One Wales Cabinet Committees in 2008
Definitely for the devo-nerds.
Cabinet Committees of the One Wales Government largely started meeting in 2008 though the Public Service Delivery Committee and the Children and Young People’s Committees had initial meetings in late 2007.
The Children and Young People’s Committee, had its first meeting in December 2007. The committee had an update on children’s advocacy services and brief items on child poverty and children with disabilities.
The meeting on 14 January 2008 discussed vulnerable children’s strategy and the One Wales government commitments on children, children with disabilities and child poverty. There were two papers published with the minutes which I have converted from Word to PDF format:
The committee met again on 3 March. The Chair reminded colleagues that the new Children’s Commissioner, Keith Towler, had recently taken up his post. It was also noted that William Maxwell had recently taken up his post as the new Estyn Chief Inspector and that the Framework for School Effectiveness had been published in February, supported by a series of launch events currently underway across Wales.
The meeting discussed branding the government’s ‘integrated suite’ of policies on children and young people; child poverty targets and child poverty monitor; the children and young people advocacy service; and school-based counselling. The papers published with the minutes are below
:
The committee met again on 28 April, with a presentation from the new Children’s Commissioner.
There were discussions on children’s budgeting; the voluntary joint agreement on child poverty; and the children and young people’s workforce strategy. Papers published with the minutes were:
The committee next met on 23 June. There were presentations from Funky Dragon on their presentation to the UNCRC; a discussion on children and young people’s participation; the behaviour and attendance review; services for children with disabilities; family support issues; and the Save the Children/WLGS Toolkit for tackling child poverty:
The committee then met after the summer recess on 6 October. There was a presentation from Save the Children and the WLGA on their toolkit for tackling child poverty; the child well-being monitor for Wales; a draft Welsh Government response to the UNCRC and updates on previous items.
The final meeting of this committee in 2008 was on 24 November. The Minister for Social Justice and Local Government welcomed Huw Lewis AM, the Chair of the Child Poverty Expert Group to the meeting and introduced a paper which invited Ministers to note the Expert Group’s first set of policy recommendations and the Assembly Government’s initial response.
Other items discussed included integrated family support services (I have uploaded the paper but not the annexes); children, young people and maternity services; and the Government’s response to the Children’s Commissioner’s report.
The Economic Renewal Committee, a new committee, more accurately the Cabinet Committee on Regeneration, Skills and Economic Inactivity, had its first meeting on 21 April. I was a member. The committee agreed its Terms of Reference and those for the Officials Support group and discussed an initial paper on an integrated approach to addressing economic inactivity:
The second meeting of the committee was on 30 June. It discussed Skills that work for Wales; developing an integrated approach to addressing economic inactivity; construction skills; and the heads of the valleys university task and finish group (this also considered the Centre for Regeneration Excellence wales, which I was very involved in).
At the third meeting on 14 July, the Deputy minister for Regeneration (that would be me) brought a paper on Integrating Spatial, Strategic and Community Approaches to Regeneration:
The Committee met again on 1 October, with reactions to the Global Financial Crisis uppermost in people’s minds. The Committee discussed Potential Implications of Economic Downturn on Employment, Unemployment and Economic Inactivity; Potential Implications of Economic Downturn on Employment, Unemployment and Economic Inactivity; Department of Work and Pensions (DWP): Green paper - Welfare Reforms; Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET) Consultation - Next Steps and heard an oral update from me on the Approach to Regeneration as well as an oral update form officials on cross-departmental work on economic inactivity:
The next meeting was on the 3 November. Following the Economic Summit held on 16th September, an initial Action Plan had been developed. The Plan had seven work streams each of which had a lead Minister and a lead official. A second economic summit had been arranged and progress against the Action Plan would be provided. The committeee discussed Wales and the Financial Crisis: Update on the Potential Impact of the Economic Downturn; Active Employment Policies; and Sector Skills Strategies and Plans.
The final meeting of the year was on 8 December. This heard a report back from the Third Economic Summit.
The Public Service Delivery Committee had held two meetings in 2007. The 5 November meeting (no irony here) discussed the Terms of Reference and Establishing cross-cutting policy and delivery priorities. There was also a presentation on citizen’s experiences of public services.
The next meeting had been on 3 December 2007. The committee discussed the Wales Spatial Plan; further action on cross-cutting policy and delivery; and the development of 6 pilot Local Service Boards.
The meeting on 28 January 2008 had an Update on Local Service Boards and on the Wales Spatial Plan: Moving Towards Delivery. The committee had a Presentation from the Deputy Minister for Regeneration (yes, me again) and an Oral Update from the Minister for Social Justice and Local Government on Pooled Budgets. I appear to have become a member of this committee at some point.
The committee met again on 10 March. It discussed the Wales Spatial Plan - Role of Lead Ministers; and had an Update on the Welsh Citizen Smartcard Project. The link to the paper on the smartcard project doesn’t work.
On 12 May, the Committee discussed the Wales Spatial Plan; Local Delivery Agreements and Local Service Boards Update; and had a Report from Value Wales.
On 14 July, discussions included Local Government Improvement Agreements / National Minimum Standards; a Future Survey of Citizens: Experiences of Public Services in Wales; Measuring Government Outputs; and Inspection and Regulation Issues.
The Committee met again on 13 October. It discussed Integrating the Spatial Plan and Local Service Boards at Ministerial and All-Wales Level; and Improvement in Public Service Delivery: A Spatial Approach (North East Wales).
On 8 December, items included a revised paper on Shaping Public Service Improvement in North East Wales (I have not downloaded the Annexes); a Complaints Systems in Wales; and Delivering the Assembly Government’s commitments to tackle climate change.
A new Strategic Capital Investment committee began work on 14 April 2008. At its first meeting it agreed its Terms of Reference and an Outline Strategic Capital Investment Plan. It also noted the plan to Establisht a Strategic Capital Investment Panel.
The next meeting was on 7 July. The committee agreed the Outline Strategic Capital Investment Plan; heard of Progress on One Wales Funded Capital Commitments; and agreed procedures for the Appointment of the Strategic Capital Investment Panel.
On 29 September, the committee noted the ppointment of the Strategic Capital Investment Panel and discussed Phase One of the Strategic Capital Investment Plan (September 2008).
The meeting on 24 November endorsed projects in the Strategic Capital Investment Plan (Phase Two).
A new Sustainabke Futures Committee began work on 2 June. The first meeting agreed Terms of Reference for the Committee and its Officals Support Group; set out a future work programme; heard form the Climate Change Commission; discussed a paper about Delivering the One Wales Target to reduce emissions by 3% per year to 2011; considered The Climate Change Bill; Wales’s Ecological Footprint; and The International Climate Change Champions Initiative.
The meeting on 29 September had considered more detail on Delivering the 3% Target and Development of the Programme of Action on Climate Change; discussed The Climate Change Communication Campaign; and the National Energy Efficiency and Savings Plan
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On 10 November, the Committee discussed the Transport Plan and its Impact on Climate Change; the Outline of High Level Climate Change Strategy Document; the Proposed Approach to Adaptation; and had a UK Climate Change Action and Climate Change Commission Wales Update.
By the end of 2008, the pattern of One Wales Cabinet Committees was established.
Diolch!