Jane Hutt: Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'm pleased to open this debate on the twentieth anniversary of this Assembly to tackle racism, to root out racist ideology and review our commitment to the UN International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. I thank Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Conservatives for making this a joint motion to unite us today in the commitments...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. I would like to thank Bethan Sayed for bringing forward this short debate today. Being sworn in as an Assembly Member is one of the most important moments in our political careers. We can remember the times. I think there are nine of us who've actually been through this; three—four, five—in the Chamber today. Four of us who've been in...
Jane Hutt: I thank Dawn Bowden not only for her question, but also for that excellent example, and would also like to celebrate that local success. Wales is a warm and welcoming country, and that’s exemplified by the Heddlu Bach initiative in Fochriw and the involvement of those schools. It’s a Mini Police scheme, and it’s something that we need to share across Wales, but it’s the young people...
Jane Hutt: We work closely with chief constables in Wales and our police and crime commissioners on making communities safer. In particular, we're working alongside partner organisations to take forward the commitments of the working together for safer communities review.
Jane Hutt: Not surprisingly, this question came up directly to me last Thursday at the Gofod3 event. We know what impact the whole commissioning regime has had in terms of sometimes smaller organisations—local organisations cannot compete within that environment. We know also that there are funding streams that actually respond to regional as well as local funding arrangements. But it’s very clear...
Jane Hutt: Clearly, the funding that we provide to Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations is key to providing that infrastructure support for organisations like A Voice for You, in terms of citizens' advocacy. And, we also need to look at the ways in which we support organisations, for example, through the community facilities programme. Capital grants can be extremely helpful, and I'm sure you...
Jane Hutt: In 2018-19, Powys Association of Voluntary Organisations received £315,957 in core funding to help local community and voluntary sector organisations with fundraising, good governance and volunteering.
Jane Hutt: Helen Mary Jones also raises a very important question, which we discussed with the chief constables and police and crime commissioners at the policing board, which was chaired by the First Minister last month. In fact, Dafydd Llywelyn, the Dyfed-Powys police and crime commissioner, was very clear about the challenges in his area. I think it's a valuable opportunity for us again to see how we...
Jane Hutt: In February, I chaired the safer communities programme board. The board oversees the implementation of the Wales-wide working together for safer communities review. We have adopted a regional approach in order to best address the specific needs of each of our regions to promote community cohesion.
Jane Hutt: It's very helpful, again, to have that evidence that has come to your committee, but I'm sure also in your constituency capacity as well. Welsh Government and the third sector recognise the challenges that public services face, and that has had an impact in terms of the third sector expectations, increasing public funding under continuing pressure. In fact, the First Minister and I attended...
Jane Hutt: I thank Lynne Neagle for that question. Financial sustainability remains a key issue in the current financial climate. This remains one of the four pillars of our infrastructure support for the third sector via Third Sector Support Wales.
Jane Hutt: Thank you again, Leanne Wood, not only for the account of your experience, as I'm sure we can across this Chamber, in terms of online abuse of women, we cannot afford to let the bullies win, as you say, and thank you as well for the further evidence you have given. That will be very important in terms of the statement that I wish to make and the representations that I am making to the UK...
Jane Hutt: Again, I thank Joyce Watson for this very important question. It's critical that we hold social media platforms to account, and the Welsh Government is fully supportive of introducing those clear and consistent standards that we need across social media platforms to improve user safety. The Welsh Government is officially represented on the UK Council for Internet Safety, allowing us to...
Jane Hutt: I thank Joyce Watson for that question. The online abuse of women in public life is wholly unacceptable and detrimental to our diversity and democracy programme. The UK Government must hold service providers to account for unacceptable abuse in public life.
Jane Hutt: Absolutely, and I can assure you and assure this Chamber that if litigation is commenced, the Counsel General and Welsh Ministers will consider what options are available to us in this Welsh Government to respond. So, I conclude with a very powerful statement made by Philip Alston from the UN, a special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. He said last year that women born in the...
Jane Hutt: I welcome the opportunity today to bring some consensus about the representations that we can make on behalf of the women in Wales who are so adversely affected by these changes. Many women in this age group will have worked part-time, often in more than one part-time job, in low-paid roles, taking time off work to care for children or elderly relatives. Many have experienced inequality, as...
Jane Hutt: I welcome the opportunity to speak on behalf of the Welsh Labour Government. I thank the movers of this motion for putting forward this debate today. It highlights the issues faced by thousands of women in Wales who were born in the 1950s who've had their state pension age raised without effective or sufficient notification, as we've heard about this afternoon. We believe that, in fact, Helen...
Jane Hutt: I think there's very little I need to say in response to Jack Sargeant's very powerful statement. As Jack Sargeant has said, this is everyone's business, and I have to pay tribute to Jack, and how proud your dad would be of you here, and how you have stood up for women, equalities and social justice, but particularly for a kinder politics. That is what we seek to achieve, and I know the...
Jane Hutt: I will respond to some of the positive points that you've made about the importance of International Women's Day. I think it is important that you raise issues about gender stereotypes. In 2018, Welsh Government launched the This is Me campaign, which challenges gender stereotypes in a positive way and encourages conversations about gender and gender inequality, particularly recognising that...
Jane Hutt: Thank you very much, Helen Mary Jones, and can I say that I think you are one of the key champions who were, at that time, probably working with Val Feld in the Equal Opportunities Commission? I also want to mention the fact that we wouldn't have that due regard to equality of opportunity if it wasn't for Julie Morgan, who was an MP at the time in Westminster, getting it through the...
