Welsh Devolution's 100 Main Achievements

In November 2005 the Joseph Rowntree Foundation recorded that Welsh poverty rates had fallen faster than those in England and Scotland in the past decade and are now no worse than the average for Britain as a whole. Over a decade, unemployment has almost halved in Wales to around 60,000.

By the end of March 2005, £1.22 billion grant funding had been committed to over 2,350 projects across the European Structural Funds Programmes for 2000-2006, representing over £2.9 billion total project investment and the creation and safeguarding of some 105,000 gross jobs in Wales.

The Assembly successfully pressed the case for Wales’ most deprived areas, over and above the population based Barnett formula, to receive an European Grants transfer of £421 million from the UK Treasury towards drawing down Objective One monies worth some £1.2 billion in 2000. By admitting the principle of additionality to Wales, the Treasury conceded for the first time that there should be a ‘needs based’ augmentation to the Barnett Block. It was announced in July 2004 that Wales would benefit from an extra £555 million from the Chancellor to support the delivery of structural funds programmes.

Conceding the principle of additionality benefited areas beyond Wales in the UK. When announcing additional money for Wales in his 2000 Spending Review, Gordon Brown estimated that areas such as Cornwall, Merseyside and South Yorkshire would receive an additional £600 million.

Between April 2004 and March 2005 the Children's Commissioner for Wales received 249 new cases. The Commissioners' Annual Report for 2004-05 states that at any one time there will be an average of 100 cases under consideration. Most of the initial contact comes from a parent, carer or the extended family, but the child or young person is spoken to as soon as possible to find out what they think and feel about their situation.

Wales was the first nation in the UK to ban physical punishment in all forms of daycare. (January 2004)

There are now considerable financial advantages for students domiciled in Wales to attend Welsh colleges. From 2007/08 Welsh Higher Education Institutions will be given the flexibility to charge fees of up to £3,000 (£1,800 more than the £1,200 fixed fee) ensuring that institutions operate on a level playing field with England. Welsh domiciled Higher Education students studying in Wales will be eligible for a £1,800 fee grant which offsets entirely the additional fees which those students would otherwise be charged.

In July 2004, the Welsh Assembly Government had established an independent review panel under the chairmanship of Professor Teresa Rees to consider and advise on how the Assembly should respond to new powers relating to tuition fees and student support, contained in the Higher Education Act 2004.

Over the next 20 years, the number of people over 60 in Wales will increase to 28 per cent of the population and the number over 85 will increase by over a third.

The Welsh Assembly Government has acted on its commitment to establish a Commissioner for Older People in Wales. The proposal to establish a Commissioner was one of the recommendations made in the Report on a Strategy for Older People in Wales (2002). The legislation to establish a Commissioner for Older People in Wales is making good progress through Parliament. The bill has undergone significant scrutiny during its Parliamentary stages but is still on course for Commissioner’s office to be established in 2007.

Steps have been taken to grant greater freedom of travel and access to sporting facilities by:

Introducing the free travel scheme. It was estimated in April 2001 that some 600,000 pensioners and disabled people could enjoy free local bus travel.  Free travel on local buses for pensioners (and disabled people) was introduced by the Welsh Assembly Government in April 2002. In April 2003 it was extended to men aged 60 – 64 as part of the Strategy for Older People.

It was noted in November 2002 that the number of bus passengers had increased since the introduction of the free travel scheme, by 16% on average in south east Wales and 10% on average elsewhere.

It was announced in November 2004 that people in Wales aged 60 and over are able to swim for free in local authority pools. The Welsh 60+ Free Swimming pilot is the first national scheme of its kind in Europe.

The National Assembly welcomed the announcement in December 2004 that emissions of green house gases in Wales had  fallen by 1.2 million tonnes between 1990 and 2002.

The National Assembly provided Wales with the first government in the world to use ecological foot printing as an indicator of real progress in sustainable development. The Government of Wales Act 1998 resulted in the people of Wales acquiring the right to challenge by judicial revue any failure by the Assembly to comply with its sustainable development duty.

