Welsh Labour Leadership candidate, Carwyn Jones, will later today set out his policies to deliver a new agenda for Wales’s children and raft of initiatives to help Welsh families and create stronger communities.
Unveiling a comprehensive set of forward-looking and progressive policies, Carwyn will say:
“We are proud in Wales of our community socialist values – core values that have stood our people well in times of hardship. I want to see the public pound go further in creating stronger communities across Wales, whether it is providing good housing, promoting shared neighbourhoods, reducing crime and violence or rewarding creativity.
“In tough times, we will be judged as socialists by how we treat the most vulnerable. Social justice is our defining principle.
“If I am successful in this election, I would wish to look again at the following priorities delivering more affordable housing, with local authorities able to build new council housing if they reach the Welsh Housing Quality Standard. More spending on housing, recognising that spending on construction maintains jobs in local communities.
“I will ensure there a new requirements on local authorities to include Communities First partnerships when planning community strategies. We will ensure public bodies do more to bend their programme services to the real needs of our poorest communities.
“Child poverty remains the scourge of too many of our communities. The deprivation grant previously paid to local authorities is now part of the Rate Support grant. It should be distributed in line with the new Children’s Index of Multiple Deprivation.
“I will commit to redouble our efforts to tackle the hidden epidemic of violence against women in our communities. It is totally unacceptable that a quarter of Welsh women will suffer violence because they are women. We should continue support for organisations such as Welsh Women’s Aid and also look at one stop shop services for victims.
“To help prevent older people falling into poverty, I will pledge to continue to provide support them through council tax discount.
Talking of his aim to deliver on a new agenda for Wales’s Children, Carwyn spelt out a range of new policy initiatives, by saying:
“The Assembly Government pioneered an agenda for Wales’s children, creating the first Children’s Commissioner post in the UK. I would like to renew our focus on children and look again at what we are doing to give our children the best start in life. This must be informed by our values on social justice, and include doing what we can to help parents do their best.”
As the new Leader of Welsh Labour and First Minister, Carwyn will:
- create better integrated and affordable childcare, building on schemes like the Genesis programme, with a focus on developing social enterprise solutions;
- build on Sure Start and Flying Start, targetted at our most deprived communities in Wales;
- invest in the Child Trust Fund through credit unions as part of a Children are our Future programme;
- deliver a co-ordinated government plan to support looked-after children, putting energies into engaging directly with children affected, reducing educational disruption, enhancing independent advocacy and providing a personal support plan for children leaving care;
- support organisations to provide family support to families who don’t need social services, building on the Homestart model;
- learn from best practice schemes such as On Track, which provides both targeted and general support for parents, including fathers, avoiding stigmatisation;
- support the crucial role of health visitors in improving children’s health;
- review youth services across Wales to make sure they are fit for purpose; and
- child-proof all Assembly Government policies.
