2. Will the First Minister outline the Welsh Government's response to the current refugee crisis? OAQ(5)0146(FM)

We continue to provide leadership and promote collaboration between stakeholders in Wales. We have established a taskforce and an operations board to drive delivery and to overcome any barriers. We’ve also established a children’s sub-group to work proactively to consider support required for emerging schemes.

Well, thank you for that, First Minister. On Saturday, I joined a number of colleagues from here, actually, at Swansea’s Stand as One rally. Although Swansea, along with Port Talbot, have managed to resettle a very modest number of refugees, most local authorities in Wales haven’t. Now, Welsh Government and Assembly Members have been clear that we want to welcome refugees here. You announced your Syrian vulnerable person resettlement programme two and a half years ago, yet, last month, we’d only welcomed 112 refugees to Wales. Now, the UK Government says it’s secured the 20,000 places it’s committed to, so what proactive steps have you taken to get more refugees here, more quickly, and why have 13 councils taken no refugees at all?

Well, you’ll have to ask the UK Government that; it’s their responsibility when it comes to the resettlement of refugees. We’ve made our position very, very clear in terms of what we will do to help them. It’s right to say that the UK Government has recently announced three children’s resettlement schemes. I want Wales to play its part to resettle vulnerable children and refugees in the UK. I will be speaking to the Welsh Local Government Association chair on how we can continue to work with the Home Office and local government once further information around the scheme evolves.

First Minister, one of the issues to address to allow refugees in Wales to contribute fully to life here is to properly and adequately recognise the skills and qualifications that they possess. Will you take steps to ensure that that is the case for all refugees here in Wales?

Well, absolutely. We need to make sure that those people who have skills that are needed by our economy and by our health service, that those skills are utilised. And, certainly, one of the issues that we will want to explore with the WLGA—and the Home Office, actually—is how we can identify those people in terms of the skills that they possess.

First Minister, you’ve already mentioned the children, but there are, in fact, 200 children in the Calais area who are currently not being taken in by any Government, and also in Lebanon and Syria as well, extra to the 200. We’ve seen the horrific pictures on our screens over the summer, and, quite frankly, the fact that we’re not doing enough for those children is embarrassing, and they should not be in such a position of trauma or be left on their own to fend for their lives. I don’t buy into this fear-mongering that they choose to go to Calais, and that more will follow because of us trying to help those unaccompanied children.

Today, the world leaders are gathered in New York to discuss the refugee crisis. So, will you join with me in asking the UK Government to bring these 200 children to safety immediately? And I would ask also that you commit Wales to helping in this unprecedented crisis by taking our fair share of unaccompanied children from the camps in the region, as well as in Calais? And I’d appreciate you not telling us that it’s the UK Government’s responsibility; what are you going to do, First Minister?

Well, in November 2015, we did establish the Syrian refugee taskforce. We were well ahead of the game in terms of other Governments. We were absolutely clear that Wales would take a fair share of refugees. The same is true of children, of course. The fact that the UK Government now has three children’s resettlement schemes is a welcome step in the right direction, and we want to make sure that Wales plays its full part in welcoming children, who have quite often lost their parents, children who have seen wars, children who have seen things in front of them that we would not want anybody—children or adults—to see, and we stand ready to help those children.

While I understand the wish of Members here to facilitate the arrival of more refugees, we must also acknowledge that there is widespread concern in the UK at the number of economic migrants who are attempting to arrive in the UK under the guise of being refugees. [Interruption.] This will be about refugees. What I would like to ask the First Minister is what measures the Welsh Government can pursue to ensure that those who do arrive in Wales are genuine refugees.

Well, first of all, if he thinks that the people leaving Syria are economic migrants, when they have seen people butchered in front of them, when they have seen people murdered, where they have seen people bombed, where they have seen children killed, and if he really thinks, in good conscience—well he can look down—if he thinks, in good conscience, that these people are in some way economic migrants, he needs to take a good, long, hard look at himself.