It was good to see so many people from North East Wales present when I Chaired the annual North Wales meeting of the Assembly Cross Party Autism Group in Bangor. We received an update from the Autistic Women’s Empowerment Project, a presentation on the campaign calling on the Welsh Government to ‘Save Our Independent Living Fund’, a talk from National Autistic Society Cymru about its upcoming Autism Hour in October and an overview of the consultation for an Autism [Wales] Bill to meet the needs of children and adults with autism spectrum conditions in Wales.
Having long championed ‘Co-production’ and attended the Flintshire Partnership Co-production & Resilient communities planning event in April, I was delighted to attend Flintshire Local Voluntary Council’s Third Sector Conference – ‘Putting Co-production into Practice’. Co-production enables citizens and professionals to share power and work together in equal partnership, acknowledging that everyone is an expert in their own life, everyone has something to contribute, and that enabling people to support each other builds strong, resilient communities. Co-production is a decades old, international movement to improve lives and strengthen communities by doing things differently, not a short term response to reduced budgets.
It was a pleasure to speak and present certificates at Chwarae Teg’s Graduation Event in Colwyn Bay, celebrating the women who have participated in the Career Development Programme for Women offered by the Agile Nation 2 Project in North Wales and gained their Institute of Leadership and Management Qualification. As a charity, since 1992 Chwarae Teg have been working to help ensure that women in Wales can enter the workplace, develop their skills and build rewarding careers.
I also attended a Surgery with Wrexham County Councillors Beverely Parry-Jones (Bryn Cefn ward) and Paul Rogers (Brymbo) at Brynteg Memorial Hall.
It is deeply worrying that NHS waiting lists for patients waiting to begin treatment in Wales, where a Labour Government is running health services, are double the level in England (per head of population), and that data recently published by the Royal College of Surgeons shows that three times as many patients in Wales compared to England are waiting longer than a year for surgery, in spite of the fact that the English NHS services a population 17 times larger than Wales.
If you need my help, please email mark.isherwood@assembIly.wales or ring 0300 200 7217.