By Mark Isherwood

MS for North Wales

Questioning the Counsel General, I again raised concerns that vulnerable children and their families in Wales are being let down because the Education Tribunal for Wales cannot take further enforcement action when public bodies fail to carry out their Orders, added that “Despite the High Court ruling in 2018 that the exclusion of an Autistic pupil for behaviour arising from their Autism was unlawful, I continue to receive North Wales casework where this is happening”, and asked him to respond to calls for jurisdiction of school exclusion appeal panels to be transferred to the First-tier Tribunal for Wales, independent of individual School or Local Authority process.

I asked the Cabinet Secretary for North Wales and Transport to investigate concern raised with me by a transport professional in North Wales regarding the multi-million pound deal the Welsh Government agreed earlier this year with a Cardiff-based company to supply electric vehicles.

They stated this is ‘hardly an established financially stable company to go into such a big spend with’, and that ‘the sole director and 100 per cent shareholder has previously been the director of four companies, all of which have gone into administration’.

Questioning the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Social Justice, I said access to public services for deaf British Sign Language (BSL) signers is “being held back by the lack of provision of BSL interpreters”, and asked how she proposes to address this.

Speaking in a pre-recorded address at the first of the National Residential Landlord Association’s (NRLA) four ‘On Tour' events around Wales in 2024, I noted that although the demand for private rented housing is massively outstripping supply, “burdensome legislation” introduced by the Labour Welsh Government is driving many good landlords out of the private rental sector in Wales, harming more than helping tenants, and said they should instead work with good landlords.

Meetings included the NRLA, to discuss the state of the Private Rented Sector in Wales; the Cross-Party Group on Faith; the Chairs' Forum, an informal committee of Senedd Committee Chairs; and Chairing the Welsh Parliament’s Public Accounts and Public Administration Committee.

Other engagements included a meeting with charity ‘Care & Repair Cymru’, which helps older people to live independently; a BBC Wales interview about Wales not having a Minister with specific responsibility for Disabled People, unlike other parts of the UK; the launch of ‘Reading Well for dementia’; and a visit to environmental education charity ‘Field Studies Council’ at their Residential Centre in Betws-y-Coed.

For my help, email Mark.Isherwood@senedd.wales or call 0300 200 7219.