On the occasion of its first birthday in November 2005 the Wales Millennium Centre expressed confidence that it would reach its target of 350,000 ticket sales by the end of the year.

It was announced in November 2004 that the Welsh Assembly Government had provided £37 million towards the total £106.2 million cost of the Wales Millennium Centre with a further £2 million per year in financial support. It was stated in February 2006 that since 1999, there has been a record £181 million investment in the arts. Wales now has a real network of significant venues:

In Swansea, the First Minister, with the legendary Gareth Edwards, opened the National Waterfront Museum. The project received financial support of almost £11 million from the Heritage Lottery Fund, from the Welsh Assembly Government, European Union Objective 1 funding, the Welsh Development Agency, the Wales Tourist Board, NMGW, the City and County of Swansea and the private sector. (October 2005).

In north east Wales the Welsh Assembly Government announced an European boost to Llangollen’s Royal International Pavilion. Additional funds will help the Royal Pavilion in Llangollen to host year round entertainment. (September 2005).

In north west Wales, the Galeri in Caernarfon was opened in April 2005. Galeri includes a 400-seat theatre, two large rehearsal studios, Art Space, Café Bar, rooms for hire and enterprise units. The £7.5 million project was funded by the Arts Council of Wales Lottery Fund, the Welsh Assembly's Local Regeneration Fund, ERDF Objective 1 programme, the Wales Tourist Board, the Welsh Development Agency and Cwmni Tref Caernarfon. The Centre was built on land which was sold for the purpose by Gwynedd County Council.

The need for an arts and entertainment facility in Newport was first identified by the former Newport Borough Council as far back as 1983. In 1995, the council allocated resources to the development of a theatre and arts centre in Newport and applied for funding towards the development of the project. In 1999, the Arts Council of Wales announced that Newport was awarded a lottery grant of £8.5m towards the building of the centre. The Welsh Assembly Government also awarded a grant of £112,000 towards the construction of the basement display for the mediaeval ship in August 2002. The Riverside Arts Centre provides a stunning example of 21^st century architecture.

The Welsh Assembly Government welcomed statistics in January 2006 showing that the numbers of Welsh speaking primary schools and pupils had increased. The statistics showed that there were 455 Welsh speaking primary schools (almost 29% of the total) at January 2005 with 52,800 pupils on roll, seven more schools and 1,700 more pupils than in 2004. In secondary schools the percentage of pupils of compulsory school age taught Welsh as a first language had risen to 14.8% with a further 84.2% taught Welsh as a second language. The numbers of pupils assessed in Welsh as a first language at Key Stage 1 and 2 had also risen.

Wales may provide a home for an estimated 10,000 refugees. As an indication of an open and welcoming political culture, the WARD (Wales Asylum Seeking and Refugee Doctors Group) offers a valuable pointer. Wales has the most successful refugee doctors training scheme in the UK.

Since the scheme began in 2002 those taking part have achieved a 100 per cent pass rate in the tests. By September 2005, 14 doctors had been employed in the NHS in Wales as a result of the scheme.

Prior to 1999, the leaders of Wales' diverse faith communities had no formal contact with each other. Following the events of '9:11' in New York the National Assembly's Faith Communities Forum was launched in 2001.

In a truly inclusive manner, the Forum has helped to arrange national events such as the Act of Remembrance in July 2005 to commemorate the passing of 60 years since the end of the Second World War and the UK Police Federation Memorial Service held in Saint David's Hall, Cardiff.

Joint press releases were also issued between Wales' faith leaders and political leaders following the bombings in London in July 2005.

In November 2005, the Welsh Assembly Government launched a national discussion to listen to the views of Muslim women across Wales. The campaign, called Muslim Women Talk Wales, is organised by the All-Wales Saheli Association and has received funding from the Welsh Assembly Government.

When launching the National Assembly's Race Equality Scheme, which came into force on April 1, 2005, Trevor Phillips, Chair of the Commission for Racial Equality said: "In the Assembly, we had a partner that was prepared to be a consciously constructive listener. What we are launching today is part of the Assembly's core business: improving circumstances for all the people it represents and serves. Both the Assembly and the Welsh Assembly Government have taken a strong stance against racism and in favour of equality."

