Bethan Jenkins AC/AM Blog

This week in the Senedd, I helped to launch the British Association of Social Workers (BASW) new ambassadors and patrons scheme. The new ambassadors are Penny Lloyd, Robin Moulster, Ian Woolrich and Nick Lovell. They are former chairs of the BASW, and I look forward to working with them on raising awareness of the work of social workers, especially given that the BASW has appointed me as a patron. I was honoured that they asked me to be a patron, and I now want to assure them that I will do what I can to raise awareness of the work that they do, and help with their campaign and lobby work here in Wales.

The event in the Senedd was used to demonstrate the good work that social workers are achieving, providing BASW members with extra support and advice, where experienced social workers can champion others and help them achieve their goals. In recent years, the national media has reported on a number of high profile cases that involve children at risk, often highlighting negative aspects of social work. These cases are often shocking. Nonetheless, the BASW were motivated to implement this new programme after they became concerned that such negative reporting could be having an impact on the morale of social workers and the industry as a whole.

There are many reasons why we should celebrate the work that social workers do. The Welsh Government has recently set up a social work task force group and I hope that this group will discuss issues around staff retention, a national pay framework, and raise the profile of social workers in Wales. If you want to find out more about the scheme, email wales@basw.co.uk

I visited the Discovery Centre near Margam Park today to see the Mentro Allan ( Venture Out) project in action. It’s a collection of projects supported by the Big Lottery fund and a national partnership with the aim of increasing physical activity levels among young people at risk of disengagement.

The visit was organised by the Sports Council of Wales in conjunction with Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council. I decided to find out more about what is happening in the area with physical activity and well-being partly because I am the culture spokesperson for Plaid Cymru at the National Assembly, and met with Sports Council staff on a Wales level to talk about some of the main issues, and also because I feel passionately about using the natural environment as a way of increasing physical activity, ultimately seeking to encourage people to take ownership for the local programmes, and get their own communities involved.

I have shadowed staff from many different organisations as an AM, from Gofal Cymru and Trothwy Housing Association Officers to following a welfare rights officer, and I wanted to see how the local authority worked with the Sports Council in making schemes like 5×60 work on the ground, as well as implementing Dragon Sports and other projects like it.

I was very impressed with the Discovery Centre. I had not been there before, and it is an excellent facility for groups which can use it for a variety of activities. I was given a presentation of the work that the council carries out in relation to this field, and was told about how it works strategically with the Sports Council and the Welsh Assembly Government in delivering their aims.

As might be expected, there are problems arising from grants and other various funding streams coming to an end soon, and that Wales has been hit by the decrease in Lottery funding. I promised to pursue this with the Welsh Assembly Government and other funding bodies.

We were also shown a video of the 5×60 work that takes place in Cwrt Sart Comprehensive School in Neath, and informed of the work of the 5×60 officers in the schools. It is clear that Neath Port Talbot, like every other authority in Wales, is facing cuts in its budget, so it’s important that schemes are put in place which are sustainable and do not cost huge sums of money to run effectively.

I later met with a group of pupils from the area who are part of the Mentro Allan scheme. The pupils on the scheme were making bird feeding boxes to later place around the park. They carried out this work with enthusiasm- and without hurting themselves! The work that the volunteers do with these groups is phenomenal, and it was great to meet them, as they too had once benefited from the Mentro Allan scheme when they were in school.

Following on from that, I went to meet those who were taking part in a workshop to set up healthy food in schools forums, which was taking place in the Orangery building of Margam Park. Children from schools across the borough had turned up voluntarily to learn about nutrition and healthy eating, so that they could then go back to their schools and set up forums on how to guide their schools on the appropriate food for their school canteens. I hope to keep a keen eye on this development, and assess whether such forums can work in practice especially if schools have outsourced catering, where business rules the day.

All in all, I had an enjoyable morning despite the rain. I intend to visit them again to look at how other projects work on a grassroots level. Considering the high levels of inactivity in the borough, its vital that the council, the Sports Council and the Welsh Government work together to ensure that these statistics are improved upon, and that the facilities that are available are something that we can all be proud of – and use regularly.

