Jane Hutt: Thank you very much for the question. Well, this item was on the agenda today for the local government partnership council, chaired by my colleague Rebecca Evans. It relates to the anti-racist Wales action plan goal of local government being an exemplar employer, with anti-racist employment and human resources policies, with improvement funding used to drive such best practice, contributing...
Jane Hutt: The Deputy Minister for Social Services leads on our rights-based strategy for an ageing society. Building on our co-produced guidance 'Making rights work for older people', Age Cymru is delivering a campaign through multiple channels, including a toolkit for advocates and older people that supports the protection of their rights.
Jane Hutt: The Welsh Government is committed to working with the police and other partner organisations to help ensure our communities are safe, not only in Rhondda but across Wales. We continue, for example, to provide significant funding for police community support officers in all of our Welsh police forces.
Jane Hutt: The Welsh Government continues to commit significant investment to a range of policies and programmes to promote prosperity and prevent and mitigate poverty. Thanks to the £150 cost-of-living payment, to date £6,693,000 has already reached the pockets of the eligible households in the Caerphilly area alone.
Jane Hutt: The Welsh Government is committed to advancing equality and protecting the rights of everyone in Wales, including deaf people. Work is being undertaken through the disability rights taskforce to ensure that the rights of the deaf community and other disabled people are protected.
Jane Hutt: Well, thank you very much to Buffy Williams, and it would be great if every Senedd Member made the same sort of request to me, because I think we do need that county-by-county, community-by-community round-table to address these issues. And thank you also for drawing attention to Drive, which has been effective—really effective. Also, we haven't discussed key parts that we have already...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Jenny Rathbone. I think this partly moves on, in addition to what I've already said, to our campaigns and communications. So, this is about how we challenge societal attitudes to prevent violence against women, men and children happening in the first place. So, it's the Live Fear Free campaign—that's continuing to raise awareness of stalking, harassment, abuse and...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Joyce Watson. Can I say how pleased I was to be able to speak at the launch of 'A Duty to Support' on Monday? I gave my commitment that I would be taking back the recommendations—I think that the First Minister did as well—to reflect on them. What's interesting, of course, is that your report actually drew attention to the evidence that this is not just a Welsh...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Sioned Williams. I think I've expressed all your values, principles and objectives in my statement, and why this statement is a much tougher and stronger recognition about the toxic masculinity and misogyny that underpins the patriarchal abuse of power. For many years, and I was part of it decades ago, we set up a Women's Aid refuge to respond to that, and we have wonderful...
Jane Hutt: I think the issues around the survivor voice are very important and key to my response already. Voices of survivors must be at the centre of everything we do, so we're actually developing a survivor voice scrutiny and involvement panel, and that has to be a diverse group of survivors, covering the whole spectrum of VAWDASV. That will also be chaired by the national adviser, and it's also...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Mark Isherwood. I welcome the commitment and the engagement of Welsh Women’s Aid. You referred to their response when I published the strategy in May. They, of course, have been part of the consultation. They have helped to co-produce the strategy and, indeed, they serve on the new national partnership board. The new national partnership is a new way of taking this...
Jane Hutt: Diolch, Llywydd. I am grateful to have the opportunity to make this statement to mark the launch of our national VAWDASV strategy and to seek the support of the Senedd, because making Wales the safest place in Europe to be a woman or girl is everybody’s business. On the twenty-fourth of last month I published the strategy, having consulted widely on a draft and engaged extensively on its...
Jane Hutt: Well, we've identified and we've agreed in our budget the £20 million. It is actually—. I wanted to say that one of the points that I haven't been able to highlight is that this is one of the most generous payments in the whole of the world that we're making. We're making it, actually, partly because, when we heard that the UK Government was going to tax it, we knew that we had to make it...
Jane Hutt: Diolch. That's a very important question, and I can say 'yes'; I can say 'yes' to all the points. Also, there will be the opportunity to look at whether they want their rent paid direct, as well as looking at their needs in terms of supported housing opportunities, both current and in the future.
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Ken Skates. The service will provide direct advice to young people—that £2 million package that I've already responded to questions about, the package of support, financial advice and guidance, alongside the young people's advisers as well, which are perhaps wider aspects of advice and guidance needed, but particularly one to one. But also, it's independent, and I think...
Jane Hutt: Well, thank you very much, Peter Fox. I hope that this basic income pilot will prove you wrong. Our local authorities are all behind this. I've met with the social workers, our young people's advisers, as Julie Morgan has, and the First Minister and myself last week. They see this as an opportunity to actually deliver on their responsibilities as corporate parents to young people leaving...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Jane Dodds. Well, I can't say anything more in response to Jane except to thank her for her support and also just to, again, look at the importance of the global evidence about basic income pilots. And I hope that the Conservatives will at least recognise that this is an opportunity for our care leavers, to give them hope, to open doors, to open opportunities for them.
Jane Hutt: Well, can I just thank Jack Sargeant, and particularly thank him for his chairing of the Petitions Committee and the recommendations that came from that committee? We've accepted them all in full or in part, and I think particularly those recommendations—. Guaranteed unconditional pay to the individual—unconditional—but also that care leavers should include care leavers from as diverse...
Jane Hutt: Diolch yn fawr, Luke Fletcher, and thank you very much for welcoming the basic income pilot for care leavers in Wales. I'm very glad you drew attention to the fact that the UK Government Department for Work and Pensions has declined—I would say, 'refused', but they declined to engage with us. They have declined to disregard this income payment that we're making. They declined to actually...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Joel James. I was grateful we had some positive comments at the start of your questions today. I think you recognised that this pilot could offer great opportunities for our care leavers, and this is a basic income pilot. I just want to start by answering your questions about why we're focusing this pilot on care leavers. We're, as a Welsh Government, committed to...
