Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I welcome the report following the post-legislative inquiry into the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. I’d like to thank John Griffiths and the committee, and the wide range of stakeholders and survivors who gave evidence and played a critical role in forming the report. I’d also place on record a thank you to this Assembly, because they’ve been very supportive of the introduction of this Act and, indeed, there are many Members in this Assembly who have played a pivotal role in its development.

Llywydd, I accept or partially accept all 16 recommendations. The report recognises the challenges faced in implementing this new legislation, but also the progress that has been made to date. And I listened carefully to the contribution of many Members who are right to raise the issues of the pace of introduction. I also am frustrated with that process too, but I can give you my assurance that I have made some significant changes to my team and I’ve looked at the implementation and how we seek to deliver on these strategies and the guidance, and I will update the Chamber as soon as I’ve got some more detail that I can share with you.

The report reflects a point in time, 18 months on from the Act coming into force, and it will help inform further implementation and the delivery of the delivery framework. Since the Act was passed, we’ve appointed the first national adviser, published the national training framework and piloted ‘ask and act’. I’ve listened to the observations made by Members with regard to the advice from the national adviser in terms of her workload, and I have introduced a secondee into the department to help with the national adviser and also to restructure the department.

We’ve published guidance for schools and colleges, consulted with survivors, published the report ‘Are you listening and am I being heard?’, and also published a national strategy under the Act to refresh the ministerial advisory group. I intend the ministerial advisory group to be a very supportive element of the information I require. Experts are one thing, and they’re great and we need experts, but I also need experience: people who have experienced the system that they are going through. Survivors of domestic violence are critical in making sure that I make the right decisions and we are able to implement the Act. I’ve told my team I expect that to be reflected in the advisory panel.

In terms of some of the questions that Members raised with me today: on the local strategies, guidance will be issued to local authorities and local health boards to assist with their local strategies in July of this year. With regard to commissioning guidance, the commissioning guidance we plan to publish under the Act will seek to ensure that no matter where a victim lives there are strong and specialist services ready to help, and we intend to consult on statutory commissioning guidance by July of 2017 also. I hope that is helpful to the Chair in his winding up.

There were many observations with regard to specific issues. I think Gareth alluded to the delivery and the information that was received at committee about sometimes no staff in place, no funding nor any methods to do that. I will not accept that process. We have to make sure this happens and I will be very robust with organisations that tell you that that is the case but don’t tell me. I will make sure my adviser follows that work up.

The work with police and crime commissioners and the UK Government is something that we are working very closely on. Joyce Watson, again, a champion of this cause—. I’m pleased that the PCCs and chief constables across the whole of Wales have made tackling this issue one of their key priorities in their work plan. That’s something I’m grateful for. We often have political spats between different parties and different Governments.

Can I say that I fully support Liz Truss in conducting an emergency review of the way perpetrators of domestic abuse directly cross-examine their victims in family courts. I’ve written to Liz Truss to tell her that and I hope and wish her well in that process, too.

I said earlier on, the advisory group will be giving me advice on commissioning guidance and sustainable funding. These are critical parts of the process. For far too many years, not just in domestic violence services, but third sector organisations also have often been concerned about the way funding is given on an annual basis. We have to come to terms with what services are required, who delivers them well and how are we going to fund them? The two elements of the task group, I’ve asked for further advice on—. When I’ve got to a conclusion on that I will again write to the committee informing them of that.

One of the strong messages that has come through from this committee report and, indeed, from the debate today is around education and the issue of early intervention and prevention. Our whole ethos around ACEs and tackling the issue around intervention is something that this Government is absolutely keen on. I’ve had many discussions with the education Secretary and other colleagues in the Cabinet and we are looking very closely at what the education needs are. I have always said I think it’s right that we should have curriculum-based activity around healthy relationships. I’m trying to ensure that my colleagues are able to do that but I would urge caution if we expect the education system to deliver everything. Actually, there is a responsibility on all of us in our family home life, in parenting and in schools—each and every one of us can play a part, but only a part. I hope that our conversations with the Cabinet Secretary for Education continue to be fruitful.

Can I pick up on Dawn Bowden’s point? She was very right to bring to the forefront how people are affected by domestic violence or the whole point of this. There are two elements to this: dealing with the victim of domestic violence, whether that be directly or indirectly, whether it’s a family member or otherwise—. But we should also not forget the issue of the perpetrator, and that’s a very important part of this. Finding funding to balance the issue between victim relationships and focusing on perpetrators, where often a perpetrator will move from victim to victim to victim, and we know that—. We have to make sure we break that cycle, and that’s why we have to think about what the needs of the victim are, but also what the needs of the perpetrator are, because we’ve got to break that cycle. Some perpetrators we know have been victims of domestic abuse or family dysfunction in their early years as well, and that’s why the focus is on the ACEs—domestic violence is one of those ACEs—we have to get underneath that, making sure that we can break the cycle in the longer term. The resilience of individuals is different; everybody is different. Some people could cope with that, but some others can’t, and we have to make sure we get into the space and support them in that quest.

I must say that some of the most dangerous perpetrators I believe are narcissistic sociopaths, and I think the danger is that we probably all know them. It is incumbent on us all that we are able to identify them, and where we identify them, we should do something about that. The particular characteristics of these people are something that may surprise some people and may not surprise others: a driven quest for power—a narcissistic sociopath does not care about anything other than himself; it’s a destructive power control over people; behaviours that seek love and admiration; to be sure, this isn’t needy love—it’s not even about emotional love—it’s about power, the tools to manipulate and dominate. And I’m sure many of you will be able to recognise that in people. There are no apologies, no guilt and no remorse under circumstances. They believe that they are a gift to the world who make it richer and more colourful, therefore they’re more calculating. Even cruel actions are justified.

Well, if you’re married to a financial or professional successful narcissist, it doesn’t always mean that they’ll engage in physical abuse, but it does happen sometimes. What it does mean it might ruin their reputation and destroy what they’ve accomplished. Again, it probably doesn’t need to either. They manage to accomplish what they want quite successfully through words and deeds. So, because they know who you are and the person you’re striving to become and how to push your buttons—in other words, they know what you value, what you like about yourself, so they devastate you. Those are the very things they pounce on. Colleagues, it’s incumbent that we recognise this wherever we are, and we make sure this doesn’t happen in our community.

Finally, the point of the report is to focus people’s minds—it certainly focused Government’s minds. I welcome the report, even where there are critical elements to it. But I do think that what we need to do is refocus our collective responsibility on making sure that we can deliver on this groundbreaking piece of legislation. Diolch yn fawr i chi.