Peter Malcolm Black is a Welsh Liberal Democrat politician, and was a

Member of the Welsh Assembly A Member of the Senedd (MS; plural: ''MSs''; cy, Aelodau o'r Senedd; , plural:) (AS)., group=la is a representative elected to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ). There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd ...

for the South Wales West Region between 1999 and 2016.

Political career

A Councillor for the Cwmbwrla ward on

City and County of Swansea Council , coa_pic = , coa_res = , coa_alt = , logo_pic = Swansea City Council Logo.svg , logo_res = , logo_alt = , house_type = Unitary authority , jurisdiction = , foundation = 1 April 1996 , preceded_by = West Glamorgan County Council S ...

, he was leader of the Liberal Democrat Group 1984–99. He is a past Chair of the Welsh Liberal Democrats and of the party's Finance and Administration Committee. Black fought Swansea East at the Assembly elections in 1999 and 2003, but entered the Assembly as the lead candidate on the Welsh Liberal Democrat regional list for South Wales West. He was the lead candidate again in 2007 and 2011. A former Deputy Minister in the 2000–03 Labour / Welsh Liberal Democrat coalition administration, he chaired the Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills Committee in the second Assembly and then sat on the Communities, Equality and Local Government Committee and the Finance Committee. He was also a member of the Assembly Commission with responsibility for ICT and Sustainability. In November 2011 he took the lead alongside Welsh Liberal Democrats Leader, Kirsty Williams in negotiating an agreement with Labour on the Welsh Government's budget. As a result, the Government introduced a Pupil Deprivation Grant, guaranteeing Welsh schools an extra £450 for each pupil in receipt of free school meals. In 2013 he led for the Liberal Democrats on the negotiations for the Assembly budget alongside

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

, securing a £100 million package including a doubling of the Pupil Deprivation Grant to £918 per pupil, a £50m intermediate health fund, £9.5m for investment in innovation in the health service and £5.5m for supporting people budgets. He also steered the Welsh Assembly's first private member's bill to the statute book under its new powers. The Mobile Homes (Wales) Act 2013 received Royal Assent in November 2013, introducing a modern licensing regime for Park Homes sites in Wales. On 10 December 2013 he was selected as the ITV Wales Yearbook Assembly Member of the year. In May 2016 Black lost his Welsh Assembly seat in the Welsh General Election. After his election defeat he became the Welsh Liberal Democrats Spokesperson for Local Government, Heritage and Housing. He was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

in the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial blog
at the Welsh Assembly website
Profile
at the site of Welsh Liberal Democrats

Offices held

{{DEFAULTSORT:Black, Peter 1960 births Living people Alumni of Swansea University Liberal Democrats (UK) councillors Welsh bloggers Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Councillors in Wales Politics of Swansea Members of the Welsh Assembly Government Liberal Democrat members of the Senedd Wales AMs 1999–2003 Wales AMs 2003–2007 Wales AMs 2007–2011 Wales AMs 2011–2016 People educated at Wirral Grammar School for Boys