English: Rarely a day goes by that I do not regret the ending of the Communities First schemes in my constituency. Firstly, anyone who thought that a £30-million-a-year scheme would eradicate poverty was somewhere between hyper-optimistic and delusional. This is echoed by the evidence that Caerphilly council gave to an Assembly committee when we were looking at it. Can I just say that to expect a single programme to single handedly reduce poverty is naive and unrealistic? You will never eradicate poverty, generational poverty, by a single anti-poverty programme. It has been very successful at some things and not so successful at others, but, actually, poverty, fundamentally, is down to economics. Anti-poverty programmes and employment-support programmes are all well and good, but, actually, unless we have a robust economy, then we're never going to eradicate poverty. We also know that the first thing the majority of people who live in a homogeneously poor area do when they increase their income sufficiently is move. We have examples of that not just in Wales but we have examples of that in England as well. We know the characteristics of poor communities: poor health; a high number of people on benefits; those not on benefits, which are more and more, on very low pay at the minimum wage, and more crucially with low guaranteed hours, leading to low and variable income, and many are going through serious problems this month as they were getting 30 and 40 hours last month and are now down to their guaranteed seven and 10 hours this month; general low educational attainment; few books in the home; with many a sense that things cannot get any better. Where you have an area that is heterogeneously disadvantaged, then, to quote Welsh Local Government Association evidence to the same committee, 'if you look at the most disadvantaged areas, they've got the most parts of the system where intervention is needed, so they need a multi-agency approach, an intensive piece of work, to put all the bits back, and get them working again. In a more affluent area, where you've got pockets of poverty, the system isn't quite as broken, and, therefore, you need fewer interventions - more specific interventions - to help those people get back up and running again.' Ynys Môn council said: 'The programme has reaped success for changing and improving individual people's lives by supporting them into training, volunteering and work opportunities and improving their life skills.' To quote Swansea Council: 'Community based, accessible services allow staff to understand communities, building relationships and trust that support disengaged people to participate in and access services that they would not otherwise be able to access.' Community successes: health; weight-loss programmes; improved-diet programmes; smoking-cessation programmes; exercise programmes. I hold the view that stopping ill health is more important than seeing health as a treatment system, which is what we do, we put more money into health and treat more people, but let's have fewer people needing treatment. On poverty, a project looked to help people through reducing their utility bills. At a committee meeting this morning, we were talking about the fact that a lot of work has been done by Nest and Arbed in actually improving the buildings, and by the Welsh housing quality standard, but people are still paying a lot more if they're poor. As I've said on more than one occasion: it's very expensive to be poor. The amount that people pay when they have to put tokens into the system in order to get gas and electric is substantially more than we in this room do. In fact, I've said, again on more