The Welsh Assembly Government is obliged by the Government of Wales Act to have regard for the principles of equal opportunities in all its activities. Some of its efforts to promote equality of opportunity are particularly worthy of note:

An initiative which aims to help organisations in Wales value diversity was launched in November 2005. The initiative, called ‘Croeso’, aims to ensure that bodies and organisations across Wales celebrate the diversity of the country and enable everyone who lives in Wales to make a full and positive contribution to life in Wales. It is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and is administered by the Commission for Racial Equality (CRE).  (November 2005).

In September 2005, the Assembly Government launched a  multi-million pound European-funded initiative to combat inequality in the labour market. The EQUAL funding Programme, which focuses on equality issues associated with gender, disability, race, religion, age and sexual orientation, was allocated £11.5m to fund 14 Development Partnership activities over three years.

The Assembly's Social Justice Minister stated that the findings of Stonewall Cymru’s survey of lesbian, gay and bisexual (LGB) people in Wales in October 2003 would be invaluable in helping the Welsh Assembly Government to tackle discrimination on all levels. The survey, carried out by Cardiff University with Assembly Government funding, was the first to look at LGB issues on a specifically Welsh basis.

The Assembly published its own response to Lord Laming’s report of the Victoria Climbié Inquiry. (September 2003)

Good governance is marked by the avoidance of crises. Welsh devolution has at times enabled Wales to be far more effective in preventing difficulties before they occur. Two examples are offered here:

Assembly officials defended the Welsh sheep sector by identifying the need for DNA testing of samples used on failed research on BSE in sheep. The DNA tests subsequently showed that the research by DEFRA had in fact been conducted on cow brain, rather than sheep brain material. In contrast, during the early years of the BSE crisis, Whitehall ignored Welsh Office advice concerning the Department of Health’s reassurances over food safety. According to a BBC Online article, ‘Whitehall Ignored Welsh BSE Warning’, Lord Phillips’ findings are significant:

The report revealed that as the then Agriculture Minister John Gummer fed his daughter a beefburger ten years ago, behind the scenes, Wales’ chief medical officer (Dame Deidre Hine) was voicing her concern about the Department of Health’s attempts to re-assure the public that beef was safe. Welsh intervention “brought a cool response from London” and “was seen as trespassing on a policy area where the Welsh Office did not have automatic authority and where, generally speaking, it was expected to follow the Whitehall line” (BBC News, 26 October 2000).

One of the key hopes for Welsh devolution was that Wales would be in a better position to respond to crises. Three key examples are offered here of how the Welsh Assembly Government responded to unexpected crises:

Foot and Mouth - The Welsh Assembly Government provided matched funding to help the ARC Addington Fund distribute over £3.3 million to Welsh farmers during the foot and mouth crisis to some 6,400 farming families. The average Welsh grant was £649. Wales received some 33% of the grants granted by the ARC Addington Fund during the foot and mouth crisis. The Assembly welcomed news in March 2005 that the State Veterinary Service would become an Executive Agency of the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) on the 1st April 2005. Following the foot and mouth disease outbreak of 2001, both DEFRA and the Welsh Assembly Government reviewed the provision of professional veterinary services. The devolved administrations played a central role in the changeover of the SVS to an Executive Agency.

The Withdrawal of the Children's Society - On 6 November 2001 The Children’s Society announced that, due to financial difficulties, it would cut 20% of its services in England and withdraw completely from all its work in Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government set up a taskforce which paved the way eventually for the creation in August 2002, of Tros Gynnal which took over most of the Children's Society's child advocacy projects in Wales.

In June 2005, indicating a significant change in political culture, the Assembly's Voluntary Sector Partnership Council learnt that there had been an underspend of £718,003 on the Communities First Trust Fund. Edwina Hart, Minister for Social Justice, agreed that the  underspend could be carried forward and used should the £3 million budget for 2005/06 be exceeded.

The budget for 2002-03 was revised in the Autumn of 2001 to provide an extra £53.8 million for health and social services on top of a £ 327.5 million increase already announced. The extra expenditure for 2002-03 was not new money. It was was funded from under spending in previous years.

