<p>Questions Without Notice from the Party Leaders</p>

Part of 2. 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 1:46 pm on 11 October 2016.

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Photo of Leanne Wood Leanne Wood Plaid Cymru 1:46, 11 October 2016

First Minister, you completely misunderstood what we were proposing ahead of that election. What you just said we should be doing is exactly what we were saying should be done, and what you were attacking us for in that election. I suggest you need to get better briefed next time.

I’d now like to turn to a serious issue that’s been raised with me by a Welsh volunteer in the Calais refugee camp. Only yesterday, the UK Government agreed to house the 378 children from the camp in Calais who’ve got connections here in the UK. The woman who has contacted me told me that she’s encountered an unaccompanied child in Calais who is being horrifically exploited by traffickers. She relayed a story to me of how this young boy of 12 has been given heroin by traffickers, promising him that it will help him get to the UK easier and it will make his journey easier. And on his addiction to heroin, he was passed by the traffickers to predatory men outside the camp, not other refuges, who paid those traffickers, with violence being the price of refusal along with the withdrawal of heroin, on which, of course, he is now completely dependent.

Now, I’m sure that you’ll agree with me, First Minister, that this is a completely abhorrent situation, and I’m sure that you will, like me, want to do what you can to help children in vulnerable situations like this. During the second world war, we did what we could, of course, to help the Kindertransport children. To help these children today, we need to ensure that our child protection systems are ready and prepared to accommodate what will be incredibly vulnerable children who may be sent to Wales. If we are to remove those children from a very vulnerable situation, we can’t risk putting them into another vulnerable situation. So, how can you ensure that local authority social services departments in Wales are ready to step up and help these children now?