I was delighted by the announcement made last week by the Labour Leader of Neath Port Talbot Council Derek Vaughan of a further set of very exciting regeneration initiatives for Neath and the surrounding area.

Investment in the area will reach £100m, with an £80m redevelopment of the Town Centre being topped by a further announcement that the Milland Road area and land surrounding the Canal will also be developed, with Neath Railway Station and Victoria Gardens also in line for a significant revamp.

The regeneration of our towns and our valley communities is a top priority for both the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government and the Labour-led Neath Port Talbot Council. This was demonstrated last year by the appointment of the AM for the Rhondda, Leighton Andrews, as the Deputy Minister with specific responsibility for economic and community regeneration. In recent months, the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government has announced that the highly successful Communities First initiative has been extended further into Neath, in particular the Neath South and Cimla wards. The initiative has been a spectacular success in areas such as Fairyland and the Melyn.

As Neath's AM, I’m also determined to support Derek Vaughan and the council in its aim to rebuild the Gwyn Hall, so that Neath has the first class arts and cultural venue that it deserves. I’d also like to thank the Friends of the Gwyn Hall for all the work they are doing to ensure that the Gwyn Hall is returned to the people of Neath.

The Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government has also funded two housing renewal areas in Neath Port Talbot, which have proven to be highly successful. I was delighted to see that the Council are pressing ahead with plans to declare areas of the Neath East Ward, which includes Melincryddan, as a housing renewal area within the next year.

The strong partnership between the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government and the Labour-led Neath Port Talbot Council is allowing initiatives such as these to happen.

If you wish to contact me for any help and assistance that you feel I can provide you as your local Assembly Member, please do not hesitate to contact my constituency office in Pontardawe on 01792 869993 or e-mail . You can also keep up-to-date with my activities as your AM by logging on to gwendathomas.com

Gwenda Thomas explains how the strategy for older people will work

THE second phase of the strategy for older people in Wales is set to build on the achievements of the first phase, which has seen the introduction of popular schemes such as free bus travel and free swimming for older people, and the appointment ofment a Commissioner for Older People – unique to Wales.

The strategy was originally launched in 2003 and the first phase aimed to raise the profile of older people’s needs and ensure that their views were sought in the development and delivery of local services.

I am proud to be able to say that the strategy has been successful and has been recognised internationally as best practice for the way to engage in which older people have been engaged in the decision making process.

The new phase of the strategy, – from April 2008-2013 – will be supported by an additional £7m from the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure that it is effectively implemented. It will concentrate on four key strategic and cross-cutting themes – engagement with older people; economic status of older people; health, wellbeing and independence; and implementation. Overall, this will help older people to stay independent and active for longer.

Indeed, as the number of older people grows, the challenge that this places on society grows too. One key to addressing this challenge is to unlock the potential for older people to play an even greater role in their communities.

Too often older people are treated as passive recipients, rather than active consumers with their own views. We must challenge this misconception and support independence rather than enforcing dependence, and our policies and services should reflect individual need rather than being predetermined by chronological age.

When creating services for older people we must recognise that they are as diverse as any other group in our society in terms of age range, gender, orientation, race, culture, religion and health; and, correspondingly, they have a wide range of goals, needs, knowledge and abilities.
As part of One Wales we are committed to developing a Wales that is inclusive and offers equity in opportunity and treatment to all people who live in Wales. For older people this is particularly significant.

Addressing the implications of an ageing Wales is not a quick fix – and one of the real challenges for the strategy over its next phase will be to evolve our approach so that issues about ageing and older people are mainstreamed.

As phase two of the strategy begins, I look forward to working with the new commissioner for older people Ruth Marks, who takes up her post next month.

This post will be at the heart of our wider vision for the future governance of Wales and will act as a very practical tool to help older people speak out about problems or issues of concern, and to seek redress when things go wrong.

Over the next five years I expect to see the good work already started to continue and develop further.