than one occasion: I have constituents who spend more money on heating to be cold than I do to be warm. We have projects sorting and recycling unwanted clothes. There's a lot of work, it's not just in Swansea, there was good work done in Denbighshire, as you know, Deputy Presiding Officer, in recycling clothes within schools. These sorts of things, they do make a difference to the lives of people. A project promoted a local credit union and getting people out of doorstep loans, and doorstep loans really are a huge problem for very many, many people; where someone comes and offers them money and all of a sudden it's going to cost them a huge amount in the end. Education and low educational attainment is a major cause of poverty. Projects prioritised improving education attainment by helping adults back into learning; family learning projects in partnership with local schools; parent and toddler groups aimed at increasing the development and learning of preschoolers; a homework club providing support to children and their homework. Society has got a lot worse than since I was a child living in a very poor community. I had access to everything anybody else did because I could go to the local library. No-one had better access to books than I did. Nowadays, you have people with their electronic devices in their bedrooms, when people like myself, if I was living there now, would have a two-mile walk in order to get to the library. There was also a scheme that encouraged a learning environment in the family and home. Communities First was, in many ways, an excellent scheme, and it was a very, very sad day when the Welsh Government decided to do away with it without bringing anything to replace it on those things that really matter: improving live chances for those in our poorest communities.
Welsh: Anaml y bydd diwrnod yn mynd heibio pan nad wyf yn gresynu at y ffaith bod cynlluniau Cymunedau yn Gyntaf wedi dod i ben yn fy etholaeth. Yn gyntaf, roedd unrhyw un a gredai y byddai cynllun £30 miliwn y flwyddyn yn dileu tlodi naill ai'n or-optimistaidd neu'n twyllo'i hun. Adleisir hyn gan y dystiolaeth a roddodd cyngor Caerffili i bwyllgor Cynulliad pan oeddem yn edrych arno. A gaf fi ddweud bod disgwyl i un rhaglen leihau tlodi ar ei phen ei hun yn naïf ac yn afrealistig? Ni fyddwch byth yn dileu tlodi, tlodi o un genhedlaeth i'r llall, gydag un rhaglen wrth-dlodi. Roedd yn llwyddiannus iawn mewn rhai pethau a heb fod mor llwyddiannus mewn pethau eraill, ond economeg sy'n gyfrifol am dlodi yn y bôn. Mae rhaglenni gwrth-dlodi a rhaglenni cymorth cyflogaeth i gyd yn iawn, ond oni bai fod gennych economi gadarn, ni fyddwn byth yn dileu tlodi. Rydym hefyd yn gwybod mai'r peth cyntaf y mae mwyafrif y bobl sy'n byw mewn ardal homogenaidd dlawd yn ei wneud i gynyddu eu hincwm yn ddigonol, yw symud, ac mae gennym enghreifftiau o hynny nid yn unig yng Nghymru ond yn Lloegr hefyd. Rydym yn gwybod beth yw nodweddion cymunedau tlawd: iechyd gwael; nifer uchel o bobl ar fudd-daliadau; y rhai nad ydynt ar fudd-daliadau, a cheir mwy a mwy ohonynt, ar gyflog isel iawn ar yr isafswm cyflog, ac yn hollbwysig, yn gweithio oriau gwarantedig isel, gan arwain at incwm isel ac amrywiol, ac mae llawer yn mynd trwy broblemau difrifol y mis hwn gan eu bod yn cael 30 a 40 o oriau'r mis diwethaf ac maent bellach i lawr i'w saith a 10 awr warantedig y mis hwn; cyrhaeddiad addysgol isel yn gyffredinol; fawr ddim llyfrau yn y cartref; gyda llawer yn teimlo na all pethau wella. Lle mae gennych ardal sydd dan anfantais cymysgryw, i ddyfynnu tystiolaeth Cymdeithas Llywodraeth Leol Cymru i'r un pwyllgor, os edrychwch ar yr ardaloedd mwyaf difreintiedig, ganddynt hwy y