THE SENEDD rejected calls to revoke regulations restricting the prescription of puberty blockers for under-18s with gender incongruence or dysphoria.

Adam Price recognised differing views regarding puberty-suppressing hormones, known as puberty blockers, as he called for the Welsh Government regulations to be annulled.

The former Plaid Cymru leader explained the regulations effectively make participation in a clinical trial the only way to access treatment for transgender children and young people.

He told the Senedd: “As no such trial is yet available, these regulations currently deny access to puberty blockers entirely for this group of patients.”

Mr Price warned making treatment conditional on participation in trials is unfair because it places undue pressure on the child to agree.

He said: “We believe that these significant changes … should be subject to consultation, with the children and young people affected by them, because that is what the law says.”

The former MP pointed out that the Welsh Government is bound to have “due regard” to the UN convention on children’s rights, with Article 12 guaranteeing the right to be heard.

Mr Price added: “Article 3 of the UN convention requires that the best interests of the child are the primary consideration in all actions affecting children.”

He said no consultation nor children’s rights impact assessment was conducted.

He warned transgender children are being treated differently with their access to puberty blockers restricted, arguing this is contrary to the Equality Act 2010.

Mr Price drew a parallel with a High Court ruling in March that a Welsh Government decision to stop free school meals in holidays was unlawful.

He said: “These regulations show the exact same failings: a lack of consultation, a failure to conduct impact assessments and insufficient regard for children’s rights and equality….

“The Senedd has the opportunity tonight to send a clear message to the government: the first imperative in making any law – and especially a law that affects the young – is to listen, which it has signally failed to do in this case.”

Conservative Sam Rowlands raised the Cass review which found “no good evidence of the long-term outcomes of interventions to manage gender-related distress”.

The shadow health secretary warned not enough is known about the long-term impacts of puberty blockers for children and young people with gender incongruence or dysphoria.

Julie James, who is counsel general, the Welsh Government’s chief legal adviser, said the proportionate regulations were in response to the Cass review of gender identity services.

She told the Senedd: “The Welsh Government continues to be driven by the evidence to best support the needs of young people who are questioning their gender.”

Ms James said the law prevents GPs from prescribing puberty blockers to under-18s, with exceptions for trials and prescriptions from before the legislation came into force on July 18.

The former solicitor raised case law showing the state does not breach the European Convention on Human Rights by refusing to authorise a particular treatment.

She argued ministers had no duty to consult and due regard was given to children’s rights under the UN convention, which was incorporated in Welsh law in 2011.

Caerphilly MS Hefin David raised the experience of a constituent accessing services in Bristol which they found “severely wanting”.

The Labour backbencher said he would vote with the Welsh Government for technical reasons but added: “I think we need more passion from the government on these issues and I’m deeply disappointed by the counsel general’s contribution.”

Mr Price told the Senedd the NHS has no plans to establish a youth gender identity service despite a commitment in the Welsh Government’s LGBTQ+ action plan.

He said: “I really think the government needs to look at this with some urgency even if they win the vote tonight – they need to look at the broader policy.”

Senedd members voted 36-12 against annulling the regulations on December 10.

THE HEADLINE figure is an average rise in Welsh local authority budgets by 4.3%. Every Welsh rural council got less than that.

From Monmouthshire in the east to Anglesey in the north to Pembrokeshire in the west, the funding bonanza trumpeted by the Welsh Government as part of the best financial settlement since devolution turned into a damp, wet fart. No rural authority got the average settlement; only Carmarthenshire came close with a 4.1 increase. Meanwhile, Labour councils in the Valleys and metropolitan areas all experienced above-average rises in Welsh Government funding.

Local MS Sam Kurtz said, “It’s clear that the Welsh Labour Government is looking after their heartlands first and foremost as we run up to the Senedd election and is ignoring the needs of others.

“Delivering services in rural areas costs more; it’s the rural premium, but for the Welsh Labour Government to ignore this shows them at their worst.

“Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire county councils are asked to do more and more. It’s only right that they are supported correctly to deliver those services. Sadly, this provisional settlement falls well short of what is required.”

WG “TAKING PEMBROKESHIRE PUBLIC FOR FOOLS”

Pembrokeshire Conservative county councillor Aled Thomas said: “Labour is taking the Pembrokeshire public for fools, claiming that today’s announcement is good for Pembrokeshire when the reality is that our rural communities are being left behind once again.

“Labour is giving with one hand and taking away with the other, with a significant proportion of this additional money already spent on increased national insurance contributions.

“Pembrokeshire’s Labour cabinet member for finance must now commit that this money will be spent on core services and not wasted on vanity projects as we have seen time and again in the county.”

Whether Josh Beynon, Pembrokeshire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Finance, rises to that challenge remains to be seen. Our request for a response to the Welsh Government’s funding settlement for Pembrokeshire was refused.

SETTLEMENT SHOWS WHERE LOYALTIES LIE

The Independent Group was not as shy.

