Welsh Assembly Government Minister Andrew Davies has been in Pembrokeshire on a fact-finding trip.

Mr. Davies - Minister for Finance and Public Service Delivery - visited a housing estate in Pembroke, the county council fostering team and a children's short-breaks unit in Haverfordwest after asking to see good examples of citizen-based services provided by a local authority.

For several years, Pembrokeshire County Council - with help from European Objective 1 funding - has been operating a 'handyman' scheme on three of its biggest housing estates at Monkton in Pembroke; Bush in Pembroke Dock and The Mount, Milford Haven.

The innovative scheme allows the council to train unemployed local young people with no academic qualifications in the skills of home and street maintenance such as painting and decorating, carpentry and basic plumbing.

If the youngsters are successful after the 26-week training programme they are then employed full-time by the council working on the county's council house estates.

On the estate at Monkton - listed in the 100 most deprived areas in Wales - the Minister meet several young people who had completed the 'handyman' scheme.

One of them, Leighton Byrne of Vicary Street, Milford Haven, entered the project five years ago training as a painter and decorator. His ambition was to become an electrician.

As a result of his work as a 'handyman', the council took him on as an apprentice and he is now a fully qualified electrician empployed by the authority.

The county council's head of maintenance, Brian Maddocks, told Mr. Davies that the authority now hoped to extend the scheme to other estates and sites in Pembrokeshire.

In County Hall, Haverfordwest, the Minister met with members of the council's fostering service, foster carers and a young person in care Kathy s'Jacob, family placement customer services manager, spoke about the authority's successful Invest to Save scheme that has been running for the last three years.

As a result, the local choice of foster placements has improved and a specialist scheme, Foster Plus, has been set up for children with challenging behaviour. This has reduced the council's dependence on private care providers and the overall budget required for foster care.

The Minister spoke with carers from the Foster Plus scheme about their experiences of becoming foster carers. None had been foster carers prior to hearing about the scheme, but each enjoyed the challenge that this role had presented.

He also spoke to a young person currently looked after in the scheme about his experiences of foster care.

At Holly House in Haverfordwest, Mr. Davies was warmly welcomed by the young people.

The county council-run facility provides a 'home from home' environment for eight to 18-year-olds with moderate to severe disability who have an assessed need for respite care.

Holly House co-ordinator, Gill Monk likened it to a 'sleep-over unit' for around 50 young people who can stay for as long as a week. They learn how to be independent and even buy and prepare their own food as well as keeping themselves and their bedrooms tidy.

Mr. Davies spoke to them as well as parents Mr. and Mrs. Cross from Solva whose children, Rachel and Christopher, attend Holly House.

Rachel, who plays for the Portfield Panthers football team, told the Minister she loved being with her friends in the unit.

Before leaving, the Minister also enjoyed a game of Wii Sport Bowling with Amanda Gibson.

Speaking of his visit to Pembrokeshire, Mr. Davies said: "It's been very interesting and worthwhile to visit the Handyman scheme at Monkton and Holly House, and to meet foster carers to learn about the improvements made to the fostering service.

"Although very different, they are all good examples of public services which put the citizen first.

"The 'handyman' scheme has provided training and job opportunities for unemployed people in their own area, and the importance of projects like this has never been higher given the current economic situation.

"It was a privilege to talk to the young people using Holly House and their parents. We need to encourage more examples of innovative, value-for-money services like this across Wales. Budgets are going to be very tight for the next few years, so local authorities have to get smarter in delivering high quality services without increasing costs."