Sioned Williams: When I was elected, I told Beti George, who lost her husband, David Parry-Jones, to dementia, that I would do everything possible to improve the support for people like her and her husband. 'There's been plenty of talk in the Senedd, Sioned', she said. 'We need action.'
Sioned Williams: Will the First Minister make a statement on fuel poverty in South Wales West?
Sioned Williams: 1. What does the Welsh Government intend to do to mitigate the effects of the UK Government's decision to remove the universal credit uplift from today? TQ569
Sioned Williams: Minister, I've been contacted by the father of an additional learning needs pupil who's suffered months of lost education and, of course, all-important development during the pandemic, and, unlike with his other children, there's been no opportunity to continue his son's very specialist education at home. The local authority hasn't offered any coaching or training for parents to do this...
Sioned Williams: Thank you, Minister, and thank you, Llywydd, for accepting this important topical question.
Sioned Williams: The £20 uplift in universal credit comes to an end today. This cruel decision by a heartless Westminster Tory Government will affect over 275,000 of the poorest households in Wales. That's one in five households. According to the Bevan Foundation, the impact will be worse for Welsh families, as a higher proportion of families here claim universal credit or working tax credit. And for...
Sioned Williams: The children's commissioner's annual report notes that groups of children currently face inequality due to a variety of factors, but it's on the effect of poverty that I'd like to focus. I welcome this report, and I really urge the Welsh Government to consider its recommendations with the sense of urgency that is suggested, particularly in regard to the expansion of eligibility for free...
Sioned Williams: Minister, if we want to improve the economic situation of the people of South Wales West, we need to tackle the high and unfair levels of council tax in local authorities and get to grips with the increased problem of council tax arrears. Neath Port Talbot council is setting regularly one of the highest levels of council tax in Wales. Residents can't understand why it costs so much more to...
Sioned Williams: I'm very proud that Plaid Cymru co-submitted this important motion today, As we discuss it, we of course also mark Black History Month, a month that celebrates important black figures in our history, as well as noting how central the evidence of black people is to our culture, and that, of course, is important throughout the year.
Sioned Williams: Black history is integral to Welsh history. There are aspects to celebrate, such as the translations of the slave narratives of John Marrant, Moses Roper and Josiah Henson into Welsh in the nineteenth century, which fired the radical abolitionist zeal of the Welsh; the connections with Paul Robeson, who argued that he witnessed the unity of working people of all races in Wales; and the myriad...
Sioned Williams: I hope that we all stand shoulder to shoulder with those suffering racism, but there is room for us to be doing a lot more to tackle hate crimes. According to the Government's own figures for 2020-21, there was an increase in 16 per cent in hate crimes on the previous year, and 66 per cent of those hate crimes were racist hate crimes. This is consistent with the general trend, year on year,...
Sioned Williams: As we've heard today, for three consecutive years we've had this debate in the Chamber, where the motion had very similar wording, yet racially motivated hate crime is still increasing. How does the Government account for this? We, of course, welcome the race equality action plan, but what is going wrong here? We need to face it.
Sioned Williams: In Wales and England, the police are nine times more likely to use their stop-and-search powers and almost eight times more likely to use tasers on black, Asian and minority ethnic people than white people. The percentage of black people in Welsh prisons is higher than the general Welsh population. And according to the Independent Office for Police Conduct, a higher percentage of black, Asian...
Sioned Williams: —who are currently under-represented.
Sioned Williams: In our journey towards full national status, it is crucial that we face the racism in our past—that we pass legislation and develop cultural, institutional and educational practices that tackle racism in the present, and that we hear and listen to the historic and contemporary voices of black and ethnic minority people as we strive to foster the traditions of anti-racism in our culture, as...
Sioned Williams: 2. Will the Commission make a statement on its relationship with the Members of the Senedd pension scheme's pensions board? OQ57041
Sioned Williams: Thank you for that.
Sioned Williams: I raise this question due to an inquiry I've received from a constituent of mine regarding the Members' pension scheme, which is partially governed, as you say, by the Senedd pensions board. Politics and ethics are completely intertwined, and it's therefore crucial that the Senedd as an institution does not involve itself, even indirectly, in anything that is ethically questionable, for...
Sioned Williams: 6. Will the First Minister make a statement on the Government's anti-racism efforts in South Wales West? OQ57100
Sioned Williams: Diolch, Brif Weinidog. Two weeks ago, I co-presented an anti-racism motion here in the Senedd and made the argument that all our institutions, including the police, need to be proactive in their anti-racism efforts. However, it has recently come to light that South Wales Police tried to recruit Lowri Davies, a Swansea University student and Black Lives Matter activist, as an informant, by...
