, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-2023 - evidence session 1
Thank you. Right, thank you very much, Jayne, and prynhawn da, everybody—it's good to be here. In a general sense, obviously the Government is fully committed to fulfilling the legislative requirements for all impact assessments, including where these relate…
, Children, Young People, and Education Committee
Scrutiny of the Welsh Government Draft Budget 2022-2023 - evidence session 1
I'll answer that.
, Plenary
Topical Questions
Absolutely right, the community have to be the eyes and ears, because it is not possible for social services officers and departments to be there and to see everything. So, it is incumbent on all of us, if we see something we're concerned about, to act on it…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
I thank Alun Davies for that very important question, and this is an issue that I have worked on closely—and am working on closely—with the Minister for education, because, obviously, it's an issue that concerns both departments. We are developing proposals…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
Diolch. Thank you very much for those very important questions. We will do all that we can to ensure that there is face-to-face contact with children and with families in another potential lockdown. During the previous lockdown period, we are aware that there…
, Plenary
Topical Questions
Thank you very much. In terms of the workforce, I'm sure that the Member is aware that there is extensive training for the social care workforce in Wales. The Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 introduced strengthened and robust safeguarding…
, Plenary
Debate: Approval of the Children’s Rights Scheme
Diolch, and diolch, bawb, for your contributions to today's debate on the children's rights scheme. I'm very grateful for your continued support and scrutiny of our work, because, as Members have noted, children's rights are now more important than ever, as…
, Plenary
Debate: Approval of the Children’s Rights Scheme
Diolch. A couple of weeks ago it was United Nations Universal Children's Day, and I had the great pleasure of attending the Young Wales conference, which brought together young people from across Wales for a conversation with Government Ministers. It was a…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Services: Age Friendly Wales: Our strategy for an Ageing Society
Thank you very much for those questions. I'm pleased to say that the ministerial advisory group and the sub-groups that he mentioned are filled with older people who are advising our strategy, and everything we're doing is done in co-production with older…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Services: Age Friendly Wales: Our strategy for an Ageing Society
Thanks very much to Jenny Rathbone for that interesting commentary and question. I totally agree with her that we want to see healthy ageing. I think it's really important that we encourage older people to be active. I declare an interest as well, being an…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Services: Age Friendly Wales: Our strategy for an Ageing Society
Thank you very much. Thank you for your welcome to the plan, and for your very positive words. I think it’s absolutely right, as you say, that we do what we can for the most vulnerable in society, but I also think it’s important to remember the contribution…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Services: Age Friendly Wales: Our strategy for an Ageing Society
I thank you for those comments. Just to deal with what I can of all of those points: aspiration and little detail, I think we have specified specifically the money that we are allocating in order to bring about age-friendly communities. We've done this in…
, Plenary
Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Services: Age Friendly Wales: Our strategy for an Ageing Society
Diolch. 'Age Friendly Wales: Our Strategy for an Ageing Society' was published on 7 October. following an extensive programme of engagement with older people and their representatives. The strategy sets out our vision for an age-friendly Wales, which supports…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Bye.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Thank you very much. Thank you.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Yes, definitely.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
I can see that Claire's got her hand up, so she wants to come in. Claire.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Yes. As you know, we’re totally committed to children’s rights. The Welsh Government has been committed to children’s rights since devolution began, and I’ll be shortly speaking to the Senedd about our latest plan on children’s rights. But it’s really…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Yes. As a result of the consultation, this has been raised, and it will now be one of the parts of the strategy that we’ll be pursuing.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Well, I think we can certainly take that into account. We are, obviously, going to be looking at how we’re going to move forward, generally, and we can certainly consider that.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Thank you. The development of Welsh-medium childcare provision is mentioned in the agreement with Plaid Cymru. The expansion of two-year-olds is especially concentrated on making sure that there is more Welsh language provision. So, we’re definitely looking…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Into child minders, yes. Yes, we will be having an independent review of child minders, because the number of child minders has dropped. It was dropping before the pandemic, and child minders are such a hugely valuable part of the childcare landscape that we…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Thank you very much, Ken, for those questions. Yes, we are in the process of reviewing the hourly rate for childcare, paid through the childcare offer for Wales. And we expect to announce that in the new year, so that's fairly soon, so we'll hear about that…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Obviously, pay is very important, and we are exploring the real living wage for the social care workforce, and that is something that is under discussion at the moment. I know the Scottish Government is further ahead with those sorts of discussions than we…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Childcare and parental employment—scrutiny session
Thank you. Well, Progress for Success continues to be a key source of support for practitioners who are looking to upskill their childcare or their play qualifications. Funding under Progress for Success will come to an end in March 2023, and we await…