On Saturday I will be taking part in the Gates Scholards Community Coffehouse webinar, under the theme of  ‘Breaking in to Politics’. It is organized by the Gates Cambridge Scholarship, Gates Millennium Scholarship and the British Council, and I am taking part due to my involvement in the British Council Transatlantic Network. You can register to tak part in the webinar here. If you want more information email coffeehouse@gatesscholar.org.

The aim of the discussion is to show the transition in the relationship between youth and politics. Here is how it is being advertised by the organisers -

‘W ith the maturation of social media and communication tools, a younger generation of citiznes are now able to engage in political elections, campaigning, advocacy and the political process in unprecendented numbers. This wave of youth participation has brought with it a new energy and perspecitce, but also brings a new set of social, professional and political challenges. This teleconference will discuss the challenges, strategies and reweards of youhg engagement in politics. Specific topics will include running for office, developing a platform, pursuing fundraising and support, utlizing information technologies, and life in office’.

The panelists are as follows:

· Mr. Matthew Varilek, Economic Development Director for Sen. Tim Johnson (Gates Cambridge Scholar) (moderator)

· Ms. Kesha Ram, Member of the Vermont House of Representatives (Udall Scholar, Truman Scholar)

· Mr. Jamarr Brown, Vice Chair for the South Carolina Democratic Party (Gates Millennium Scholar)

· Ms. Marietje Schaake, Member of the European Parliament, Netherlands (TN 2020)

and myself of couse, an an Assembly member and a member of TN2020.

….BUT this time it’s the long awaited review by the Labour Westminster government on top-up fees, which was announced at the beginning of this week. Lord Bourne, the former Chief of BP, is heading the review group, and he will report to government. The group will also consider the cost of higher education to the taxpayer – and, of course, the thorny issue of increased fees for students.

Now a review is all well and good, but if it is to happen and to work well, then there should be  a cross section of society represented on the review group. The National Union of Students is angry that there is only one student representative on the group. But if it is so concerned now, then why was one representative sufficient enough for Wales when Ben Gray, the former President of NUS Wales, sat on Jane Hutt’s group? I don’t remember such outrage then.

Wes Streeting, the NUS President, has noted his worry that this review will merely pave the way for higher fees, with some claiming that they are now a foregone conclusion. Again, I did not hear this point being made in Welsh review by the NUS.  In fact, the union here did the opposite, and effectively agreed to changes that have culminated in the imminent introduction of higher fees for Welsh students studying here in Wales. 

There is a clear inconsistency in the positions taken by the NUS and its Welsh counterpart. For example, Wes Streeting told The Guardian this week that higher fees will lead to the marketisation of HE. I said exactly the same when we debated this at the National Assembly in March, but NUS Wales remained silent on the issue.

This all comes at a time when students face massive debts, and when young people are being hit the worst by the recession. Most people know my view on what happened here in Wales, but now I hope that Westminster does not introduce higher fees because I worry that Wales will have to follow suit. The Welsh Assembly Government will be left with little choice in the matter.

I intend to raise this issue with Jane Hutt, and to ask how she will be taking part in the Westminster review process. After all, it will affect a large proportion of Welsh students who currently have to pay top-up fees if they attend universities in England. So far, when I have asked this question of her during question sessions at the National Assembly, she has indicated that she is waiting for the review to be announced on a Westminster level. Now that it has, I can see no reasons for stalling this process. It should be the  duty of the Welsh Assembly Government to ensure that it has proper input into the Westminster review.

Mae’r drafodaeth ar yr LCO  ar yr Iaith Gymraeg wedi bod yn fywiog heddiw, ac eto cadarnhau i nifer fawr ohonom pam bod angen refferendwm ar Senedd i Gymru- fel nad oes rhaid i ni gymryd rhan mewn broses mor gymhleth,  hir wyntog ac anghynaladwy. Wrth gwrs, rwy’n hapus iawn bod yr LCO yn cael ei gymeradwyo, ond ni ddylem orfod ofyn i San Steffan am bwerau dros ein hiaith ein hun.