“The Welsh Government settlement lays bare where their true loyalties lie and the battleground for Senedd 2026 where Labour will concentrate their resources on protecting their established strongholds at all costs. “They may deny it, but that’s the appearance with healthier WG settlements of above 5% for Cardiff, Newport and Merthyr compared to 3.6% for Pembrokeshire, Ceredigion and Anglesey and even less for Gwynedd at 3.2%. Inflation is currently at 2.3%, meaning the real increase for Pembrokeshire is around 1.3%, and higher inflation over the next few months will erode the value of this settlement further.

“Furthermore, all local authorities are currently having to accept the consequence of the Chancellor’s rise of National Insurance, with Mark Drakeford revealing that there will be no decision from the UK government on NI compensation for public sector employers until May 2025, meaning much of the additional AEF will have already been swallowed up, a decision that needs to be taken sooner rather than later many would suggest.”

CONSULTATION UNDERWAY

The Independent Group spokesperson continued: “Today launches six weeks of formal consultation on the settlement for 2024-25, ending on Friday, January 24, 2025.

“We hope that the current administration will use this process to articulate the concerns of many, that the settlement is not sufficient to cover the financial pressure faced by Pembrokeshire and argue for additional support, even if targeted towards areas of significant concern such as Social Care.

“The reality for us in Pembrokeshire is that providing the services our residents expect and rightly deserve has just become a lot more difficult with this settlement, which can only be described as disappointing.

“As a direct result of this AEF settlement, we will inevitably face a higher than wished-for Council Tax rise in April 2025, and much of the responsibility will sit with Cardiff.

“Pembrokeshire has the joint highest second home council tax in Wales, and we will almost certainly increase the level of tax on empty homes. Many of us in County Hall cannot be accused of shirking tough decisions that best serve our residents.

“We have significant Social Care pressures, which is a common theme across all Welsh local authorities. We have many schools falling into deficit, with Ysgol y Preseli, Milford Haven & Greenhill in dire need of a total overhaul to provide the facilities our young deserve. We hope that the Welsh Government will see fit to allocate Pembrokeshire a generous element of the £1.04bn for the capital grant they have provisionally allocated in this settlement for all of Wales. The continuation of the 40% business relief for tourism, hospitality and leisure businesses is welcomed for an industry that employs 23% of our working population.

COUNCIL TAX AFFORDABILITY CRUCIAL

“The Independent Group will focus on the need to protect essential services whilst addressing the ability of hard-pressed households to afford further Council Tax rises next April.

“In a week when the local authority, partner agencies, and many volunteers have stood up to Storm Darragh’s challenges, the least our residents deserved was more bad news with today’s Welsh Government settlement for Pembrokeshire.

“Storm Darragh’s impact highlighted the need for careful management of Council reserves. Using up reserves cannot continue year on year. Therefore, any proposal for their future use must be carefully considered before we can support it. Once used, these reserves are not available for future eventualities.

“Without additional support, this settlement will result in even higher Council tax bills in four months.”

The spokesperson concluded: “As the largest opposition group within County Hall, we will hold this administration to account in the forthcoming weeks and months prior to setting the Council Tax for 2025/26. We will be critical friends in this task and will not shirk from asking difficult questions.”

THE FORMER leader of Pembrokeshire County council is to ask the current administration why pupils in the county were not allowed to take part in the ‘wellies to school’ protest against changes to inheritance tax on agricultural property.

The wellies to school spectacle was part of a wider November 19 protest, led by the National Farmers’ Union (NFU), held in response to the UK Government’s budget.

At the Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced farmers would have to pay inheritance tax on agricultural property and land worth more than £1 million at a rate of 20 per cent, with a £3m threshold for couples passing on their farms.

This compares to a 40 per cent rate on other estates.

However, Pembrokeshire schools were not allowed to engage in the wellies to school message.

A spokesperson for Pembrokeshire County Council said at the time: “The Education Act 1996 clearly prohibits practitioners from promoting partisan political views, and therefore, our schools are not permitted to promote the farmers’ protest taking place in London today.”

Former council leader Cllr Jamie Adams is now asking why the decision was taken.

In a question submitted to the December meeting of Pembrokeshire County Council, Cllr Jamie Adams says: “The recent spectacle of children wearing wellies to school on November 19, served as a powerful message that rural communities are concerned about the long-term sustainability of agriculture following the Government’s alterations to Agricultural Inheritance Tax.

“This widespread industry underpins the economy, social fabric, community cohesion and in many parts the Welsh language here in Pembrokeshire as much as any rural county due to the high prevalence of family farms.

“It was therefore concerning to hear that Pembrokeshire Local Education Authority sought to prevent children from overtly demonstrating their support by this action deeming it as ‘political’.

“I would therefore like to ask the Leader [Cllr Jon Harvey] how this position was adopted and who actually made the decision?”

Cllr Adams’ question will be heard at the December 12 meeting.