10. 7. Statement: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 6:08 pm on 22 November 2016.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Carl Sargeant Carl Sargeant Labour 6:08, 22 November 2016

I thank Jayne for her contribution. I know Rachel Williams very well and, indeed, she is an inspiration. Despite what Rachel has been through, she still makes me laugh and still laughs with us, and I think it’s an incredible skill she has, and a mark of respect to Rachel and many other victors, as they like to be called—survivors of domestic violence incidents. A very severe process she went through.

It’s an important part of the process for me that we listen to real people, real experiences, and Rachel and other people like Rachel have to feed into the system. And Rachel is, in fact, on my advisory group; I’ve introduced her to that, and she’s already started to give us an insight about services and service provision, which I’m very grateful for. But we can build beyond that, because experts are welcome in the field of this and other aspects of development of policy, but we must also use experts alongside experiences, and that’s why people like Rachel and others will be part of the way I develop policy and this Government develops policy in the future.