Shadow Minister for Social Justice and North Wales MS Mark Isherwood has today called for the Welsh Government to “work in real partnership with, and empower, the voluntary sector, community groups and other social entrepreneurs to help deliver solutions to the long-term problems of our most deprived communities”.
Speaking in the Welsh Parliament this afternoon, Mr Isherwood challenged the Social Justice Minister, Jane Hutt MS, over the fact that Wales has retained the highest poverty rate of all the UK nations throughout devolution since 1999, and urged her to work with third sector groups to address the causes, and not just the symptoms, of poverty.
He said:
“Welsh Governments have been responsible for co-ordination of cost-cutting measures to promote prosperity and tackle poverty in Wales for over 22 years. As the Joseph Rowntreee Foundation reported last year, Wales has retained the highest poverty rate of all the UK nations throughout devolution since 1999.
“Further, their 'Poverty in Wales 2020' report, last November, found that Wales still ‘has lower pay for people in every sector than in the rest of the UK’ and that ‘even before coronavirus, almost a quarter of people in Wales were in poverty, living precarious and insecure lives’. And, as the Bevan Foundation also stated, ‘poverty was a significant problem in Wales long before the arrival of COVID-19’.
“What alternative actions do you therefore propose to ensure that the Welsh Government works in real partnership with, and empowers, the voluntary sector, community groups and other social entrepreneurs to help deliver solutions to the long-term problems of our most deprived communities?”
After the Minister failed to answer his question, Mr Isherwood stressed that these organisations are calling for a change of tack and asked how she will be engaging with them to design, deliver and monitor a better way of working across Wales.
He added:
“These were the bodies that made clear these are longstanding problems. Yes, we must treat the symptoms, but we must also tackle the causes.
“As I stated here last November, the Building Communities Trust report, 'Building Stronger Welsh Communities: Opportunities and barriers to community action in Wales', found that the ‘disconnect between Government, public bodies and communities is a barrier to community action’, that 'people in Wales feel increasingly less able to influence decisions affecting their local area’, that ‘worthy words are not being backed up by action’, that public bodies are ‘doing to, not with’ people and communities, and that 'entrenched public sector ways of working characterised by poor communication, lack of trust, risk aversion, silo working, professional bias and staff demotivation are significant barriers to greater community action’.
“What, therefore, if any, specific plans - not restating the aspirational comments that you've been sharing with us for as long as I can remember in this place, and which I almost entirely share with you - do you have to establish genuinely asset-based community development as a key principle within community development, empowering the people of the community and using existing community strengths to build sustainable communities for the future?”.
In her response, the Minister said: “I don't think we have any disagreements, Mark Isherwood, in terms of the way forward to empower communities.”
Speaking the meeting, Mr Isherwood added:
“Having been a member of every Labour Welsh Government since 1999, this Minister cannot get away from the awkward facts or her shared responsibility for these. UK Government policies on non-devolved matters have applied across the UK, but Welsh Government policies have only applied in Wales, the UK nation which has retained the highest poverty rate of all the UK nations throughout devolution since 1999. For too long her oft-repeated worthy words have not been backed up by action, yet Wales’ deep-rooted problems will not be tackled until things are done differently.”