Senedd Watch - April 2011

Just because there's an election on, it doesn't mean the wheels of government stopped:

• The "morning after pill" will now be available in Wales free of charge without a prescription. More controversially, it will also be available to under-16s where there is a clinical need and informed consent.
• The Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) has called for policing and youth justice to be devolved to the Welsh Assembly. It's believed this stems from opposition to reforms in police authorities by the UK Government - parts of which have been blocked by the Assembly. Labour and the Conservatives have said they have no plans to change the current arrangements, the Lib Dems and Plaid Cymru both support devolving the powers.
• The Obundsman for Wales has called for the powers to independently investigate hospices. This is due to several complaints from families about hospice services, and how these complaints were dealt with by Health Inspectorate Wales.
• Higher Education statistics show that Wales has a higher rate of participation by those from lower socio-economic backgrounds and state schools, as well as lower drop-out rates, than the UK average. Also Careers Wales statistics show that 90% of 16-year olds and 80% of 18-19 year olds continued in some form of education or training upon leaving school.
• The Traffic Commissioner for Wales has withdrawn an operating licence from Heart of Wales and St Davids Travel in the south Wales valleys due to poor service, ordering them to pay nearly £10,000 to the Welsh Assembly.
• New Welsh regulations regarding sunbeds came into force. Under-18s will now be banned from using sunbeds, and in October, unsupervised tanning salons will also be banned. This comes weeks after the death of 21-year old Cerys Harding from Cardiff, which raised the issue of an increase in melanomas amongst young people.
• The only major project announced was a £200million+ improvement to rail services in and around Cardiff which includes signal upgrades, platform extensions and station upgrades.