Since the advent of Welsh devolution several major sporting events have been brought to Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government met with Lord Coe, Chair of the 2012 Olympic Games and Paralympic Games, and other UK Sports Ministers in Cardiff in November 2005 for an update on preparations for the Games. Lord Coe was addressing a meeting of the UK Sports Cabinet, which took place in the Wales Millennium Centre.

The First Minister praised the decision in October 2005 to select the Millennium Stadium to host the Heineken Cup final in 2006 as "a terrific boost " for Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government put a grant of £25,000 into the budget involved.

Welcomed golfers from all over the world to Wales. 80 golfers from 31 countries worldwide  took part in the final of the International Pairs competition at The Celtic Manor Resort, near Newport in June 2005.

In May 2005, announced support for Newport's hosting of the first ever Women's World Cup of Cycling race to be held in the UK.

In March 2004, welcomed the FIA World Motor Sports Council’s confirmation of the Wales Rally GB’s full championship status for 2004.

In October 2005 The Welsh Assembly Government announced that it will abolish the remaining fees paid by the social care and independent healthcare services regulated by the Assembly,

It was announced in March 2004 that National minimum standards for small care homes for the elderly were to be relaxed following extensive public consultation.

In January 2003, the Welsh Assembly Government announced changes in the application of National Minimum Standards for Care Homes for Older People and Younger Adults in Wales. The Care Standards Act 2000, gives the Assembly powers to make regulations governing the conduct of services regulated under the Act and to issue national minimum standards applicable for these services. The regulatory functions are undertaken by the Care Standards Inspectorate for Wales, a new division within the National Assembly. The Inspectorate are responsible for regulating the following services : children’s homes, care homes, private and voluntary healthcare services, and childminding and day-care services for children under 8.

There was a 416,000 increase in the number of juvenile swims for the summer holiday period 2002 (pre-Free Swimming) - 2003 (first summer).

The Welsh Assembly Government’s national Free Swimming for Children and Young People pilot scheme was launched in July 2003.

The national scheme, funded by the Assembly Government and operated by local authorities and the Welsh Amateur Swimming Association, was the first of its kind anywhere in Europe.  In January 2003, the Alun Pugh, Welsh Sports Minister, said:

"Wales is the only nation in the whole of Europe to introduce a national free swimming scheme. I am convinced that the health benefits of regular swimming justify the public investment involved."

Prescription charges in Wales fell by £1 to £5 in September 2004. In England prescriptions cost £6.40. The cost of prescriptions will fall by another £1 on 1 April 2006 to £3 and will be the next step in meeting the goal of introducing free prescriptions for all in Wales by April 2007.

It was highlighted in March 2002 that the National Assembly had extended free prescriptions to all 16 to 25 year olds recognising that the age group may have more difficulty paying as they are more often than not in education or an a lower income than average

The value of exports for Wales for the four quarters up to and including quarter 3 2005 rose by £727 million (9.3 per cent) compared to the previous four quarters. The value of exports for the total of all UK regions also rose over the same period, by 7.3 per cent.

It was announced in May 2005 that since its creation WalesTrade International had identified opportunities in excess of £2.8 billion and had assisted Welsh companies convert more than £450 million into actual orders.

Since its creation in 1999, the National Assembly has stepped in to support and secure key national cultural events. They include:

In March 2005 a grant of £100,000 to help secure the future of the Faenol Festival. The one-off grant from the Assembly Government supported the staging of the 2005 event, as the festival went through a period of management and financial restructuring, and helped to secure the delivery of the festival in future years.

The 20^th annual Brecon Jazz Festival was opened by First Minister Rhodri Morgan after announcing a funding package of up to £381,000 for the Festival to help secure the longer term future of the festival and to enable it to be staged in 2003. 

The Assembly Government announced in October 2004, details of a three-year stabilisation programme for the National Eisteddfod. The short-term future of the Eisteddfod was secured by an injection of an additional £160,000. Also guaranteed the National Eisteddfod £150,000 against any loss which could have been incurred following the foot and mouth outbreak.

