Cross Party Group on Intergenerational Solidarity

13 March 2023

Attendees

·         Delyth Jewell MS, Chair

·         Dewi John – Older People’s Commissioners for Wales

·         Rachel Bowen – Older People’s Commissioner for Wales

·         Stephanie Green – Swansea University

·         Tim Crahart – Homeshare Wales

·         Sue Egersdorff – Ready Generations

·         Neil Williams – Care and Repair Cymru

·         Tom Magner – Carers World Radio

·         Andy Wallsgrove – Children’s Commissioner for Wales

·         Marie-Clare Hunter – ENRICH Cymru Advisory Group

·         Carole Philips – Kidscape

·         Deborah Morgan – Swansea University

·         Catrin Hedd Jones – Bangor University

·         Liz Jones – Swansea University

·         Sharon Ford – National Museum Wales

·         Eleri D’Arcy – Swansea Bay University Health Board

·         Mirain Llwyd Roberts – Gwynedd Council

Apologies

·         Dereck Roberts – NPC Wales

·         Christopher Thomas – COPA

·         Ceri Cryer – Age Cymru

·         Stephen Burke – United for All Ages

·         Louisa St Bartholomew-Brown

·         Tanya Strange – Aneurin Bevan UHB

·         David McKinnley – Older People’s Commissioners for Wales

·         Harriet Wright-Nicholas, WYP

·         Ellis Peares, WYP

Actions

1.    Members to send issues that they would like to raise in a letter to the Deputy Minister for Social Services to Dewi John to compile.

2.    Dewi John to remind people to send issues for inclusion in the letters to him before the minutes of the meeting are circulated.

3.    Delyth Jewell to draft letter to Deputy Minister for Social Services based on suggestions from group members.

4.    Mirain finished by saying if anyone had any ideas for International Intergenerational Week to get into contact with her (mirainllwydroberts@gwynedd.llyw.cymru).

5.    Eleri D’Arcy to share work updates on Swansea Intergenerational Falls group’s work on preventing falls to Dewi John so he can circulate to group.

6.    Dewi John to recirculate the Terms of reference for the group, including sub-groups and priority areas and add it as an item on the agenda for the next meeting.

7.    Delyth Jewell asked members to send examples of ageism to Dewi John for sub-group to discuss.

8.    Delyth Jewell invited any members who are interested in being on a sub-group on ageism to email Dewi John.

Welcome and Introductions – Delyth Jewell MS

Delyth Jewell welcomed the group members and introduced new members to the group.

Minutes of last meeting

The group approved the minutes. In terms of a letter to the Deputy Minister for Social Services, Julie Morgan, setting out issues that the group would like to raise, members were asked to send issues to Dewi John to compile.

Sharing a Journey

Item held over to the next meeting.

Homeshare UK

Tim Crahart explained that Homeshare UK is an intergenerational live-in model, in which two people share their lives together. The home share is between an older person who is looking for low-level support or friendship and a young person who is looking for somewhere to live.

Tim noted that the scheme has received funding from the Welsh Government for three pilots across Wales, which are in:

·         Swansea (Coordinated by Ruth Robinson)

·         Pembrokeshire (Coordinated by Dean Flood)

·         Camarthernshire (Coordinated by Richard Wyn Williams).

The matching process takes time and the older people, and their families can meet the applicant as many times as the host requires. Homeshare UK also requires all applicants to have a DBS and a reference check.

Marie Clare asked if Homeshare UK had considered working with community and/or religious centres particularly those for people belonging to ethnic/social minorities to consider matching refugees and international students to older households of a similar background.

Mirain Llwyd Roberts explained that this is something they are doing as part of the Gwynedd pilot that they had already had conversations with Bangor University and that there is a refugee support project currently in Gwynedd.

Tim Crahart explained that the scheme was quite popular with international students in England because the students wanted to live in the community and practice language skills and that Homeshare UK was working with Bangor and Swansea University. International students need to be careful because of visa conditions and the amounts of hours of support they could provide.

He also explained it was harder to work with asylum seekers because of right to housing. He added that they have been able to work with Ukrainian refugees because they have visas.

On religious groups Tim said that the Pembrokeshire coordinator has already been working with religious groups in the area.

Sue Egersdorff said that Edinburgh Garden Partners (Edinburgh Garden Partners)  were doing something similar with gardens where older people wanting someone to maintain their garden are matched with people who want an allotment but cannot get one.

