In his regular blog for Caerphilly Observer South Wales East AM Lindsay Whittle gives his take on recent news.
During First Minister’s Questions recently I raised the issue of progress towards eradicating child poverty in Wales.
The First Minister admitted that levels remained stubbornly high with one in three children affected.
I pointed out that four of the five worst areas in Wales for child poverty were in the south-east Wales I represent and I wanted to know what the Welsh Government was doing with the four local authorities and other public bodies to reduce child poverty.
The First Minister spoke about the various initiatives such as the Pupil Deprivation Grant and Flying Start but the message is clear – a lot more needs to be done to help families and reduce child poverty. It is totally unacceptable that in one of the richest countries in the world we have children living in poverty in the 21st century.
The Welsh Government has an important role to play as does the UK Government and I don’t believe enough is being done.
In the Senedd I also raised the issue of apprenticeships so that they are available to all in Wales and not just along the M4 or A55 corridors.
I was proud to be a member of the Plaid Cymru administration in Caerphilly that pumped hundreds of thousands of pounds into setting up a scheme. This created 150 jobs for young people over a three year period.
It was the 175th anniversary of the Chartists Rising the week before last. These were brave men from across the valleys who came together as a working class movement and many of them perished. I called for a debate in the Assembly on the idea of a modern charter for those who live in Wales and the Business Minister said they would look at the idea.
I’ve also had several meetings with outside organisations. These included Action for Children, which was grateful for an amendment Plaid Cymru tabled in the Senedd on the Health and Social Care Bill. This was intended to ensure local authorities support foster children up to the age of 21 and beyond with agreement from the young people and the foster parents.
I also met the head of the Independent Police Complaints Commissioner for Wales, Jan Williams and we covered a range of issues.
I also wanted to mention the passing of Dr John O’Dwyer, who served the community of Abertridwr for many years. He was GP to myself, my grandparents and parents. He was a softly spoken Irishman and well respected, who ran a surgery from his home. Dr O’Dwyer was over 100 when he passed away and his funeral took place last week.
Effective contraception and better education in schools could go a long to reducing child poverty. Sadly two people with the IQ of a stickle brick can produce a child and that child could be born into poverty. Having a child is a big responsibility and a big decision in life, it is something that should not be taken lightly and people should consider whether or not they can actually afford to give a child a healthy happy life, it is not the responsibility of the state to pay for children that irresponsible people have brought into the world. Child benefit should be gradually phased out and then scrapped altogether, it’s about time people began to take responsibility for their actions.