I AM a keen advocate of reading from a young age. It’s such an important skill in every aspect of our lives and can make a massive difference between the world being illuminating or mystifying.

So it was fantastic to visit Brynmawr Foundation School last week and see their new literacy programme to help youngsters achieve their best.

We can almost take reading ability for granted at that age, which is part of the problem – if children haven’t got a grasp by their teens they might not get any support.

Brynmawr’s programme is adding a couple of years of reading age onto their students in just six weeks, and I can’t compliment them enough.

In Westminster, I have been doing a lot of work around foreign national offenders and the millions being spent to solve the issue with little success.

I have been in close contact over the issue with Gwent Police, who admitted they have not always used all the tools available to spot foreign national offenders.

They assure me now that everyone involved is making these checks at the first possible opportunity, which is good progress.

Now it is up to the decision makers to make sure those tools are as effective as possible.

I couldn’t help but listen to the comment of the boss of Boots, Stefano Pessina, with a wry smile on my face.

As a member of the Public Accounts Committee it is galling how many big businesses do their utmost to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.

We’ve taken the likes of Amazon and Google to task over locating specific portions of their businesses in places such as Luxembourg to avoid tax in the UK.

So to hear Mr Pessina, a Monaco resident with no UK tax payments to speak of, criticise how Labour would spend those taxes is a bit rich.

Finally, I’m sure many of you have had a chance to look at my Blaenau Gwent colleague Alun Davies AM’s First World War commemoration project.

Blaenau Gwent has a proud history of marking conflicts, most recently with its fantastic support of Armed Forces day.

Take a look at the project at www.blaenaugwentremembers.com and see a resource that is rapidly becoming a source of history for generations to come.