Delyth invited members who attended the Generations Working Together Conference to share information with the group.  She also asked members to share relevant stories from intergenerational living situations with Tim so Homeshare UK could celebrate them and use them on social media.

International Intergenerational Week 2023

Mirain Llwyd Roberts highlighted that International Intergenerational Week 2023 will be held on 24th April until 30th April. She explained that there are four executive members who are responsible for organising the related events for the week across the four nations.

Mirain said there was a need to restart intergenerational events since Covid across the UK. She suggested members could do this by holding for example a coffee morning in schools, care homes or community venues to get children and older people together, which is important for creating early cross-generational relationships.

Mirain asked if groups can sign up to the link, so members can learn more about how they can get involved in Global Intergenerational Week 2023. She also asked if members knew people who could get buildings lit up for Global Intergenerational Week to get in contact.

Sharon Ford, offered to connect Mirain with Big Pit to get the winding frame lit up.

Catrin Hedd Jones said that CADR will try and host an online webinar and that she will circulate the details with Dewi.

Mirain explained that the advisory board to create standards for Intergenerational work met at the Generations Working Together Conference and said the group would be looking to influence UK Government. Mirain offered anyone who is interested in getting involved to email her.

There was a discussion of areas where intergenerational work is strong and how this can translate into other areas, particularly those which may be more closely related to economic growth.  Work on age friendly communities undertaken in local authorities is positive although there is more to be done to break down silos.

Delyth Jewell asked the group if they had any points to raise on cross-governmental and cross-departmental gaps which could form part of the letter to the Deputy Minister for Social Services. Delyth asked Dewi John to remind people of the letter before the minutes are circulated.

Mirain finished by saying if anyone had any ideas for International Intergenerational Week to get into contact with her (mirainllwydroberts@gwynedd.llyw.cymru).

There was further discussion on the need for the Welsh Government to build on their existing research on the benefits of intergeneration work.

College courses or apprenticeship schemes that have a wide age range cohort of students could be another way of exchanging knowledge across generations. Delyth asked if anyone had information on this to share it with the group.

Falls Prevention Taskforce

Neil Williams said Falls Prevention Taskforce was a good example of practical intergenerational work and highlighted that Falls Awareness Week will be 18th to 22nd September.

Neil said the taskforce had done some work with Cardiff and the Vale University Health Board and that they had done work with schools in the area. Pupils learnt about the risk of falls and to engage mamgu and tadcu on this. He highlighted that 500 children across Cardiff and the Vale had joined in 2022 and the theme was around carers.

Neil explained despite limited opportunities in 2022, the campaign saw three areas of success in Betsi Cadwaladr, Swansea and Cardiff and the Vale and that the taskforce was looking to work with the Ambulance Trust, Fire and Rescue and the guides for 2023.

Swansea Intergenerational Falls Group

Eleri D’arcy highlighted the intergenerational work that Swansea had been doing through their crime scene tool to identify falls risks with children and older people. She explained that there were 1000s of hazards especially toys, rugs, and handbags for example. Feedback was that the crime scene was very effective and was used across KS2 and used George’s Race for KS1.

Delyth Jewell said it was important to see practical and policy ideas side by side.

Sharon added that her colleague Zoe at National Waterfront Museum has been hosting seated dance sessions with ‘Dance to Health' falls prevention agenda and that they would like to feature this with museum and intergenerational groups.

The issue of whether this could become more widespread and perhaps link to an intergenerational activity through ongoing support given to people who have lost mobility confidence to go out for walks etc. was raised.  Neil said they could batten a decondition campaign onto the Falls Prevention campaign to improve confidence. Rachel Bowen added that Swansea already has a well-established Age Friendly walk.

Delyth Jewell asked Eleri to share work updates to Dewi John so he can circulate to group.

Any other business

Catrin asked if the group could revisit the original four priorities, especially around ageism. Delyth asked Dewi John to recirculate the sub-groups and areas of priority to the group and add it as an item on the agenda for the next meeting.

The group also discussed ageism in the media and were alarmed at recent development in publications across the UK. Delyth asked the group to note specific instances and that this would be an item at the next meeting. In the meantime, examples should be sent to Dewi for discussion at the next meeting.

Delyth Jewell invited any members who are interested in being on a sub-group on ageism to email Dewi John.

Close and date of next meeting

Delyth Jewell thanked members for their contributions. The next meeting will be on June 5th at 11am - 12:30pm on Microsoft Teams. She also invited members to email Dewi if they had an item for discussion for the next agenda.