Diolch. The Equality Act 2010 legally protects people from discrimination in the workplace and wider society on the grounds, as we’ve heard, of age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion and belief, sex and sexual orientation. This annual equality report states that the Welsh Government’s evaluation of the strategic equality plan and equality objectives 2012-16

‘focuses on the extent to which there has been measurable progress on the Objectives’.

However, the evaluation itself reports large gaps in evidence and states that a priority for the Welsh Government will be working with other public sector organisations, and with the third sector to prioritise filling these gaps.

Well, it’s a decade since I and others on the then Equality of Opportunity Committee first called on the Welsh Government to implement effective action plans to progress equality in Wales, with measurable objectives and outcomes created for all future reports. In a 2009 debate on equalities here, I moved an amendment, again calling on the Welsh Government to deliver this. Hence our amendment 2 today, where the report and evaluation being debated today confirm that the Welsh Government has still not done this.

As the report records:

‘public sector bodies must “involve people who it considers representative of one or more of the protected groups and who have an interest in how an authority carries out its functions”.’

It is a principle of the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 that a local authority should respond in a person-centred, co-productive way to each individual’s particular circumstances. That’s taken form the Act. As the Minister for Social Services and Public Health has confirmed to me, the Act places a specific duty on local authorities to promote the involvement of people in the design and delivery of care and support services.

However, there are worrying reports of local authorities failing to understand this. The local deaf community in Conwy told me that there was no consultation, advance notice, information or transition planning when Conwy removed the vital third sector-commissioned sign language services on which they relied. The council said they had adequate provision to deliver these services in-house, that they were acting in accordance with the social services and well-being Act, but instead of intervention and prevention services delivering independence and reducing pressure on statutory services, the deaf community told me that the council showed no deaf awareness and that their independence had been taken away from them.

To the detriment of affected constituents, Wrexham was unaware that the Act applied to the tender process for residential care and Flintshire that it applied to employment or to access the public pathways in accordance with the Welsh Government’s framework for action on independent living. Hence our amendment 1, calling

‘on the Welsh Government to clarify the progress made in relation to the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014, Part 2 Code of Practice, which requires local authorities to work in partnership with people to co-produce the solutions to meet their personal well-being outcomes.’

I hosted December’s Sanctuary in the Senedd event with the Welsh Refugee Coalition. We need a measurable action plan for Wales to become a nation of sanctuary, as we do to address the increasing problem of older people being targeted by criminals due to their supposed vulnerabilities.

Calling for action to close the attainment gap, the Equality and Human Rights Commission Wales report quotes strikingly low GCSE attainment amongst Gypsy and Traveller children, looked-after children, children with special educational needs and children eligible for free school meals. Yet, Flintshire has been allowed to close a school that engaged with these very groups and improved their educational outcomes.

The commission reports only 42 per cent of disabled people in employment, including just 1 in 10 people with autism, compared to 71 per cent of non-disabled people. With 42 being the average age of retirement for someone living with multiple sclerosis, what steps can the Welsh Government take to enable them to remain in work for as long as possible?