In January 2004, the Welsh Assembly Government decided to use its £22 million windfall from Gordon Brown in the way the Assembly wanted to spend it and not to follow his practice in England by putting it into local government for the reduction of their council tax bills.

The money was spent instead on renal services and bed blocking issues.

It was announced that £2 million extra money would go to Health Commission Wales to be spent on renal dialysis services in Cardiff and Swansea.

The Assembly made it clear in October 2005, as the Bill to ban smoking was published in Westminster, that it would move quickly to implement a comprehensive ban on smoking in public places and workplaces in Wales.

A cross-party Assembly Committee had already put forward its recommendations for how a ban could be implemented. They were backed overwhelmingly in the National Assembly.

It was announced in March 2005 that all Welsh Assembly Government estate would be smoke-free from July 2005.

The Welsh Assembly Government launched a £4 million Route Development Fund in December 2005 to develop new air routes to and from Wales. At the same time, it announced that Wales’ national airline, Air Wales, would become the first airline to operate a route from Cardiff with support from the Fund.

It was announced in October 2004 that Welsh business would get an extra ‘lift’ from the launch of bmibaby’s new flights from Cardiff. In a ceremony to unveil the name of the first plane in the bmibaby fleet at Cardiff International Airport, Andrew Davies, the Assembly's Economic Development Minister, said that securing the bmibaby service for Cardiff was a major success for Wales: "Making bmibaby happen has now given us a fantastic opportunity to promote Wales in Europe, to build up new business, and attract more visitors to Wales. It offers real benefits in terms of tourism, trade and inward investment and will help to put Wales on to the European and world map."

The Welsh Assembly Government hailed May 28 2005 as a momentous day for Wales as 20 per cent of the nation's countryside became accessible to walkers. This, at the time,  amounted to a threefold increase in the amount of Welsh countryside accessible to the public. Some of the land was within our National Parks, but a good deal of it was on people's doorsteps.

At the same time, the Welsh Assembly Government launched a pilot scheme to encourage people to incorporate walking into their daily activity and invested £30,000 to pilot and evaluate the Urbanwalks scheme in four locations across Wales - Carmarthen, Wrexham, Cardiff and Gwynedd. (May 2005).

Objective 1 money has also made a significant difference to some walkways. In May 2005 it was announced that an ancient woodland in Gwynedd would be restored to its natural beauty thanks to £1,222,673 Objective 1 European Funding. The £2 million Meirionnydd Oakwood Habitat Management project will see the Woodlands restored.

The National Assembly has successfully argued for a restrictive approach to the use of GM crops in Wales.

The Welsh Assembly Government announced in February 2005 that Wales had signed a Charter on Genetically Modified Organisms with its European Regions Network partners at a meeting in Florence.

The Welsh Assembly Government launched the Library of Wales series. The series aims to showcase 20^th century Welsh writing in English by reintroducing important works across a range of styles, and ensure that they are sustained in print. (January 2006).

The announcement confirmed the first 20 titles to be included in a new series of classic Welsh books. Funded by the Welsh Assembly Government, the ‘Library of Wales’ collection showcases the very best of English language writing from Wales and markets them to readers and bookshops everywhere. (December 2004).

Following a £7.1 million capital redevelopment, Big Pit was re-launched to the public in April 2004. As a result, Big Pit received 145,898 visits in 2004-05 against a target of 130,000 (+12%) and 28,195 more visits than in 2003-04 (+24%). This success was crowned in June 2005 when Big Pit won the £100,000 Gulbenkian Prize for Museum of the the Year –the largest arts prize in the UK. It was announced in December 2000 that Big Pit Mining Museum, in addition to all National Museums and Galleries of Wales sites, would be able to extend free admission to the disabled and students from April 2001. The Welsh Assembly Government announced an extra £60,000 for the National Museum for 2001-2002 to extend free admission to students and the disabled. It announced that children would be able to visit the National Museums & Galleries of Wales free of charge for the first time in twelve years from the 1^st April, 2000.  Also announced that that the over sixties and unemployed could visit the National Museums & Galleries free of charge from 1 May. (April 2000)

By September 2005 more than 5,000 farmers had already applied for the Welsh Assembly Government's Tir Cynnal entry-level agri-environment scheme.

