Thank you, Presiding Officer, for the opportunity to respond to this generally positive debate. I’d like to thank Assembly Members for participating in the debate today. I’d also like to thank the Equality and Human Rights Commission for its continued work to improve the lives of people here in Wales. I know they are in the Chamber today—upstairs in the gallery of the Chamber—listening.

Turning to the amendments, we will be supporting amendment 1. The Welsh Government strongly believes in promoting the rights of pregnant women and new mothers at work, and we are committed to working with the Equality and Human Rights Commission and others to ensure women do not face pregnancy or maternity discrimination in the workplace—a very valid point raised by the Member earlier. Last month, Welsh Government officials met with the EHRC to discuss the findings of the report on pregnancy and maternity discrimination and scope possibilities of action.

We support amendment 2. However, we should be clear that the Welsh Government has already been developing options this year to improve gender identity provisions here in Wales. Following a rise in the number of applications for assessments in recent years, we commissioned the Welsh Health Specialised Services Committee, which commissions gender identity services on behalf of health boards, to develop a gender identity care pathway for us here in Wales.

Llywydd, the committee has undertaken a public engagement event to hear the views of service users and health professionals and will provide options for service realignment to support the new gender pathway. The additional £0.5 million a year announced in the draft budget will assist the committee’s with this work.

We support amendment 3. The Welsh Government agrees that we all have a role to play in tackling inequality and recognising we must come together to address the seven key challenges contained in the ‘Is Wales Fairer?’ report. As I mentioned in my opening address, our new equality objectives have been developed with strong links to these challenges, and many of these have been raised with Members in the Chamber today.

We support amendment 4. The third sector does vitally important work with communities and with Welsh Government, which highly values the opportunity to support and engage the work of the third sector and the communities it supports. The work done by the third sector is vital, and to ensure this sector thrives, we must have a strong infrastructure to support that. For 2016-17 the Welsh Government allocated £6 million to support third sector infrastructure, which includes the core funding of the Wales Council for Voluntary Action.

I am very aware that the EHRC commission and commissioner have been listening to the contributions made by many Members. I will pick up on a few points that Members have raised this afternoon—all very valid, or most of them very valid, in terms of their comments. Mark Reckless—I believe the role of the Welsh commission and their commissioners is invaluable. It’s imperative that we maintain a Welsh voice, a Welsh perspective of inequality, and views on how we manage that. I pay tribute to the organisation that operates here. I also recognise the valuable experience of the union in terms of the effects of the knowledge base that is based in England, but also recognising that the work that is done here for Wales in a Welsh context is very valuable, and we should maintain that, whatever happens, as we move forward.

Joyce Watson and Julie Morgan raised issues around many, many issues, but one of the issues that came to my mind in particular, and I share the views of many—it is very difficult but we shouldn’t miss the opportunity to talk about these things, particularly around hate crime. We had a debate the other week about hate crime where there were many views expressed, some that I don’t agree with, but I accept that people have those views, and we should challenge them in the appropriate manner, and we did at that point. But hate crime particularly—I’m unconvinced why we shouldn’t have yet—. I believe we should include gender-based hate crime. Characteristics that I believe should be counted in the hate crime soundings because, and I quote, chair—it’s not a very good use of language, but I’m familiar with e-mail exchanges that Members have had. Why should it be appropriate to call a female a ‘whore’, but it’s still not acceptable or appropriate to call somebody a ‘homo’. Why aren’t they compared and seen to be the same, as a hate crime? I think we should do some more work on what that looks like, longer term.

I will respond to Councillor McEvoy’s point in terms of the issue around domestic violence. Can I say that this Chamber, this Government, takes very seriously—very seriously—the issues around domestic violence, whether that be male or female? The fact that two women die every week is a significant effect that we mustn’t ever forget. I do hope the Member, with his convictions, in terms of his personal convictions and his passion about tackling domestic violence—. I think there are many things that we also should discuss in terms of domestic violence services when it is wholly inappropriate to attack women. It’s wholly inappropriate to attack another person, and I just hope all Members reflect on that in the contributions they make in this Chamber when they move forward.

You may also be aware, Llywydd, that Kate Bennett, the national director for Wales at the EHRC is retiring from her role after more than 20 years—a fantastic achievement. And I would like to take this opportunity to thank Kate for her long service and commitment to advancing equality and human rights here in Wales. June Milligan was appointed EHRC commissioner for Wales this year, and I’d also like to welcome her to her new role, and I look forward to working with her in the future, and I pay tribute also to Ann Beynon, who did a fantastic job navigating to the point we are at today.

Lastly, the commission is hosting a reception in Tŷ Hywel immediately after Plenary, Llywydd. I’ll take the opportunity to remind Assembly Members to meet the EHRC Wales committee. I encourage all Assembly Members, particularly those who joined us in May of this year, to come along and learn about the fantastic work that the EHRC does in Wales, straight after Plenary, after this session today. And I thank Members for their contribution. I’m sure the commission will have listened carefully to the contributions and will act accordingly, in the appropriate professional manner as they do, and have done.