Jane Hutt: I've mentioned the fact that we have to address the pay gap. I've mentioned the work that's being done, the money that's being invested in accessible transport. I've mentioned our access to elected office fund, and I've also mentioned the ways in which we can reach out to support disabled people through the pandemic. I think our commitments to disabled people in terms of the disability...
Jane Hutt: Well, I'd like to thank Mark Isherwood for his long-standing chairing of the cross-party group on disability—and I always welcome the invitation to come, as you know, Mark, to meet with the stakeholders, partners and disabled people who come together when you chair that cross-party group—and also the fact that you do raise these issues, and they're raised in a cross-party spirit, raising...
Jane Hutt: Thank you, Laura Anne Jones, and I have responded particularly to the issues around the needs of children and families and parents and carers of autistic children. The statutory code of practice on delivery of autism services is crucial to that, but I think a lot of the needs of disabled children have to be met through the working together not just of local authorities and health boards, but...
Jane Hutt: Diolch, Llywydd, and I'd like to start by thanking Plaid Cymru for bringing this debate today. It not only highlights the rising levels of household debt in Wales outlined by speakers today, but also the steps we're taking as a Welsh Government to mitigate some of the grave hardships being faced. And I also welcome the Equality and Social Justice Committee inquiry into debt and the pandemic....
Jane Hutt: And it is important to recognise that we can't address all the austerity measures that have been imposed by the UK Government. Our ambition through the winter fuel support scheme is to support those households who suffered an income shock when the UK Government ended their £20 universal credit or working tax credit uplift payment. So, we want to support households who receive one of the...
Jane Hutt: Deputy Llywydd, I know that my statement today on the violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy will strike a chord across the Senedd. There was strong support for tackling violence against women expressed in this Chamber over the past few weeks and months, and I'm very pleased about that.
Jane Hutt: You will be aware that I worked in the early days of setting up Women’s Aid refuges in Wales, with the first Government grant in Wales to co-ordinate a network of specialist providers and seek legislative backing to address the abuse of power and misogyny that lies behind much of the violence that women face. But I now have the opportunity, as Minister for Social Justice, to drive forward...
Jane Hutt: We were all shocked by the events of this summer. The murders of Sarah Everard, Sabina Nessa and Wenjing Lin have brought into frightening relief the toxic masculinity that led violent men to murder them and the focus that is placed on women’s behaviour rather than that of the perpetrators. However, there's been an important change in the public’s reaction to these events. I welcomed the...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Mark Isherwood, and thank you for your continued support since you played that key role as we got through the Welsh Government's Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 legislation. And it was very much cross-party engagement that led us to that all-important Act, the first of its kind to be on the statute book. And I'm glad that you...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Sioned Williams. I'm really pleased to have those questions this afternoon. And to perhaps start on that final point about how we're going to ensure that this is different and that this is implemented, I think this is why proposing a blueprint approach, strengthening the governance, the multi-agency co-operation, particularly with the police—. Because it is quite clear that,...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Jenny Rathbone. Well, I will just focus on that point about children. We're actually seeking the voices of children and young people in the consultation on the draft strategy. We're working with our partners to ensure their voices are heard. We've got an online survey planned, specifically targeted at children and young people, and the Children's Commissioner for Wales,...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Laura Anne Jones, and thank you for responding in such a constructive and positive way to my statement. I'm glad that you have repeated that appalling statistic in my statement, the fact that 115 women have been killed by men so far this year and that domestic abuse is the biggest killer of women aged 19 to 44 in the UK. We have to repeat that statistic to remind us that it's...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much to Sarah Murphy, and also thank you for drawing attention to the very good practice in Bridgend with the perpetrator scheme. Just recognising the importance of—I mean, it's a statutory duty for local authorities to be delivering, five years on from the legislation coming into force, but working in partnership and to recognise that this is something fundamental in terms...
Jane Hutt: I thank the Member very much for those questions, searching questions. It is going to be, in this strategy, as you know, we are extending the remit of the strategy to include not just violence in the home, but violence in the street, in the workplace, and to look a lot more fully at sexual violence and sexual violence services, and to ensure that, when we say 'equal access', it comes back to...
Jane Hutt: Can I thank Jack Sargeant for that very important statement preceding his question? And just to say, you are playing such an important role, Jack Sargeant, today in asking the question and revealing the challenges that you face by speaking up, by not being a bystander, by being a White Ribbon ambassador. So, you are a role model. All our male colleagues can be role models in this, and I hope...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, James Evans. This is just what we need, isn't it, in terms of the response to the statement today? You were very powerful on the steps of the Senedd when you talked about being a father as well, and I think other speakers—Rhun ap Iorwerth and others, and Jack Sargeant—spoke so powerfully. So, you are part of the solution, and thank you for the support of your party, as I...
Jane Hutt: Diolch, Llywydd. I'd like to start by thanking Plaid Cymru for tabling this very important debate today, which, of course, is a motion we will support, as we do face a serious situation when charities like the Trussell Trust have warned that many low-income households will face very stark choices for themselves and their families this winter. And that's been very much reflected in this...
Jane Hutt: I have to say that, when the UK Government announced its plan to remove the £20 uplift for universal credit, it was the Trussell Trust that provided research, surveying people who would be affected by that proposed cut, which then went ahead. One in four people said they would very likely need to skip meals if the cut to universal credit went ahead, and that cut did go ahead, despite strong...
Jane Hutt: Diolch, Llywydd, and I'd like to thank Rhys for bringing this debate today on the well-being of future generations Act, and I very much welcome the continuation of the conversation we've been having in the Senedd about the Act at the start of this term. And I just wanted to recall, during the opening ceremony of the sixth Senedd, we had a reading of a specially commissioned poem, 'Ein Llais -...
Jane Hutt: Let's look at those key features of that Act: the establishment of an independent future generations commissioner for Wales, powerfully independent and such a strong voice, showing and demonstrating the leadership that that Act needed in our future generations commissioner to take us forward into the first years of the Act, specifically tasked with promoting the sustainable development...
