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North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has called for the Welsh Government to tackle poverty and deprivation differently, highlighting that, after 19 years of devolution, Wales is still trailing the rest of the UK.
Responding to yesterday’s Statement by the Leader of the House and Chief Whip: ‘Update on the Better Jobs Closer to Home Programme’, which detailed four social enterprise pilots being taken forward by the Welsh Government, Mr Isherwood said “it is a matter of concern, particularly for Welsh Government, that, after 19 years of devolution, Joseph Rowntree Foundation's 'Poverty in Wales 2018' report found that the proportion of households living in income poverty in Wales remains higher than England, Scotland and Northern Ireland, and that poverty among couples with children has been rising since 2003”.
He added:
“Throughout the second, third and fourth Assemblies I routinely called on your predecessors to tackle the causes of disadvantage, poverty and deprivation, not simply treat the symptoms. I therefore welcome the recognition in your statement that practical change in communities needs to focus on the specific barriers that prevent individuals getting into work and then on to better paid work. Some of your predecessors didn't quite articulate that or acknowledge that in the same way.
“However, as somebody who proudly previously worked in the non-profit, mutual or social enterprise sector for more than two decades, I also recognise that they're not a golden bullet, that they can be run inefficiently, they can lose money, they can go bust, they can make people unemployed, as can a for-profit body and even sometimes public sector bodies - although, generally, they're not allowed to fail in the same way.
“Given that, with Communities First, when the Wales Audit Office looked at Communities First in 2009, it produced a report identifying corporate governance failings in financial controls, HR controls and audit trails, what corporate governance checks and balances are you putting in place so the foundations are right, thereby maximising the chances for these social enterprises, often fledgling social enterprises, to rise and hopefully fly with their employees on board?
“You talk about working with a talented and innovative team of officials in Welsh Government and social partners in the trade union movement and industry. Given that the Wales Co-operative Centre is the body funded by Welsh Government to support the establishment and management of social enterprises, what involvement have you had with them, and also with the wider third sector, given the work that the Wales Council for Voluntary Action has done on successors to Communities First models in the future, community anchor organisations and so on, and also with the work currently being done across Wales by the growing Co-Production Network For Wales exactly in these sorts of areas?”
Mr Isherwood also asked the Leader of the House to respond to the Bevan Foundation statement, following the ending of Communities First, that the programme 'did not reduce the headline rates of poverty in the vast majority of communities, still less in Wales as a whole' and that therefore a new programme 'should be co-produced by communities and professionals, and not be directed top-down'.
He said: “They also said that if people feel that policies are imposed on them, the policies don't work. So, how can you assure the Assembly and others outside that, in addition to the initiatives you describe in your statement, you're embracing those approaches to ensure that we don't repeat the mistakes of the past?”
He added: “Having blown billions getting it wrong, the Labour Welsh Government must stop putting the blame on the UK Government for Wales trailing the rest of the UK, and start doing things very differently.”