One key area of work is breaking down stereotypes. Research tells us that many older people in Wales are unable to live the lives that they want or deserve because they feel marginalised and discriminated against, with too many barriers preventing them from making a contribution.
These barriers prevent older people from using their knowledge and skills for the benefit of our economy and everyone in our society.

It is therefore essential that we take action to combat the prevalence of age discrimination and to build upon the role older people play in our society so that they are fully engaged in decision making.

To do this the Assembly Government is working with young and older people to help shape its future policy on intergenerational practice – people from across the generation gap working together to share experiences and expertise. Re-establishing links between generations is a very effective way to dispel myths and fears and encourage mutual respect between young and old.
I am also encouraged by the work being carried out across Wales to ensure that older people receive respect and dignity when in a care setting.

There are many challenges ahead, for example in addressing poverty among pensioners, making life-long learning a reality for more and increasing economic activity, to mention but a few
One of the real challenges for the strategy over its next phase will be to evolve our approach so that issues about ageing and older people are mainstreamed – that is they are integrated on an equitable basis in all aspects of public policy. We are on the right road and making steady progress.

Gwenda Thomas AM is deputy Minister for Social Services

Joint Statement by Jane Hutt AM, Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills and Gwenda Thomas AM, Deputy Minister for Social Services, Welsh Assembly Government.

"The Welsh Assembly Government has a long-standing commitment to provide universal access to effective advocacy services for all children and young people in Wales. The right of children and young people to be heard directly on matters that affect them is a key component of our approach to developing policy that is firmly grounded in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child. It is particularly important that children and young people have every opportunity to seek redress when things go wrong and that service providers learn from the experience of service users in order to truly become citizen focussed.

We therefore have great pleasure in announcing today new measures to strengthen the voice of children and young people in the provision of public services in Wales. The Government intends to put in place a New Service Framework for the Future Provision of Advocacy Service in Wales. The new framework will be implemented over the next two years. At the heart of the Framework will be a new;

· National Independent Advocacy Board. The Board will take an independent, strategic overview of the development and delivery of advocacy services in Wales and will make recommendations to the National Assembly and to the Welsh Assembly Government. The Board will have a key role in advising on the regulatory framework for advocacy services; promoting best practice and identifying and developing the evidence base. Critically, the Board will also advise Welsh Ministers on the commissioning arrangements for advocacy at national, regional and local level and publish an opinion on arrangements made by the statutory Children and Young People Partnerships to commission and secure the provision of integrated specialist advocacy services. The Board will also consider the existing statutory framework and advise on whether this should be amended to allow for the continuing development of advocacy services.

The Board will be supported in its work by the Advocacy Development and Performance Unit that will be established within the Assembly Government. The Unit’s key function will be to commission, manage and monitor an all-Wales Advocacy and Advice Service and, in consultation with National Independent Advocacy Board, to develop the regulatory framework for the service and the occupational standards and training provision for staff working in the service.

The advocacy service itself will comprise:

- a new National Advocacy and Advice Service to provide a single point of contact via telephone or text 7, days a week for all children and young people in Wales. This will ensure universal access to first line advocacy and support on the full range of concerns expressed by children and young people. The national service will make the necessary links with other support services such as Childline Cymru, NSPCC and, where appropriate, will make referrals to the local/regional specialist integrated advocacy services and school based counselling services. The new service will be in operation in 2009/10.

- a locally/regionally commissioned Integrated Specialist Advocacy Service covering health services, social care services and education, with a particular focus on providing statutory advocacy and broader support to assist vulnerable children and young people. The integrated specialist service model will be commissioned locally or regionally through the Children and Young People Partnerships, beginning later this year.

In devising this framework the Welsh Assembly Government has given particular consideration to the recommendations contained in the recent report of the Children and Young People Committee. We are very grateful for the careful, serious and thoughtful examination that the Committee gave to this important topic. We agree with much of what the Committee has recommended, especially in respect of developing a skilled advocacy workforce. We wish to pay tribute to the work of the Committee and to their commitment to strengthen the voice of all children and young people through the development of robust advocacy arrangements for those who are most disadvantaged and vulnerable. The Government will be making a detailed response to the Committee’s report in due course.