mae fwyaf o rannau o'r system lle y mae angen ymyrraeth, felly maent angen dull amlasiantaethol, gwaith dwys, i roi'r holl ddarnau yn ôl, a sicrhau eu bod yn gweithio eto. Mewn ardal fwy cefnog, lle y mae gennych bocedi llai o dlodi, nid yw'r system wedi torri i'r un graddau, ac felly, bydd angen llai o ymyriadau - ymyriadau mwy penodol - i helpu'r bobl hynny yn ôl ar eu traed. Dywedodd cyngor Ynys Môn: Mae'r rhaglen wedi cael llwyddiant wrth newid a gwella bywydau unigolion drwy eu cynorthwyo i mewn i hyfforddiant, gwirfoddoli a chyfleoedd gwaith a gwella eu sgiliau byw. I ddyfynnu Cyngor Abertawe: Mae gwasanaethau hygyrch yn y gymuned yn caniatáu i staff ddeall cymunedau, gan adeiladu cysylltiadau ac ymddiriedaeth a chynorthwyo pobl sydd wedi ymddieithrio i gymryd rhan a defnyddio gwasanaethau na fyddent wedi ei wneud fel arall. Roedd llwyddiannau cymunedol yn cynnwys: iechyd; rhaglenni colli pwysau; rhaglenni gwella deiet; rhaglenni rhoi'r gorau i ysmygu; rhaglenni ymarfer corff - rwyf o'r farn fod atal afiechyd yn bwysicach na gweld iechyd fel system driniaeth, a dyna beth rydym yn ei wneud: rhoi mwy o arian tuag at iechyd, trin mwy o bobl, ond gadewch inni gael llai o bobl angen triniaeth. Ar dlodi, roedd prosiect a oedd yn ceisio helpu pobl trwy leihau eu biliau cyfleustodau. Mewn cyfarfod pwyllgor y bore yma, roeddem yn siarad am y ffaith fod Nyth ac Arbed wedi gwneud llawer o waith i wella'r adeiladau, a safon ansawdd tai Cymru, ond mae pobl yn dal i dalu llawer mwy os ydynt yn dlawd. Fel y dywedais ar fwy nag un achlysur: mae bod yn dlawd yn ddrud iawn. Mae'r swm y mae pobl yn ei dalu pan fyddant yn gorfod rhoi cardiau yn y system er mwyn cael nwy a thrydan yn fwy o lawer na'r hyn rydym ni yn yr ystafell hon yn ei dalu. Yn wir, rwyf wedi dweud, unwaith eto ar fwy nag un achlysur: mae gennyf etholwyr sy'n gwario mwy o arian ar wresogi i fod yn oer na'r hyn rwy'n ei dalu i fod yn gynnes. Mae gennym brosiectau sy'n didoli ac yn ailgylchu dillad nad oes mo'u heisiau. Ceir llawer o waith, nid yn Abertawe yn unig, gwnaed gwaith da yn Sir Ddinbych, fel y gwyddoch, Ddirprwy Lywydd, ar ailgylchu dillad mewn ysgolion. Mae'r mathau hyn o bethau yn gwneud gwahaniaeth i fywydau pobl. Roedd prosiect yn hyrwyddo undeb credyd lleol a chael pobl allan o fenthyciadau stepen y drws, ac mae benthyciadau stepen y drws yn broblem enfawr i lawer iawn o bobl; lle mae rhywun yn dod a chynnig arian iddynt ac yn sydyn, mae'n mynd i gostio llawer iawn iddynt yn y pen draw. Mae addysg a chyrhaeddiad addysgol isel yn un o brif achosion tlodi. Roedd prosiectau'n blaenoriaethu gwella cyrhaeddiad addysgol drwy helpu oedolion i ddychwelyd at addysg; prosiectau dysgu fel teulu mewn partneriaeth ag ysgolion lleol; grwpiau rhieni a phlant bach gyda'r nod o wella datblygiad a dysgu plant meithrin; clwb gwaith cartref i roi cymorth i blant gyda'u gwaith cartref. Mae cymdeithas wedi gwaethygu llawer er pan oeddwn yn blentyn yn byw mewn cymuned dlawd iawn. Gallwn wneud popeth a wnâi unrhyw un arall oherwydd gallwn fynd i'r llyfrgell leol. Nid oedd gan neb well mynediad at lyfrau na fi. Erbyn heddiw, mae gennych chi bobl gyda'u dyfeisiau electronig yn eu hystafell wely, pan fyddai pobl fel fi, pe bawn i'n byw yno yn awr, yn wynebu taith ar droed o ddwy filltir er mwyn cyrraedd y llyfrgell. Roedd yna gynllun hefyd a oedd yn annog amgylchedd dysgu o fewn y teulu ac yn y cartref. Roedd Cymunedau yn Gyntaf, mewn sawl ffordd, yn gynllun rhagorol, ac roedd yn ddiwrnod trist iawn pan benderfynodd Llywodraeth Cymru gael gwared ag ef heb gyflwyno dim i gymryd ei le mewn perthynas â'r pethau hynny sydd o wir bwys: gwella cyfleoedd bywyd i'r rheini yn ein cymunedau tlotaf.