WELSH Labour is today [Monday 7 July 2008] celebrating a year of delivering results on the ground for the people of Wales with a commitment to do even more to further improve Wales' public services in the year ahead.
A year ago today, a specially-convened Welsh Labour conference overwhelmingly endorsed the One Wales agreement, which underpins the political direction and policy objectives of the Labour-led Welsh Assembly Government.
Led by Welsh Labour's First Minister Rhodri Morgan, Welsh Labour's ministerial team have over the last twelve months worked tirelessly to implement Welsh Labour's manifesto commitments to help achieve a vision of a fair, green, prosperous, clever and dynamic Wales.
Welsh Labour's First Minister RHODRI MORGAN said:
"Labour has so much to celebrate this week, with it being the 60th anniversary of the founding of the National Health Service, Wales' greatest contribution to the modern British welfare state. Isn't it great news as well that this is the very week that Edwina Hart, the Health Minister has authorized the start of work on the £50million new hospital for Blaenau Gwent, to be called Ysbyty Aneurin Bevan!
"In the year since the Labour party's special conference gave its support to the One Wales agreement, Welsh Labour has been hard at work delivering on our election manifesto commitments.
"Tough choices had to be made this time last year – the choice between forming a coalition with Plaid Cymru, or letting the Tories into government in Wales, with the resultant lurch in policy direction that would have been very adverse to the interests of Labour supporters all over Wales.
"I believe we made the right tough choices, voting with our heads not with our hearts - a decision based on the desire to honour Labour's election pledges and deliver for the people of Wales to the maximum degree possible.
"During the last twelve months, the Welsh Labour-led Assembly Government has delivered on the following:
Better Health for All
· Brand new hospitals on their way in Porthmadog, Rhondda, Cynon Valley, Merthyr, Blaenau Gwent and Rhymney Valley; two opened this year in Pembroke Dock and Holywell. The £150million hospital serving the Borough of Caerphilly will be Britain's first truly 21st century hospital, switching delivery and emphasis from in-patient beds to outpatient facilities.
· 26 weeks from referral to treatment – on course to delivering that target by the end of 2009.
· Over £1bn investment in NHS infrastructure over the next three years
· Free car parking in NHS hospitals
· Competitive tendering of hospital cleaning contracts ended
· £8 million over the next three years to further improve palliative care in both NHS and voluntary sector providers across Wales
· £91m extra funding for social care - helping people live independent lives in their own homes
Quality jobs in a small, clever country
· New £92m single investment fund for business
· New Development Fund for Unions
· 50% increase in funding for the Wales Union Learning Fund - to £1.5m
· New Manufacturing Forum
· £8m extra funding for Flying Start childcare
· £7.5m funding for Airbus R&D into composite wing technology
· £150m JEREMIE investment fund for small and medium size firms being negotiated with the European Union.
Education and Opportunity for all in a Learning Country
· New Foundation Phase: a pioneering rollout across Wales of 'learn through play', backed by £30 million of investment this year, the single biggest new investment in Welsh education for a generation
· New law introduced giving 14-19 year olds more choice in their studies
· £6.6m new funding for 'Appetite for Life' improvements in school meals
· More than £7.5m for early years and schools in Wales, to improve basic skills levels
Stronger, Safer Communities
· New Social Partnership agreed between trade unions and government to build world class public services built on co-operation
· Council tax rises kept to an average of 3.8%
· £9m extra funding for Community Safety Partnerships to help tackle crime
· Free entry for pensioners and children to Assembly-funded heritage sites
· All-Wales Collection of People's History to be established
A Fair Wales
· New law to modernise right-to-buy to increase social housing in rural Wales
· New £25m fund for the next phase of Communities First
· New law placing a duty on public authorities to tackle child poverty
· Wales becomes the world's first Fairtrade nation
A Green Wales
· An extra £3m a year for the Tidy Towns community environmental campaign
· A tree planted for every new baby born in Wales
· Extra funding for eco-schools
· Re-opened the Ebbw Valley line
· Free rail travel for pensioners extended
· New law Introduced to make school buses even safer
· £22m new station rebuild for Newport mainline station
· £30m track and platform modernisation to decongest Cardiff Central and Queen Street Stations and improve commuter capacity
