Wales’ First Minister Mark Drakeford announces he is to step down
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Mark Drakeford has announced he is standing down as First Minister after five years at the helm of the Welsh government.
The former social worker and academic said leading Welsh Labour and the Welsh government had been "a huge privilege".
Drakeford announced yesterday: “I have formally notified the chair of the Welsh executive committee of my intention to stand down as leader in March 2024.
“Nominations for my successor as Welsh Labour leader will open shortly. The process will be concluded by the end of the spring term.”
Widely hailed as a progressive leader who never forgot his social work background, his commitment to social justice has been praised within the profession.
Samantha Baron, national director of BASW Cymru, said: “As an ex-social worker, Mark led with compassion and integrity, with social justice at the heart of his leadership and political beliefs.
“His contribution to politics and the profession of social work demonstrates how effective leading with a clear vision and values for the people of Wales brings about real change for people and communities. He will be sadly missed as our First Minister - hopefully he will join us in our work as a professional association.”
BASW chief executive Ruth Allen said: “BASW has enjoyed a long connection with Mark Drakeford. A former probation officer, youth worker and co-editor of the British Journal of Social Work, he has demonstrated his social work and social care values throughout his tenure as First Minister.
“He has provided direct support to BASW, including helping us celebrate our 50th Anniversary in 2020, and supporting the Social Work Education Trust’s 50th anniversary this year.
“We have been honoured to have worked closely with Mark’s government, which has kept social work and social care at the forefront of national policy.
“Like so many in Wales and beyond, we have always appreciated his humane, caring and rights-based approach to politics, his integrity and his dignified leadership. We hope to sustain our relationship with him after he leaves his role – and to work closely with the new First Minister and their team once in post."
Emeritus professor of social work Ray Jones said: "Mark has been impressive, caring, and humane as First Minister in Wales - and still lives his social work values. He is an outlier amid so much political darkness and chaos.”
Abyd Quinn Aziz, a BASW Cymru committee member and social work academic at Cardiff University, said: "He showed a focus on the people of Wales and supported public services and our social workers. His background in probation work and as a professor of social sciences came through in his integrity, dignity and intelligence when working through a difficult period."
BASW England national director Maris Stratulis, who once chaired a panel discussion Drakeford was part of said: "He is a great advocate for the profession and the communities that social workers serve. He genuinely understands the challenges of poverty, hardship, and during the panel discussion his compassion, humility and social work ethics shone through. He will not only be missed in his role in Wales, but also in England, other nations and at an international level."
Despite being at the forefront of Welsh politics, Drakeford remained committed to social work throughout his political career and often spoke at BASW conferences and events.
Most recently, he spoke passionately at a meeting of the Social Workers’ Education Trust where he urged social work to regain its “courage” in speaking up for people who lack power.
He said: “Sometimes I think we have stood back too far from a willingness to stand up, and be seen to stand up, for those people who rely on social work services; those people who have the least voice and the least power, and who rely on others to work alongside them in order to give them that voice.
“Speaking for the powerless was surely at the heart of the foundation of social work, and I think we have lost courage in doing that.”
He called for practice cultures that are “innovative rather than defensive, creative rather than proceduralised”.
From social work to politics
After graduating from university, where he met his wife Clare who died suddenly earlier this year, Drakeford qualified as a social worker and took a role as a probation officer and youth justice worker in Wales.
He went on to become a professor of social policy and applied social science, lecturing at Swansea and Cardiff universities.
He co-wrote a book with Ian Butler, Social Work on Trial: The Colwell Inquiry and the State of Welfare, which centred on the Maria Colwell case and was praised for its “scholarly yet readable” approach.
He says his move across into politics was motivated by the poor housing conditions he encountered in his role as a social worker in Ely, west Cardiff.
He told Wales Online: "I ended going to see a young man who was there with his family. The place was absolutely riddled with damp. I did what you do, writing letters… and we got them moved. A few weeks later I got another family in the same block, same story.
“A few months later a third. I thought this not the way to change things… That’s how I became a councillor, I wanted to change the system so that no other families going in there would face the same thing.”
Drakeford was first elected as Senedd member for Cardiff West in 2011, taking cabinet roles in health, finance, Brexit and, finally, First Minister when Carwyn Jones left the job in 2018.
Progressive policies
Under his leadership, Wales has vowed to tackle “institutionalised and systemic racism”, strengthen the rights of disabled people, and “make Wales the most LGBTQ+ friendly nation in Europe.”
A 46-point programme for social transformation launched in 2021 included extending free school meals to all primary school pupils, free childcare for all two-year-olds, creating a National Care Service, and a national construction company to help councils and social landlords improve the supply of affordable housing.
A basic income trial for care leavers was recently trialled in Wales but axed due to funding issues.
The creation of a child poverty strategy was highlighted as a key priority for the next few months in his resignation speech.
Devolution and social work
In a Foreword to the recently published book Social Work in Wales, Drakeford reflects on how two decades of devolution has influenced the profession:
“As we look back, much has changed, but the ambition - for the state to take the leading role in the development and delivery of welfare services; for services to be produced collaboratively rather than in competition and as a partnership between workers and users, based on high levels of trust; for a shift to prevention rather than cure; for collaboration to be entrenched between local government and the health service; for the significance of the third sector to be properly recognised; for the linguistic and other diversities of Wales to be celebrated and promoted - remains remarkably intact.
“Of course, one of the lessons any new social work student has to learn is that good intentions, by themselves, are not good enough. Just because a worker sets out to help is not a guarantee, by itself, that help will result. The same is true for government. Principles are essential, but the hard work is to translate those underlying purposes into practical policy.”
Current favourites to replace the outgoing First Minister are Vaughan Gething, economy minister, and Jeremy Miles, education minister, who said: “Mark Drakeford is an extraordinary man who has led Wales through extraordinary times. He has been a beacon for compassion in our politics, and an example of public service to our nation.”
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Final year in office
The final year in office for Mark Drakeford has seen some landmark achievements, and high profile controversies.
In February, it was announced carers in Wales would be paid the ‘real living wage’, amounting to more than their counterparts in England.
In June, the Welsh government announced that a new default 20mph speed limit for areas currently set at 30mph would roll out in September. It caused subsequent widespread controversy.
In August, Drakeford asked ministers to find cuts in public services as inflation and public sector pay squeezed Welsh government budgets.
In September, he signed the new Corporate Parenting Charter, committing the Welsh government to nine principles public bodies and their leaders should follow when working with care-experienced children and young people.
In October, Drakeford signed a declaration committing to radical reform of children’s care services in Wales. It was developed with the input of care-experienced children and young people and outlines the Welsh Government’s commitment to fully involve them in proposed changes to children’s services in Wales.
Also in October, the Welsh government announced cuts across departments to divert funds to struggling health and rail services. In an unprecedented move, the Senedd asked the UK Treasury for permission to switch funds from its capital to its revenue budget to ease the cash crisis.