9. What assessment has the Cabinet Secretary made of local support services available to unaccompanied refugee children? (OAQ51046)

I thank the Member for his question. This year, I have provided £410,000 to help local authorities build capacity and expertise to support the arrival of unaccompanied asylum children in Wales.

I’m grateful for the Cabinet Secretary’s response. I have passed him the details of Adam Bakhtiari, who is 17 years old, originally from Iran, living in my constituency, and is facing a very difficult situation if he were to be forced to move back to Iran for reasons that we don’t have time to go into here. But, in his case, he wasn’t given the support that one might’ve expected that he would’ve received. He couldn’t speak English, for example, and he had been placed in a situation where he couldn’t communicate. So, would the Cabinet Secretary look again, to see whether the support that he has referred to is actually reaching the right places and the right children, such as Adam, who deserve all support?

I think the Member is right to raise that, and I will ask my team who deal with this particular part of the department to give me reassurances about the finances and how they are distributed and used, particularly regarding the young gentleman that you raise with me. If the Member wishes to write to me with more detail, I’ll give that some more measured thought around my response to that.

Cabinet Secretary, will you join me in congratulating faith communities across Wales on the work that they have done in helping to welcome asylum seekers, including refugees and unaccompanied refugee children, here into Wales, and supporting them in terms of integrating them into our society and lowering community tensions?

I think faith communities play an important role in terms of making sure that we continue to keep a welcome in Wales, and I’m certainly happy to endorse the Member’s comments and thank them personally for the work that they’re doing in our communities.