Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 5 October 2022.
I don't think you were listening earlier to my figures, which were accurate and which I actually put to you 18 years ago. Child poverty in Wales did fall for a few years after the Blair-Brown Government came in, but then it started rising again and had reached the highest level in the UK, not last year but in 2008. And it has risen again, whilst going backwards in the rest of the UK. That is the reality, and the outcome I referred to was consequent upon Welsh Government policies. So, what are you going to do about it? You've had 23 years, the scorebook is atrocious and the impact on people's lives is terrible.
But, moving on, the Local Trust 'Left behind?' report in England evidences that poorer areas with greater community capacity and social infrastructure have better health and well-being outcomes, higher rates of employment and lower levels of child poverty compared to poorer areas without. January's Wales Co-operative Centre discussion paper by Communities Creating Homes states Wales is trailing other nations in the UK when it comes to community ownership rights, adding that policies in Wales do not offer quite the same empowerment as enjoyed by communities in England or, particularly, Scotland.
February's Institute of Welsh Affairs 'Our Land: Communities and Land Use' report found that Welsh communities are the least empowered in Britain. Community groups in Wales told them about an arbitrary, demoralising scenario with little real process for communities to take ownership of public or private assets.
Further research by the Building Communities Trust with community groups across Wales shows they often feel overlooked and under-resourced by local and national government. How, therefore, do you respond to their statements that they believe there's a big opportunity for Welsh Government to develop better support for community-led, long-term, local approaches in Wales?