I want to share with you my excitement at the launch of our new partnership between Monmouthshire County Council and the Autism Education Trust to support and promote the achievement of our learners who have autism.

I am so proud of the fact that this is the first such partnership in Wales.

When we took over control of our county from the Tories we were determined to develop a system that allowed all our learners to fulfil their true potential.

Autism impacts on social communication and interaction, so many people with autism are sometimes extremely anxious as a result.

We were determined to do our best for them and now have created a system where youngsters are helped and supported in their local school by people who understand and can help.

We certainly do not have all the answers - but we have a brilliant team who work to support learners with autism and together we have now formed a partnership with this specialist national organisation.

Just as important, we want to include the people who know these youngsters best of all – their parents and the young people themselves.

A great example of how we are already doing this are our Pupil Panels that have been established in all our secondary schools and our All-through school.

As part of our initiative, we will be able to make full use of the special expertise of the trust. And I am so impressed by the way teachers and staff in our schools have enthusiastically supported the new approach.

It is wonderful to see how this will take existing expertise to another level and I thank all of those who have undergone additional training to help them understand autism better.

Actually, we have been developing our links with the trust for two years now and have learned a lot from them.

Now every Monmouthshire school and educational setting will have an autism champion and staff who have been trained in working with autistic youngsters. Together we can make life better for a vulnerable group of people in our community.

When we do things like this it makes me even prouder to serve the people and communities of Monmouthshire.