased yesterday when I visited a project and met a young man with Down's syndrome who was working in a garage one day a week. He was absolutely thrilled. The first thing he told me when I was introduced to him was, 'I work in a garage one day a week.' I think there's a great deal of scope for extending that sort of approach to employers and develop the scheme that already exists in terms of approaching employers. I think that's very important.
In terms of housing and care, the Minister for housing did make a statement recently here in the Chamber about the additional money that is going to set up housing and care systems, and we are hoping that the RIF will come forward with £144,000 there. We hope it'll come forward with some innovative schemes for people with learning disabilities. I know the Member has had parents in her constituency who are getting older and are worrying, as they are in my constituency, about what's going to happen to those young people. It is a huge worry, and I hope that, with this plan, we will be able to tackle those issues. Certainly, the will and commitment is there to do it, and it's very carefully monitored by people with that lived experience.