Part of 2. 2. Questions to the Cabinet Secretary for Communities and Children – in the Senedd at 2:51 pm on 1 February 2017.
Some 10 years ago, my wife was a community midwife, and when I used to hear some of the stories that the community teams would have to pick up on the domestic violence front—from people they would have seen at the end of the week to what they were picking up at the beginning of the week, and the intervening thing that had happened was a major sporting event—it was truly horrific, to say the least. Hearing the opening remarks from the principal questioner here about the increase in percentages that have been identified with the six nations, but, indeed, many sporting events, the one underlying factor here is alcohol predominantly, and drugs, being an issue in driving people down this road of domestic violence. How confident are you, Minister—and I commend you for the work you’ve done on this particular aspect—how confident are you that community support teams, whether they be in health or social services, or in the charitable sector, are resilient enough to actually be able to be there to support people who do find themselves in this horrific predicament of domestic violence, and be able to offer a way out of what seems to be a downward spiral that ultimately can lead to catastrophic events within those families and, ultimately, suicide?