Funded research into Welsh medium and bilingual provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and published a new SEN Code of Practice which included a section on statutory obligations of Local Authorities under the Welsh Language Act 1993.

Launched the "Knowledge Bank for Business" (KB4B) in September 2005, as a new way of supporting high-growth potential companies in Wales.

Funding by the National Assembly, following pressure from the Voluntary Sector Partnership Council, enabled the Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) to set up its new Criminal Records Unit, based in Colwyn Bay, to act as a registered umbrella body for the Criminal Records Bureau. It was stated in WCVA's Annual Report 2004-05 that the Criminal Records Unit had handled 6,700 criminal records. Over 540 voluntary organisations joined up to use the service.

The Voluntary Sector Partnership Council and the Welsh Assembly Government successfully conveyed the conviction of the voluntary sector to the Home Office that the fee for the Criminal Records Bureau checks should be free of charge for voluntary groups.

The Assembly hosted an event to highlight the issue of trafficking of women and children in October 2005. The event, at the National Assembly building in Cardiff Bay, was jointly arranged by the National Federation of Women's Institute (NFWI) and Soroptomist International (meaning 'Best for Women').

At the end of July 2005, provisional data showed that there were over 13,430 enrolments on Modern Apprenticeships and 1,645 on Modern Skills Diploma for Adults, compared with 9,200 on Modern Apprenticeships in March 1999.

The Assembly launched a Modern Skills Diploma for Adults in June 2001 and raised the age limit for Modern Apprenticeships beyond 25.

It also passed legislation extending careers education to all pupils and students aged 16-19 attending most maintained schools, pupil referral units and further education institutions. (May 2001)

It was announced in October 2004 that 6,205 farmers had registered for Farming Connect's  business planning service. 2,997 business plans had been completed. The number of farmers receiving advice through local facilitators was over 14,403 at that point. 1,629 farms had taken advantage of ICT training.

The Welsh Assembly Government created Farming Connect to help farming families adapt, improve and re-think their businesses. It was announced in October 2004 that more than £20m in grants had been committed to projects aimed at securing farm businesses in Wales through Farming Connect.

The Assembly took steps to secure and safeguard major sporting events for people with disabilities by announcing a one off grant of £64,000, matched by Cardiff City Council, to rescue the Cardiff Special Olympics UK in July 2001.

At the time, it was announced that the event would attract 2,500 competitors, 10,000 family members and around 2,500 support volunteers to south Wales. The Welsh Assembly Government also welcomed the British Wheelchair Championships to Wales in June 2001. It was announced at the time that over 450 athletes would compete in 11 sports, with competitors from nine different countries taking part.

In August 2005 it was announced that of the 304 students who completed the Welsh Baccalaureate programme, 233 had been awarded the Advanced Diploma. A further 27 students have achieved the Advanced Core Certificate.

In April 2002 the Welsh Assembly Government published the names of of the first schools and colleges which would pilot the distinctive Welsh Baccalaureate Qualification. It was said at the time that: " The Welsh Baccalaureate is distinctive, modern and proudly Welsh. It will help students show Key Skills and centres on learning-by-doing. It will be the first ever distinctive programme for 16-19 year olds in Wales. Today’s announcement of the first 19 pilot centres is a major milestone passed."

The Assembly's Education Minister announced in May 2005 that 9 new projects would share over £155,000 in the latest round of funding under the Education for Sustainable Development and Global Citizenship (ESDGC) award scheme.

The scheme supports innovative projects that test out new approaches to embedding sustainable development and global citizenship into the wider education sector in Wales.

The Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning announced in May 2004 the names of the schools invited to pilot the first phase of the primary school free breakfast initiative. It had been announced in November 2003 that every primary school pupil in Wales would have the chance to start their school day with a free healthy breakfast, provided their school was signed up to the scheme.

It was stated in May 2002 that blindness affects over 18,000 people in Wales. Consequently the Assembly's Health Minister launched a new free Eye Health Examination scheme for at-risk groups:

The Assembly's Minister for Education and Lifelong Learning  announced in July 2001 that she was scrapping the publication of the so-called Secondary School League Tables in Wales.

