I visited Virgin Trains Talent Academy in Crewe with a brilliant young man with autism from Wrexham for him to provide them with autism awareness training. If service providers are to remove barriers to access for disabled people, it is essential that they see the world through their eyes.
As Wales Species champion for the Curlew, I attended the North East Wales Curlew Group meeting in Rossett. With Wales’ Curlew population falling by 81% between 1993 and 2006, and continuing to fall by over 6% annually, the Curlew is now considered to be the most pressing bird conservation issue in the UK.
I attended the 'What next for Dementia Friendly Communities in North Wales?’ event at Rhyl Town Hall, organised by Ageing Well in Wales and Alzheimer’s Society. The event brought together people and organisations working to make North Wales more Dementia-Friendly.
It was good to sing for Lung Health with a lovely group of people with chronic lung conditions in Rhyl. The ‘Singing for Lung Health’ programme is delivered by Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board’s Arts Therapy team, supported by British Lung Foundation.
I was pleased to assist campaigners who successfully secured a u-turn on Flintshire County Council’s threatened cash-flat 2018/19 schools budget. The Council’s Labour Leader again blamed the UK Government’s austerity programme, despite the IMF confirming this month that reducing the deficit remains critical to setting the public debt ratio on a downward path and rebuilding buffers against future shocks. Since 2010, the UK Government has cut the deficit inherited from Labour, the biggest in our peacetime history, by over three quarters.
The ‘Funding Floor’ agreed by the UK Conservative Government means that from 2018 the Welsh Government benefits from the certainty that the funding it receives for devolved services won’t fall below 115% per head of the figure in England. Current public spending in Wales is £120 a head for every £100 a head spent in England.
Under Labour Welsh Government, however, Flintshire’s total gross schools budgeted expenditure per pupil in 2017-18 (combining Flintshire local authority’s centrally held education budget and its budgets delegated to schools) is £5,326, compared with an average of £5,628 across Wales, ranking Flintshire 20th out of the 22 local authorities. Wrexham is ranked 17th , with £5,544 per pupil. Funding in the best funded authority in Wales is £6,382 per pupil, £1,056 more than Flintshire and £938 more than Wrexham.
Further, during the Assembly Debate on the Local Government Settlement for 2018-19, Labour AMs voted to back Labour Welsh Government proposals which rank Flintshire 19th and Wrexham 18th out of 22 local authorities in terms of revenue funding per head, with Flintshire receiving £368 and Wrexham £339 less per person than the best funded authority in Wales.
If you need my help, please email mark.isherwood@assembly.wales or ring 0300 200 7217.