'Discriminating against disabled people on the Wales Coast Path'

MS for North Wales

As a Patron to COS, Centre of Sign-Sight-Sound (formerly North Wales Deaf Association Information), it was a great pleasure to attend their Sharing Day held at their premises in Colwyn Bay to highlight all the services they offer and to encourage mutual referrals between various services and organisations.

I enjoyed watching the film used in their excellent ‘Abi project’, training teachers and helping children learn sign language in schools, with ‘Catrin & Abi’ books used in North Wales schools as part of the project; and learning more about their Training Courses, their ‘Working Sense’ Volunteering/Training/Employment Project, funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund, their Accessible Health Service, their Accessible Information, Advice and Assistance service for Deaf, Deafened and Hard of Hearing people, and their ‘Live Well with Hearing Loss’ service. It was good to receive widespread support for my British Sign Language (BSL) (Wales) Bill from BSL signers there.

I met with the Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB), the professional body for construction management and leadership. We discussed initial findings from a report CIOB has coming out later this year and wider skills gap issues, including the need for skills on both big capital projects and to decarbonise existing homes and properties via accredited providers, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) struggling to take on apprentices and the need for a pipeline of people with construction skills.

I joined the Cruise Lines International Association (CLIA) for a ship visit on the Regent Seven Seas Navigator cruise ship in Holyhead. The visit, with representatives from the wider cruise industry and from Regent Seven Seas Cruise Line, included a tour of the ship, meeting with crew onboard, and a roundtable meeting on the value of the cruise industry to Wales.

Holyhead is among the most popular destinations for cruising in the UK, with the industry providing a considerable economic contribution and supporting many jobs in the local region and across Wales.

I attended a further meeting of the ‘Bash the Barriers’ working group held at the Connah's Quay Town Council offices to discuss updates on the campaign for Flintshire County Council to remove the barriers to access which are discriminating against disabled people on the Wales Coast Path in Flintshire.

Other engagements included a BBC Wales interview on Welsh Government inward investment strategy, an LBC/Global interview on the Welsh Government’s missed housebuilding and homelessness targets, and a visit to the Offices of independent news website Wrexham.com to learn more about what they do.

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