In the Senedd June 2024

Find out how the Bevan Foundation informed Senedd debate in June 2024

Despite the ongoing UK General Election campaign, it was business as usual in the Senedd in June. The Bevan Foundation’s work was raised in both plenary and committee on a broad range of topics reflecting the breadth of our work.

Child Poverty 

The Bevan Foundation work on child poverty was referred to a number of time throughout June. To kick off the month on June 4th, Plaid Cymru MS, Sioned Williams quoted our Director, Victoria Winckler in plenary when questioning the Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Social Justice, Lesley Griffiths about the Welsh Government’s Child Poverty Strategy:

I think that Dr Victoria Winckler from the Bevan Foundation hit the nail on the head when she said:

‘It’s a bit like marking your own homework. I think that it’s difficult to monitor progress when you don’t have clear targets, because you are just reporting on trends. You’re not actually reporting on the effectiveness of your own interventions.’

The Cabinet Secretary in her response made reference to a meeting that she has held with the Bevan Foundation following her appointment to the brief.

The Cabinet Secretary made further reference to her meeting with the Foundation whilst giving evidence to the Senedd’s Equality and Local Government Committee on 17 June. The Welsh Government’s Head of Local Government Partnerships Policy, Claire Germain also made reference to the fact that her team works closely with the Bevan Foundation during the same session. 

Towards the end of the month on 26 June it was Labour MS John Griffiths who was raising the Foundation’s work on child poverty in the Senedd, highlighting concerns that had emerged through the Cross Party Group on poverty about the impact of poverty on children’s education. In her response, Lesley Griffiths once again made reference to her meeting with the Foundation. 

Access to justice 

Our work on access to justice was also raised in both committee and plenary in June. On June 17 Sioned Williams raised the calls made by the Bevan Foundation and others for the establishment of a guardianship service for all unaccompanied children, in a meeting of the Senedd’s Equality and Local Government Committee. She echoed these calls again in plenary the following day and also made reference to our findings that the situation in respect of immigration and asylum legal services has worsened drastically in Wales since January 2023.

Housing 

The Bevan Foundation’s work on the impact of Airbnb and short-term holiday lets on the Welsh housing sector continues to have an impact in the Senedd nearly two years after its publication. Responding to Labour MS, Mike Hedges, the Trefnydd and Chief Whip Jane Hutt MS made extensive reference to our findings. 

I think it’s useful to look at the Bevan Foundation report on holiday lets in the private rented sector. And, of course, this is quite regional and local—the local authorities with the largest numbers listed as Airbnbs are Gwynedd, followed by Pembrokeshire and Powys. There are fewer, far fewer, in the south Wales Valleys. But many of them, I think, from that report, of the 21,000-plus listings on Airbnb, 14,000-plus appear to be suitable for long-term habitation, which just proves that—. That’s 1 per cent of Wales’s dwelling stock. For Gwynedd, it’s 4.6 per cent; Pembrokeshire, 3.7 per cent; and Ceredigion, 3.1 per cent.