Dwi’n fawr edrych ymlaen at adroddiad y Confensiwn Cenedlaethol ar fwy o bwerau i Gymru,  ond dwi wedi bod o’r barn ers tro fyd nawr bod angen i wleidyddion o bob Plaid dod at ei gilydd i drafod goblygiadau trefnu ymgyrch Ie dros Senedd i Gymru, a pharatoi am refferendwm fel bod modd ei hennill yn llwyddiannus. 

Heddiw, yn ystod y drafodaeth ar yr LCO dywedodd Alun Davies AC bod e am weld refferedwm yn digwydd ar ol etholiad Cyffredinol. Dwi ddim yn deall pam bod e wedi bod mor hir, ac mor anodd, i meincwyr cefn Llafur ddod allan o blaid gweithredu refferendwm cyn nawr.

 Tasa Aelodau’r Blaid Lafur, a phob Plaid arall wedi ymateb i fy ngalwad y flwyddyn diwethaf am drafodaeth ar y refferendwm, yna byddem wedi datblygu mwy o syniadaeth a chonsensws ar y mater erbyn hyn,  yn fy marn i. 

Yn anffodus, ni ddigwyddodd hynny, ond ni fyddaf yn troi fy nghefn ar ACau sydd am ddatgan cefnogaeth i’r angen am refferendwm, yn enwedig am mai’r rheswm yw anhawster gweithredu’r system LCO presenol. Dwi am weithio gyda unrhyw AC neu grwp neu fudiad sydd o blaid cynnal refferendwm.

 Dwi ond yn gobeithio fod Alun Davies AC yn siarad ar rhan Carwyn Jones AC, y person mae e’n cefnogi i ennill y ras i fod yn Brif Weinidog Cymru pan yn datgan barn am yr angen am refferendwm.

 Mae’n bryd i bob ymgeisydd dweud yn glir eu barn ar y refferendwm, a’r ymdrech fydden nhw’n rhoi mewn i ymgyrchu yn gadarnhaol yn rhan o’r refferendwm hynny.

I am becoming quite the infrequent blogger. Apologies, but I haven’t had a press/political officer for a while now, which means I’ve been running around trying to sort everything out. I welcome a new staff member, a Mr Duncan Higgitt to the team tomorrow, and I am looking forward to working with him. There’s plenty of campaigns and work to be getting on with, that’s for sure so no rest for the wicked!

It’s hard to know where to start I’ve been away from the blogosphere for so long. The furore over the former Government drugs adviser who was dismissed over the weekend has dominated the headlines. This is over his opposition to the reclassification of cannabis, and research that his council carried out. Tonight we learn that two of his colleagues on the scientific panel have resigned their positions in fury at how Dr Nutt has been treated. It is quite something when the government appoints such experts ( minus expenses) and dismisses their advice if it does not fit in with their view of how policy should be developed( or the red tops, I should add) . I’m no specialist in this field, but I think the government has got it wrong, and Alan Johnson will face further set backs, for sure.

Another issue to note is the Postal strike that has taken place, and the continued threat of more strikes by the CWU as they cannot come to an agreement with the Royal Mail. I support the strikes, as I know that this decision wasn’t made lightly. If the CWU did not strike, and carried on negotiations purely in private, it is questionable how much support they could garner if ( being the cynic) the Royal Mail backtracked on their promises to staff at a later stage.

Look at what is happening to former Visteon staff in Swansea, who were promised the same pension packages as their Ford colleagues. They now face losing up to 50% of their pensions when they are transferred to the public protection fund, given that Ford management insist that they are not party to the same rights and pension liabilities as Ford workers. This is enough for us to know that the Union’s, and politicians like myself must defend such workers and their rights.

I will blog more often, I assure you, but now I have work to do…