Joyce Watson: Well, it’s been an enlightening debate and there’ve been a few bits of enlightenment that have come to the fore. The first thing that has very much come to the fore is the lie that UKIP is the party of the working class, because all they have done today is talk against the opportunities that we are trying put in place for hard-working people. Whilst we’re on this phrase of...
Joyce Watson: I’m actually going to say that what this Act—. What we’re trying to do against this Act is prevent us, the workers in Wales, from being compared by the International Labour Organization committee to an Act put in place that is the most draconian since Thatcher and that has put us now in the spotlight with Qatar, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and others. That’s exactly where your Act is. It is...
Joyce Watson: So, I want to ask you, Cabinet Secretary, if you believe that this Bill will help to reduce the conflict that we’ve heard about today, and encourage resolution of that conflict in the public sector workforce?
Joyce Watson: I want to pay tribute to Julie Morgan for bringing so eloquently to the Chamber what is a very sensitive issue in the way that she has. I think, like David has already said, we have, in society, moved on. Your phrase is absolutely right: from being naive to opening our eyes to reality. The real issue here, it seems, according to the allegations, is that these individuals as children were...
Joyce Watson: Will the First Minister make a statement on road safety in Mid and West Wales?
Joyce Watson: 5. What is the Welsh Government doing to help reduce alcohol misuse in Wales? OAQ(5)0106(HWS)
Joyce Watson: I welcome that, but alcohol is ubiquitous in our society—it’s glamorised on tv, it’s promoted as something that you have to have in order to relax, or even to socialise. It’s advertised in sporting events, billboards, bus shelters, and magazines. Bearing that in mind, it’s not surprising that, based on alcohol sales, Public Health Wales have reported that 75 per cent of the Welsh...
Joyce Watson: Leader of the house, I would like to request that the Cabinet Secretary for Health, Well-being and Sport makes a statement on the temporary overnight closure of Llandrindod Wells minor injuries unit. On Friday, I was informed by Powys Teaching Local Health Board that its minor injuries unit at Llandrindod Wells will temporarily have to shut between midnight and 7 a.m. for the whole month of...
Joyce Watson: It’s really great to be able to speak in such an important debate today. I do welcome the annual report on equalities and I want to actually focus specifically on objective 4, which is hate crime. I’m doing that because we are living in a time where that is growing, and hate crime across the protected characteristics of race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and gender identity is...
Joyce Watson: Could you bring your comments to a conclusion, please?
Joyce Watson: Thank you. The final speaker in this statement—Michelle Brown.
Joyce Watson: I will confine my contribution to what we recognise as equalities. And my first observation is that, unlike the Welsh White Paper and the Scottish Government’s Paper, the UK White Paper doesn’t directly discuss the implications for equalities of Brexit. And, to me, that is a conspicuous but concerning omission. Perhaps the First Minister could have pointed it out had the UK Government...
Joyce Watson: Leader of the house, could we, as a matter of urgency, have times to discuss Wales’s response to the plight of child refugees in the European camps? I’ve been contacted, and I expect many in this Chamber have been, by constituents from Mid Wales Refugee Action, and other groups, who express, and I quote, their deep sadness and horror about the UK Government’s decision to limit the...
Joyce Watson: I too welcome the report, and I do welcome the response from Welsh Government. It does indeed demonstrate their commitment to addressing the recommendations made by the committee. I’m going to focus solely on recommendation 6, and that concerns funding for independent domestic violence advisors, or IDVAs, and multi-agency risk assessment conferences, otherwise called MARACs. IDVAs often...
Joyce Watson: Just a second. Of why support to victims of domestic abuse must be a priority.
Joyce Watson: That has been, Janet, a lifelong ambition of mine, and I think everybody everywhere can join in that. And that is what we do. But, anyway, going back to the report, in Wales, the percentage of required IDVAs to support victims at high risk of abuse is 73 per cent, and, although this does compare well to many areas in England, like the Midlands, whose percentage is a very poor 40 per cent,...
Joyce Watson: I’m really pleased to make a contribution to this afternoon’s debate, in part to celebrate LGBT History Month, and I speak today as the Assembly Commissioner with responsibility for equality and diversity. I want to thank Hannah Blythyn for bringing forward this important debate today, which has also been supported by Jeremy Miles, Adam Price and Suzy Davies. It is hugely important that,...
Joyce Watson: I want to also pay some tribute to Pembrokeshire Disabled Bowlers Club. They actually run a scheme for all disabled people, whatever your disability. I spent some time there, in Milford Haven leisure centre, with them last Monday. What was absolutely clear about it was that people who had previously been absolutely isolated were now coming together as a collective group. I want to pay tribute...
Joyce Watson: 9. Will the First Minister make a statement on female genital mutilation protection orders in Wales? OAQ(5)0470(FM)
Joyce Watson: I thank you for that answer. It is somewhat amazing that there have been no protection orders whatsoever issued and, consequently, no prosecutions for FGM in Wales. It is a crime against the person and it is the brutal abuse of minors, and we need to, in my opinion, call it out for what it is: it is child abuse—nothing more, nothing less. So, what I’m going to ask, Cabinet Secretary, is:...