Alongside the Committee’s report we have also considered evidence and views from a wide range of stakeholders; including respondents to our consultation last summer, and most importantly, to the contributions of children and young people themselves.

Central to the concerns of most stakeholders and to the Committee was the question of the independence and the perceived independence of specialist advocacy services. The Government shares the underlying principles on which the Committee has made its recommendation for a national commissioning body for such services but also notes the challenge that differing notions of independence present. There continues to be a difference of views on what constitutes an independent service.

The key strength of the service framework that we intend to put in place is the link it will make between the voice of the child or young person and mainstream services for children and young people. The Assembly Government sees the provision of advocacy services as an opportunity to develop awareness of children’s rights amongst service providers, to challenge those occupational and local cultures that do not effectively engage children and young people in the design and delivery of services and to ensure, wherever possible, the speedy resolution of difficulties. In this way, local responsibility for resolving grievances or remedying service deficiencies is not undermined.

However, these arrangements will need to have the confidence of children and young people. They will have an important role on the National Independent Advocacy Board which will oversee the arrangements that we intend to put in place. It is our intention that the Independent Advocacy Board will provide a unique, informed and fully independent account of the quality of advocacy services for children and young people in Wales to a degree that is unparalleled elsewhere in the UK or Europe. We also intend, by regulation, to require local/regional arrangements to be commissioned on at least a
three-year basis.

The Welsh Assembly Government also respects the need to have a continuous programme for improving the independence of services to strengthen the voices of children and young people and to ensure there is sufficient capacity and flexibility in the law so as to allow the Welsh Assembly Government and future Governments to respond to an ever-changing environment and expectations.

Wales already has an international reputation for innovation, working in partnership and for placing the voice of the child at the heart of its policies and programmes. The New Service Framework for the Future Provision of Advocacy Service in Wales represents a major step forward in Wales’ promotion of Article 12 of the UNCRC to ensure the rights of children and young people to have a say in what they think should happen when adults are making decision about them and to have their opinions taken into account."

Deputy Minister for Social Services Gwenda Thomas will today [Thursday, 13 March] launch phase two of the Welsh Assembly Government’s Strategy for Older People at the Living Longer/Living Better conference at the Marriott Hotel, Cardiff.

The second phase will build on the achievements of the first phase, which has seen the introduction of popular schemes such as free bus travel and free swimming for older people, as well as the appointment of a Commissioner for Older People.

Originally launched in 2003, the first phase of the strategy aimed to raise the profile of older people’s needs and ensure that their views were sought in the development and delivery of local services.

It has been successful in achieving that aim with strong support from older people and age organisations. The strategy has also been recognised internationally as best practice for the way in which older people have been engaged in the decision making process.

The new phase of the strategy, from April 2008-2013, will focus on a range of key strategic areas including continuing to improve the health and well-being of older people and ways of enabling them to stay independent and active for longer.

Gwenda Thomas said:

“Older people now have the opportunity to live life to the full and are making an invaluable contribution to their families and their communities.”

“There are of course many challenges ahead. We must, for example, shed the stereotypes that surround older people, address poverty amongst pensioners, make life long learning a reality for more and increase economic activity.

“’One Wales’ strongly signals our commitment to developing a Wales that is inclusive and offers equity in opportunity. For older people living in Wales this is particularly significant.

“We are already on the right road, with the introduction of schemes such as free bus passes and free swimming for Older People and establishing the ground-breaking ‘made-in-Wales’ Commissioner for Older People.

“But addressing the implications of an ageing Wales is not a quick fix - and one of the real challenges for the strategy over its next phase will be to evolve our approach so that issues about ageing and older people are mainstreamed.”

Local Authorities and other partners, including the voluntary sector, were originally allocated £13million to ensure that the first phase of the strategy was effectively implemented. An additional £7 million for the next 3 years has now been added to this amount, making a total investment of £20 million, to ensure the effective implementation of the Strategy.

