Jane Hutt: Well, again, I thank Leanne Wood for bringing this to our attention in this Chamber today. Clearly, we have responsibilities in terms of safeguarding our children from child sexual abuse and exploitation, and, indeed, we are developing and consulting on the statutory guidance. But it is also a responsibility of the justice system, and I will also make sure that this case is raised at the...
Jane Hutt: And I thank David Melding for raising this question today. You will be aware of my written statement on 25 November, where the report did show that—. The Wales Audit Office published its report and it did show that the Act is improving services across Wales, but clearly there is more to do. I think it's important that the WAO report says that the Act is helping to drive the transformation...
Jane Hutt: The Wales Audit Office report and the 2019 White Ribbon campaign have highlighted the need to implement the Violence Against Women Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 rigorously across the public sector in Wales, in partnership with specialist services.
Jane Hutt: I thank Leanne Wood very much for that question, and can I also join her and extend our deepest sympathies to the families of Saskia Jones and Jack Merritt? You're absolutely right, and I'm sure that it's shared across this Chamber. It is about the fact that we feel, as you say so powerfully, for the family and close friends. And also, they were killed on Friday in the attack in the...
Jane Hutt: Welsh Government has received no intelligence to suggest a direct threat to Welsh citizens, but the UK threat level remains substantial. We're continuing to work closely with the police, UK Government departments and other services that are responding to the tragic events of last Friday.
Jane Hutt: Dirprwy Lywydd, I'm pleased to respond on behalf of the Welsh Government. Can I say at the outset that the amendment tabled by the Welsh Conservatives is one that we support, given that it concurs with our view that this is principally a matter for the Assembly Commission and Standards of Conduct Committee to take forward at this stage, and I do thank Andrew R.T. Davies for his constructive...
Jane Hutt: Well, I also thank Joyce Watson for that question and for, obviously, the leadership she's taken. I agree that Cardiff University has produced a very valuable piece of work, particularly looking at our young people. I think on Monday night, many people in the Chamber today heard of those moving experiences of survivors—a young woman, a survivor, who talked about how she couldn't have come...
Jane Hutt: I do welcome that question, Helen Mary Jones, and I know that the Minister for Education is also joining me today in accepting that. There are a number of approaches that we're already taking, for example, I'm sure you'll be aware of the Spectrum project that we're funding, going into schools to teach about healthy relationships. We actually do have a 'This is not OK' communications campaign...
Jane Hutt: Thank you, again, Jack Sargeant. I was very pleased to be beside you on the vigil. What was good about the vigil was that it was a cross-party vigil and we had speakers from across the Chamber, but it wouldn't have happened without Joyce Watson, who has supported and initiated that vigil every day, and, indeed, earlier in the day, we were in the cathedral, which also Joyce initiated, 16 years...
Jane Hutt: I thank Jack Sergeant for that question. We provide a range of support to young people who experience violence in their relationships, either directly through counselling services, or indirectly via awareness-raising training for professionals who work with young people, to ensure that they respond appropriately to any identified support needs of the young people they come into contact with.
Jane Hutt: Well, I thank Mike Hedges for bringing this question and standing up and speaking as an ambassador, and also, obviously, reflecting on Jack Sargeant's impact and influence on this. We, of course, will be very shortly working towards the day where we acknowledge White Ribbon Day, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. That's on 25 November, and I also look forward...
Jane Hutt: The Welsh Government was, and remains the only Government in the UK to have been White Ribbon accredited. We're renewing our accreditation and I encourage all men, all male staff members and Assembly Members to consider becoming White Ribbon ambassadors and women to become champions.
Jane Hutt: Well, I appreciate Helen Mary Jones has got a view, as others have, on this issue. I am very content with the advice that we have been given, not just in terms of the Equality Act and how it's been delivered by the Equality and Human Rights Commission, but also by organisations like the Women's Equality Network, who represent women's organisations across Wales, and also by Stonewall...
Jane Hutt: Well, I thank Mark Isherwood for that question, because it is for the Equality and Human Rights Commission to regulate the public sector equality duty, and work was commissioned last year, in 2018, to monitor that compliance. The findings of the exercise, as I said, were published earlier on this year, and, actually, we note in the main finding that none of the public bodies in Wales fully...
Jane Hutt: We work closely with the Equality and Human Rights Commission Wales, who are the regulator of the Equality Act 2010. The commission published sectoral briefings of their latest monitoring exercise earlier in the summer.
Jane Hutt: Through the European transition fund, we are providing an additional £360,000 over the next two years to the national hate crime report and support centre, run by Victim Support Cymru. That is important, as Joyce Watson said, it is also about how we're addressing this, raising awareness and supporting victims. The funding is going to be used to train volunteers and raise awareness of how to...
Jane Hutt: Yes. Well, I'm grateful to Helen Mary Jones for raising that point. Of course, there is an interaction, and I think the fact that hate crime—. This has been brought up today. Intersectionality has been particularly problematic as well. For example, there could be a disabled person who has also experienced hate crime and violence as well, and all of the protected characteristics need to be...
Jane Hutt: Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I want to start by thanking Members for bringing forward this debate today, which the Welsh Government welcomes. It does contribute to our drive to secure greater equality and inclusion for all people in Wales. Intolerance, hate speech and instances of hate crime have no place in our society. We're determined to root them out, and the debate today has shown the...
Jane Hutt: Thank you for those questions. And, of course, they're relevant to the whole of Wales. Carmarthenshire, of course, is benefiting, I was going to say, from grant schemes for volunteering, and Wales grants schemes are actually exclusively supporting young people. I'm sure you've met many of them in your constituency, because volunteering, as I said, is an important expression of citizenship,...
Jane Hutt: Good afternoon, Angela Burns. Welsh Government values volunteering as an important expression of citizenship and as an essential component of democracy. And we are encouraging youth volunteering through our third sector support Wales grant, which provides both funding and local support.