It was announced in April 2000 that a Recruitment Fair held recently to encourage people from under-represented groups to apply for posts at the National Assembly for Wales attracted some 1,200 people to The Pierhead Building, Cardiff Bay.

During the debate on the sixth Annual Report on Equality in 2006, attention was drawn to the fact that the Assembly had been recognised by the organisation Race for Opportunity as one of the top 10 most improved UK employers on diversity and equality issues. The Assembly also consistently scored higher than other public sector organisations in the UK disability standard.

After taking into account the exceptions permitted by law, the September 2005 Class Size Count showed that only 4 of the 4102 infant classes in Wales had more than 30 pupils.

The figures for the last five years confirm that smaller infant classes are now the norm in Wales.

The First Minister's report for 2001-02 recorded that his government had removed barriers to health care.

They had done so by introducing free prescriptions for under 25s, freezing prescriptions and maximum dental charges for all, and introducing free dental checks for under 25s and over 60s.

Welsh devolution placed animal welfare concerns into the thinking behind the Tir Mynydd Scheme by making payments area-based. The scheme moved financial support away from intensive farming and grants per animal. Tir Mynydd was an area based compensation scheme for livestock farmers in the Less Favoured Areas of Wales, replaced Hill Livestock Compensatory Allowances in 2001 as part of the Agenda 2000 CAP reforms. The scheme also sought to protect the income of farmers.

In September 2000, Assembly Agriculture and Rural Development Secretary, Carwyn Jones, said: "We have proposed to the Commission that the safety net provisions should be strengthened so that all farmers who stand to lose under the scheme next spring are guaranteed to receive at least 90 per cent of the difference between their entitlement under the new scheme, and the amount they actually received in Spring 2000, - assuming the amount of eligible land they farm was unchanged. This would be financed in part by reducing the proportion of the budget allocated to Element 2 of Tir Mynydd from 10 per cent to 5 per cent for 2001 and 2002.

The appointment, by the Assembly, of David Purchon as an independent investigator to the Nantygwyddon waste disposal site led to Rhondda-Cynon –Taff, Bro Taf Health Authority and the Environment Agency having to account for their actions to the affected local population.

The local Council decided not to send household waste to the tip from  December 2001. 

The Nantygwyddon Report abandoned the standard practice of the UK National Audit Office of negotiating draft texts with the named bodies.

The Welsh Assembly Government announced in August 2004 the granting of £15,000 to support the establishment of the prestigious Dylan Thomas Prize. Awarded every other year, the prize will alternate with the Artes Mundi Prize.

The Welsh Assembly Government unveiled a series of television and radio adverts to increase public awareness of the dangers of fires in the home.

In November 2005 it committed £360,000 to Firebrake Wales for a year-long series of adverts entitled 'Fireflash' .

The Assembly announced funding of £750,000 in June 2005 to help families on low incomes buy school uniforms for pupils starting in secondary school. The all Wales assistance scheme is specifically for pupils entering Year 7 of secondary school who are eligible for free school meals.

The grant is also available to pupils attending a special school, special needs resource base and pupil referral units in Wales who are eligible for free school meals and aged 11 at the start of the 2005/06 school year.

The first wave of successful proposals totalling just over £2 million, under the Welsh Assembly Government’s £11m Substance Misuse Capital Programme were announced in October 2005.

In June 2005, the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) provided evidence that Cardiff had the most enlightened attitude towards asylum seekers of the cities questioned throughout the UK. A growing sense of Welshness, the multicultural nature of the city and the lead taken by the Welsh Assembly Government had all contributed to a distinctive Welsh response.

Announced in May 2004 that NHS funded students in Wales would benefit from a new childcare allowance to help with their childcare costs during their studies.

Under the scheme up to 85 per cent of childcare costs could be met, helping approximately 700 – 800 students a year in Wales.

In July 2004, the Assembly's Education Minister announced that following the Daugherty Report, tests for 11 and 14 year olds were to be scrapped by 2006.

