Diolch, Llywydd. In this National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2017, let us acknowledge that hate crime is defined as an offence perceived to be motivated by hostility or prejudice towards someone based on a personal characteristic. This Welsh Government debate calls on us to note the progress made in relation to the Welsh Government’s 2014 tackling hate crime framework. The all-Wales hate crime research project, on which this is based, said that more needs to be done to increase the confidence of victims and witnesses to report hate incidents and to promote the view that reporting hate is the right thing to do.

It recommended that the Welsh Government should take the lead on ensuring accessible third-party reporting mechanisms being in place for victims who don’t want to report directly to the police. Police recorded 2,528 hate crimes in 2014-15, up 18 per cent annually, with more than 80 per cent racially motivated, although the annual crime survey for England and Wales suggested hate crime had fallen 28 per cent over the previous seven years. Overall, police-recorded hate crimes in England and Wales in 2015-16 increased a further 19 per cent, with 79 per cent being race hate crimes. In July to September 2016, police-recorded hate crime increased 52 per cent in Dyfed Powys to 35 incidents, 22 per cent in north Wales to 56 incidents, 22 per cent in Gwent to 77 incidents and 10 per cent in south Wales to 276 incidents. Police-recorded hate crime figures in England and Wales published today show a further 29 per cent rise in 2016-17, with Home Office statisticians saying that this is thought to reflect both a genuine rise in hate crime and ongoing improvements in crime recording by the police. Last month, new research showed that the number of lesbian, gay and bi people in Wales experiencing hate crime had jumped from 11 per cent in 2013 to 20 per cent this year.

Any incident or crime perceived by the victim or any other person to be motivated because of a person’s impairment or perceived impairment should be recorded as disability hate crime. Reported disability hate crimes across the UK are up 101 per cent to 3,079 over two years, with reported crimes against disabled children up 150 per cent to 450. The Home Office has expressed concern that disability hate crime is still significantly underreported by victims, although there’s been a steady increase in the overall recording of hate crime, with more victims having the confidence to come forward and the police improving the way they identify and record hate crimes.

I therefore move amendment 1, noting that the charity Victim Support has said that more needs to be done to encourage victims to come forward.

I move amendment 2, welcoming the UK Government’s consultation on the new social media code of practice provided for by the UK Digital Economy Act 2017, which will ensure a joined-up approach to remove or address bullying, intimidating or humiliating online content, including trolling and abuse that is often disproportionately targeted at women.

Although the Older People’s Commissioner for Wales has warned that there is an increasing problem of older people being specifically targeted by criminals because of their age, there remains a gap in law that does not recognise this as hate crime. Action on Elder Abuse highlights research showing that over 99 per cent of abusers who target older people are going unpunished, and their February 2017 poll shows that nearly 95 per cent agree that the abuse of older people should be an aggravated offence like hate crimes on race, religion or disability. I therefore move amendment 3, supporting calls for crimes committed against older people because of their age to be recognised as hate crimes.

The Welsh Government’s 2016-17 progress report refers to the autistic spectrum disorder strategic action plan, but it doesn’t address hate crime against autistic adults, and the Learning with Autism programme for primary schools is not necessarily about tackling hate crime. Yes, it’s rightly about raising awareness, but hate crime is not within it. I therefore move amendment 4, calling on the Welsh Government to add hate crime to the refreshed autism strategy. We’ll be supporting Plaid Cymru’s amendments, although it is essential that provision of more victim support officers must be delivered in partnership with Victim Support and local third sector services.

Overall, and in conclusion, as the National Police Chiefs’ Council lead for hate crime states:

‘We know that terrorist attacks and other national and global events have the potential to trigger short-term spikes in hate crime’, but

‘As terrorists seek to divide us’, he said,

‘it is more important than ever that we continue to stand united in the face of hostility and hatred.’

Thank you.