National Assembly for Wales

We are committed to achieving a gender-equal Wales. Women and girls in Wales should be able to live free from violence and abuse. We will work across all areas of Government to end violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence, through a whole-system, prevention-led and society-wide approach.

Respect, solidarity, fair play—they are guiding principles of how we work, shaping how we build fairer, safer and united communities. The community cohesion programme funds cohesion teams to work with partners to promote community cohesion and mitigate tensions in Casnewydd Islwyn.

Tackling child poverty is a key priority for this Government. We are taking action through our first 100 days plan to help raise children and their families out of poverty and ensure that every child has the best possible start in life across the whole of Wales.

We are committed to strengthening support for young carers. We must ensure their well-being and education is prioritised, and the support they need and provide is regularly reviewed. We are prioritising early intervention and trauma-informed approaches and want every child in Wales to have the best possible start in life.

We are aware that young carers can face significant challenges, taking on caring roles for parents or siblings due to ill health or disability. Our young carers are children first and foremost. It is our collective duty to ensure their social, emotional and educational needs are being met. If there is a concern that any child is exposed to abuse, neglect or any other inappropriate experience, this must be swiftly addressed by the relevant agencies.

Our new national strategy for unpaid carers, which will be published in the autumn, prioritises young carers. We recognise the importance of early identification of a young person in a caring role, and of ensuring their situation is regularly assessed and reviewed by local authorities. We are also actively exploring how we can improve the way we gather evidence relating to young carers’ experiences in education. This will deepen our understanding and help us target support more effectively to improve outcomes.

This Government is committed to upholding the armed forces covenant, ensuring fair access to healthcare, housing, employment and education, skills and training for veterans and their families. We are also committed to strengthening support for people living in our rural communities, ensuring need is embedded into policy development. 

We want to support our food and drink industry and its supply chains by increasing the amount spent on the Welsh public plate on food of Welsh origin from 23 per cent to 35 per cent by 2030. We are working with Welsh wholesalers, producers and processors to increase the amount of Welsh, sustainable and seasonal produce, including meat, served in schools.

The Welsh Government is committed to rural resilience. We will bring forward proposals for a rural-proofing duty in our first 100 days, and we are committed to developing a rural development strategy to tackle poverty and create new economic and social opportunities.

The Welsh Government will address the nature emergency through a climate and nature action plan, embedding nature recovery across all portfolios. We will set ambitious biodiversity targets and strengthen accountability through the establishment of a strong and independent Office for Environmental Governance Wales.

I am committed to evolving and refining the sustainable farming scheme, in strong collaboration with our farming community. This will build on the work done so far and increase uptake as we move through the transition period from the basic payment scheme to SFS.