I am proud to say that my youngest daughter, Meredith, was crowned ‘Miss Flintshire’ at the ‘Miss Wales 2017 Grand Final’.
I sponsored and spoke at the CLIC Sargent Assembly event on the issues impacting children and young people with cancer in Wales, highlighting the need for the Welsh Cancer Patient Experience Survey to include cancer patients under 16 years old and for specialist age appropriate care and support.
I also sponsored and spoke at the Assembly launch of Furrer+Frey’s White Paper on ‘Developing Sustainable, Agile, Multimodal Transport Solutions for Wales’, noting their findings that only 48% of people are currently satisfied with public transport regionally in Wales – with just 5% very satisfied in North Wales. I referred to the transport needs of North Wales detailed in the North Wales Economic Ambition Board’s ‘A Growth Vision for the Economy of North Wales’.
Quoting the Prime Minister in the Debate on The Implications for Wales of Leaving the European Union’, I stated ‘We are leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe’, adding ‘No-one in the UK or the EU wins if everyone ends up weaker from this process’.
Responding to the Statement one year on from the introduction of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act, I referred to examples where local authorities in North Wales are not complying with the specific duty on them to promote the involvement of disabled people in the design and delivery of care and support services.
Speaking in the Welsh Conservative Local Government Debate, I condemned the often “top-down” approach towards community engagement in Wales, and called instead for a co-production approach which unlocks community strengths.
Questioning the Communities Secretary, Carl Sargeant AM, I stated that establishing local networks that connect people together should be a priority, to ensure that public service providers work ground up.
I also asked him to address local authority cuts to equipment for deaf people, stressing that these increase the costs of services.
Questioning the Welsh Government, I again backed calls by Age Cymru and the Wales Fuel Poverty Coalition for a new Fuel Poverty Strategy for Wales.
Assembly engagements included meeting a group from St Mary’s RC Primary School, Flint, Hepatitis C Trust, National Federation of Retail Newsagents and the Israeli Ambassador.
If you need my help, please email mark.isherwood@assembly.wales or ring 0300 200 7217.