The Strategy for Older People is available at: http://wales.gov.uk/about/strategy/strategypublications/strategy_olderpeople/?lang=en

LOCAL Supermarkets need to get their act together over the ‘mountains of carrier bags’ they give away every week - or face a Government imposed levy, local Labour AM Gwenda Thomas warned today.

Gwenda was responding to the news that the UK Government has announced that it will use powers to put a levy on single use carrier bags if retailers don’t take enough action themselves by the end of the year.

Gwenda Thomas AM said:

"The mountains of plastic bags which our local supermarkets are giving away each week are causing enormous harm in our communities.

"I am very pleased to see the Government making it clear that retailers have until the end of the year to do more, or face legislation to impose charges on these bags from early next year."

"Many of us only use these bags for a few minutes to carry our shopping home, but they can damage our environment for years to come. Discarded plastic bags are a real blight in many communities and they can take thousands of years to break down, often on landfill tips.

Gwenda added:

"The Assembly Government has already signed up to a voluntary code with supermarkets aimed at reducing the amount of single use carrier bags used in Wales, but this is just the start. The Assembly is currently asking for new powers over environmental protection and waste management, which would also make an impact in this area.

"At the same time, we all have a responsibility to cut down on the number of carrier bags we use when we are shopping. Re-usable bags are better for the environment and they could soon be better for our pockets as well."

A community project in Pontardawe aimed at building a small show arena has been congratulated by Neath AM Gwenda Thomas after it was awarded a £300,000 funding boost from the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government.

Arena Pontardawe is one of 49 community projects across Wales to share in more than £5.5 million funding from the Assembly Government’s Community Facilities and Activities Grant.

The scheme supports the creation of new facilities and services and promote the regeneration of communities.

Gwenda Thomas, Labour Assembly Member for Neath said:

“This is a significant funding boost for a project, which will make a real difference to Pontardawe and the Swansea Valley.

“I know that a lot of hard work has been put in by those involved with Arena Pontardawe, and I want to congratulate all those involved in making this funding boost possible.

The group’s aim is to build a small show arena, seating around 300 people and accommodating flexi space for both businesses and training groups. It will be compliant with the Disability discrimination act, providing increased educational opportunities and training courses. It will create bonds between diverse groups encouraging social interaction and a sense of belonging.

Gwenda added:

"The funding announced today is part of the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government’s agenda of breathing new life into communities such Pontardawe. We want to work with local organisations to regenerate our communities, improve services and upgrade facilities.

“One of our greatest strengths in the Swansea Valley is our shared sense of community spirit, and I am confident that this latest boost to the area will help to build this and our confidence as a community.”

Neath Labour AM and Deputy Health & Social Services Minister Gwenda Thomas has today warmly welcomed a move by the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government to allow patients, visitors and staff to park for free at almost every hospital in Wales by the end of 2011.

The announcement means that from April 1st this year, car parking on all NHS Trust sites is to be provided free of charge for patients, staff and visitors, unless external contracts are in place.

Where commercial parking contracts are in place, NHS Trusts are being told to reduce parking costs for patients, staff and visitors from 1st June this year. These reduced-cost schemes will then have to remain in place until the end of the contract.

Gwenda Thomas AM said:

“This will be very welcome news for patients, their families and NHS staff across my constituency.

“Under the current system, charges vary widely across Wales. This means that patients, staff and visitors can all be hit with the expense and inconvenience of parking charges, often when they are at their most vulnerable.

“Parking costs have been a major issue for many of my constituents, who will now benefit from free parking at the major hospitals serving my constituency, such as Singleton and Morriston hospitals.

“While Neath Port Talbot Hospital operates a commercial contract and Abertawe Bro Morgannwg NHS Trust (which comes into existence from April 1st) is legally bound to honour the terms of this contract, I am sure that patients, visitors and staff will join with me in welcoming the fact that they will face reduced parking charges from June 1st.

“At last year’s Assembly election, Welsh Labour promised that we would reform charges for hospital parking and today’s announcement means that we are well on the way to doing just that by the end of this Assembly term.”