Born in Neath and educated at Pontardawe Grammar School, Gwenda Thomas is best known for her role as a Welsh Labour Politician and involved herself in the life and culture of the area in which she served.
Prior to this she was a civil servant, having served in the County Courts branch of the then Lord Chancellor's Department as an Executive Officer, and then at the Benefits Agency.
Representing her home village of Gwaun Cae Gurwen as both a Community and County Councillor for many years, Gwenda was appointed Chair of the Social Services Committees of West Glamorgan County Council becoming the first woman to chair a major committee and, following local government reorganisation, she again chaired the Social Services Committee of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council.
Until her ministerial appointment in 2007, Gwenda was Chair of the Governing Body of Ysgol Gynradd Gwaun Cae Gurwen Primary School.
In the first Assembly (1999-2003), she was Chair of the Local Government and Housing committee. In the second Assembly (2003-2007), she was Chair of the Assembly’s Equality of Opportunity Committee and was appointed in December 2003 by the First Minister for Wales, Rhodri Morgan AM, to chair the Safeguarding Vulnerable Children review. The review’s report – Keeping Us Safe – was published in May 2006.
In 2007, in the Third Assembly she was appointed as Deputy Minister for Social Services. She retained the position of Deputy Minister for Social Services when the coalition government of Labour and Plaid Cymru was announced in July.
In the Fourth Assembly, she held the position of Deputy Minister for Children & Social Services, with her responsibilities amongst others being childcare, child trust funds and parenting programmes. She was a prominent Ministerial sponsor of the Children’s Rights Measure, passed by the Assembly in 2011, which requires that Ministers have due regard to the rights of the child, as defined in the United Nations Charter on the Rights of the Child, in making decisions, developing policy and drafting legislation in all areas. She worked across the Assembly political divide and had a particularly notable part to play, along with Helen Mary Jones, in ensuring that the Assembly was given the opportunity of voting on and passing a strong and pervasive Children’s Rights Measure.
During her last Assembly term Gwenda was proud to lead on The Social Services and Well-being ( Wales ) Act 2014 which has set the course for Social Services in Wales and was encouraged by the wide political consensus that prevailed during the passage of this legislation.
She was a patron of the Wales Observatory on the Human Rights of Children and Young People based at Swansea University and was awarded an Honorary Doctorate by Swansea University. She is also a member if the Bardic Circle.