By Mark Isherwood
MS for North Wales
After opening and speaking at the Music Festival, ‘Ali Fest’, held in Rhydymwyn on 6th July in memory of Alastair ‘Ali’ Thomas, a singer and musician from Flint who lost his life due to a serious condition that affects people with type 1 diabetes, diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), I called in the Senedd for a Statement from the Health Secretary on raising awareness of the symptoms and complications of Type 1 diabetes.
I also called for a Welsh Government Statement on Reform of the Additional Learning Needs (ALN) Code for Wales 2021.
In my May meeting with the ALN Reform Wales campaign, they shared the information they have gathered and told me that the new system is just not working, that they have received countless stories of children missed or left behind by the new system, that they are inundated with requests for help, that children and parents are being blamed and punished, and that they are receiving ever more evidence of trauma coming from school because teachers and schools are not trained and supported. I therefore asked the Welsh Government to answer their question ‘where is the accountability coming from?’.
Questioning the Cabinet Secretary for Finance, Constitution and Cabinet Office about the problems disabled people are experiencing in applying for Blue Badge parking permits, I spoke of the “grave inconsistencies, inefficiencies and injustices arising from the Welsh Government’s ‘Blue Badge Scheme in Wales guidance for local authorities’ ” and asked how she will engage with her Cabinet colleagues to address this.
I was re-elected as Chair at the AGM of the Senedd Cross-Party Group (CPG) on Hospice and Palliative Care.
I also joined meetings of the CPG on Construction, which included discussion on the challenges facing Small and Medium-sized Enterprises; the CPG on Universities, which considered Universities Wales’ ‘Transforming Lives Campaign’ showcasing the transforming power of higher education; and the CPG for Co-operatives and Mutuals, which included a Co-operatives UK presentation on “Opportunities for the Welsh and UK co-operative sector”, and discussion of the wider context for the sector in Wales and what the Welsh Government can do to support co-op and mutual models across different sectors of the economy.
Other engagements included the Chairs' Forum of Welsh Parliament Committee Chairs and a meeting of the Committee for the Scrutiny of the First Minister, where I questioned him about rural broadband connectivity, Tata Steel, Wales’ Freeports and Energy Security, and the impact of Welsh Government policies on the tourism sector.
For my help, email Mark.Isherwood@senedd.wales or call 0300 200 7219.
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