Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:01 pm on 7 February 2017.
Well, I think we’d all want to—in this Chamber—thank Jenny Rathbone for organising this very important event yesterday—a well-supported event in the Senedd, which many Assembly Members who were able to supported or came and showed their support. Just to briefly report progress and Welsh Government action, we’ve supported the development of health provision and co-ordinated training, which is critical, and this is where we can learn from our colleagues outside of Wales, but BAWSO is taking the lead in the training on female genital mutilation within all our health boards across the whole of Wales. It was initiated with the identification of FGM leads within each health board. We’ve got an all-Wales FGM health group that’s been established by Public Health Wales. It’s got a work plan and—in answer to your important question—it has commenced data collection on women and children affected by FGM across health boards, and it’s also devised and is implementing an all-Wales clinical identification and referral pathway, as well as the training.
We’ve also got, of course, the Healthy Child Wales programme. That’s got a universal health programme for all families with children up to the age of seven, and that also is identifying information contacts that can be made at health board level. As part of this programme, information will be recorded on children who may be affected by FGM. Welsh health boards began to implement this pathway from last October—on 1 October 2016—and have two years to fully implement the programme.