Thank you, Llywydd. I welcome the opportunity to talk about the work we and our partners are doing to tackle hate crime and intolerance across Wales. I’m sure that, as in previous years, this debate will demonstrate the fundamental unity of purpose in this Assembly in confronting these evils.

This is, of course, National Hate Crime Awareness Week, which is a key time for our third sector partners and the four police forces in Wales. I have, again, made funding available to the police and crime commissioners to support activities during this week. This year, I have allowed greater flexibility so that the funding also supports some action that lasts longer than the hate crime week itself, and we need to sustain our focus on these issues all year round.

All hate crimes are abhorrent. We have seen a number of awful incidents across the UK this year, and I would like again to extend my sympathies to the victims, their families, and everyone affected. We know that the impact of such atrocities reaches far beyond those who are directly involved, with lifelong effects. Llywydd, the same is true of many other hate crimes. Even though they may be on a smaller scale and often go unnoticed by the wider world, hate crime has devastating and long-lasting effects on people and communities. In 2014, we launched ‘Tackling Hate Crimes and Incidents: A Framework for Action’, which sets out our commitment to challenge hostility and prejudice across all protected characteristics. The framework includes objectives such as prevention, support and improving the multi-agency response.

One of the short-term goals of the framework was to increase the number of victims coming forward to report. We’ve had a lot of success in this area, and victims must have the confidence to report what has happened to them, and know how to do so. They need to be able to secure justice, and they also need to access support and advocacy in the aftermath of sometimes devastating crimes. This morning, the Home Office released its 2016-17 hate crime figures. They show that 2,941 hate crimes were reported in Wales during 2016-17, which is a 22.3 per cent increase on 2015-16. Much of the increase is likely to be due to an increase in the rate of reporting, and this is welcome. Information from the Crime Survey of England and Wales shows that, between 2012 and 2015, only 48 per cent of hate crime victims were reporting them to the police or to a third-party reporting centre. Since then, a lot of work has been done through the hate crime framework to increase the awareness and confidence of victims in coming forward.

The number of hate crimes reported in Wales has increased year on year, demonstrating the value of the work the Welsh Government, the police, the third sector and other partners have put in. We have seen similar increases in the number of cases being dealt with by our national hate crime report and support centre. Last year, 2,655 cases were handled by the centre—a 21 per cent increase, compared to the previous year. In 2017-18, 1,238 victims have already received advice, advocacy and support from the centre.

The centre plays a vital role in supporting all victims of hate crime in Wales, and I’ve confirmed funding for the centre until 2020 to ensure the services can continue.

Our partners on the hate crime criminal justice board Cymru also play a vital role. They include the four police forces, police and crime commissioners and the Crown Prosecution Service. They examine processes and make sure that the reporting system is working from the point of the first reporting to the stage where the case is taken to court. Earlier, I said that a part of the increase in hate crime announced by the Home Office was probably due to an increase in reporting by victims. Nevertheless, Llywydd, we must always recognise that it is, in part, likely due to a real spike in hate crimes in 2016 and 2017 also.

We’ve heard from police forces, the national hate crime report and support centre, third sector agencies and local support groups of the real concern at the rising number of hate crimes committed last year, and we must not ignore this evidence from experienced, professional and dedicated people who are dealing with this on a daily basis. They tell us, for example, of people recently enduring racial abuse from neighbours that they’ve lived alongside for many years who have never expressed such views before, of people being shouted at simply for speaking a language other than English—in some cases where the language being used was Welsh—and even of disabled people suffering abuse on buses and trains. So, we must continue to work with our partners to counter hate and build cohesion in Wales, and we’ve been working closely with them to maximise the impact of our work and build communities where hate crime is not tolerated, and victims are supported to the utmost.

For example, we’ve strong links with our faith communities across Wales. The First Minister and I meet with the faith communities forum twice a year—indeed, yesterday we met—to discuss matters affecting the economic, social and cultural life here in Wales. This reflects the Welsh Government’s commitment to working with faith groups at all levels to promote understanding and foster community cohesion. It is important we’re able to express our views, to listen with respect to others and to improve working together, helping to keep Wales a tolerant society. We’re working closely with the police in collaboration on monitoring and responding to community tensions, and we need to have an effective short-term response to emergencies and long-term work to build resilience and community cohesion.

Community tensions raise levels of fear and anxiety, threaten the peace and stability of communities and can also lead to crime, Llywydd. Some tensions manifest themselves in disorder, damage or physical violence. Other effects are less visible, making people feel vulnerable, excluded and fearful when they go about their daily lives. With effective monitoring of tensions, we can intervene to prevent hate crime and distress. It is about being early and upstream of this. We need a step change in understanding, respect and acceptance. We need more and more people to celebrate diversity rather than fearing, recognising that Wales has always been enriched by people of many backgrounds, cultures and of faith.

So, we will continue to work closely with a large number of partners to strengthen our shared message. Llywydd, together we will put forward consistent, positive messages in communities throughout Wales to challenge prejudice, discrimination and counter hate. We have a number of initiatives to prevent young people from being drawn into far-right activity. No society is immune from the threat of extremism or terrorism, but we are working to ensure Wales remains a safe place to live and work. There are well-established structures across Wales to tackle all forms of extremism. These structures come together under CONTEST and the extremism board Wales. Our approach to countering extreme terrorism includes, for example, a challenging extremism module as part of the global citizenship challenge in the Welsh baccalaureate, and education plays a vital role in addressing hate. Schools need to be clear about their arrangements to challenge unacceptable words and behaviours, including racism, and support child victims. We are updating our anti-bullying guidance, ‘Respecting others’, which was published in 2011, and we’ve already engaged with stakeholders and will be working with children and young people this autumn.

Social media plays a big part and role in the lives of most of us, and this is especially true of young people. The availability of and use of social media brings new problems with cyber bullying and cyber hate, and we continue to work with police services across Wales and the hate crime report and support centre to raise awareness of the need to report cyber bullying and abuse and to monitor this.

Llywydd, I’m grateful for the opportunity to take part in this debate, and look forward to the contributions of many Members during this afternoon’s debate.