At the time, Jane Davidson said: "I propose, therefore, to move away, during the next four years, from the current testing regime to a system which is more geared to the pupil, focuses more on skills and puts teacher assessment at its heart."

St Thomas Church, Swansea,  received £74,900 from the Welsh Assembly Government to help pay for a new roof, windows and other essential repairs.

Announced in October 2005 that 10 important paintings from the Penrhyn Castle collection have been safeguarded for the people of Wales. 

Alun Pugh, Minister for Culture, Sport and the Welsh Language, announced that accepted in lieu of inheritance tax to a value of £3,083,349, the most important items comprised:

a painting by Palma Vecchio, a major Renaissance Venetian painter, which is considered to be a painting of international significance; a seascape by the important 17^th century Dutch painter Willem van der Velde, which is the only example of his work in Wales;

The Portrait of Viscount Milsington by Allan Ramsey, an outstanding portrait by one of the finest British painters of the 18^th century;

Tai Pawb (Housing for Everyone), was launched by Welsh Assembly Government Minister for social justice and regeneration, Edwina Hart, at the National Black, Minority Ethnic Housing Conference, being held in Newport in October 2004.

In November 1999 the Agriculture and Rural Development Committee recommended that the Assembly should consider waiving dairy hygiene inspection charges in Wales for a period of three years. The Committee recognised that their proposal would require legislative change.

On 1 December 1999 the Finance Secretary, Ms Edwina Hart, announced that the Cabinet had agreed in principle to lift the charges on a permanent basis. In her statement, the Finance Secretary referred to legal considerations which would have to be resolved before the Cabinet’s decision could be implemented.

The Assembly successfully made the case for the abolition of Dairy Hygiene Inspection Charges and for the need to help reduce the burden of hygiene charges on smaller abattoirs

Welsh devolution has improved considerably the way in which deprivation is measured.

The Assembly published a new Index of Multiple Deprivation. The original index summarised deprivation in terms of income, employment, health, education, housing and access to services, for each electoral ward in Wales, and was important in the design of the Assembly Government’s Communities First programme. The new index represents a significant refinement of the old one. It includes a new element of deprivation, relating to people’s physical environment, and it goes down to a smaller spatial scale.

It was announced in May 2002 that people living in the most disadvantaged areas in Wales were starting to feel the benefit of Communities First funding. Allocating a further £2.2 million under the Communities First Programme, Edwina Hart said: "The Communities First programme allows people in some of Wales’ most deprived areas to have a real say on what should be done to make their communities better places in which to live."

Two projects were mentioned:

In Cwmbran , Communities First money was spent on finding out how residents feel about where they live and how they would like to see it change. Some applications aim to develop existing projects. For example, in Neath Port Talbot, a successful application for Communities First funding built on good work already underway, by expanding a Domestic Violence Forum.

In 2003/04, there were 420 permanent school exclusions in Wales, 19 fewer than in 2002/03.

The 2003/04 figure, 420, was 23 per cent lower than the 543 permanent exclusions in 1995/96.

The Welsh Assembly Government launched, in January 2004, the first Wales only regulations covering school exclusion procedures.

Young disabled people from across the globe gathered in Swansea to raise awareness of the rights of disabled people and to lobby for change in civil rights legislation.

There were 29,397 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers employed by LEAs in January 2004, an increase of 241 since January 2003.

The Assembly successfully lobbied Westminster to ensure that threshold assessors in Wales are employed by Local Education Authorities. In England private companies are used to assess teachers for performance related pay.  In Wales, the money is given to LEAs thus keeping any profit within the education sector. (March 2000)

The General Teaching Council for Wales is the independent, self-regulating body for the teaching profession in Wales. Through the Council, teachers themselves are able to regulate entry into the profession, similar to the legal and medical professions and their representative bodies. The Welsh Assembly Government announced the creation of  the General Teaching Council for Wales in November 1999.

In November 2005, the passing of the School Councils (Wales) Regulations 2005, required that governing bodies of all maintained schools (apart from nursery and infant schools) should establish school councils.

It was noted that there was no equivalent requirement for schools in the rest of the UK.