The statistics on FGM are complex, and there isn't one single point of data, which is something that we are looking for, and which I'll come onto later, but we do know that, from October 2016 to October 2017 in the Cardiff and Vale University Local Health Board, 203 women were living with FGM who had actually been to see health practitioners. Data from all seven health boards in Wales show that 123 victims needed medical care as a result of FGM, as well as 44 children who were vulnerable to being subjected to FGM, and it is estimated that 2,000 women are living with the effects of FGM in Wales. But, of course, we all know that this is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of numbers.

I'm sure everybody in this Chamber knows it is illegal, and it has been for 32 years. The law was strengthened in 2003 to prevent girls travelling abroad to undergo FGM. In October 2015, a mandatory reporting duty to report known FGM in under 18s was brought in. But we're still in a fight to end the practice of FGM. While more cases are being reported, there still has not been a successful conviction in more than 30 years.

But professionals working with victims of female genital mutilation say you can't change culture just with prosecutions. You need education; you need community champions. The wider population here who think it doesn't happen in their back yard must be made aware of FGM too. As well as teachers, doctors, police and social workers, we must educate teaching assistants, health visitors, school secretaries, doctors' receptionists and more. FGM must be talked about widely and in a matter-of-fact way, in the same way that we talk about the health dangers of smoking. It's not an issue that we should tiptoe around, and professionals who are working in this field wanted us to have this debate today, wanted us to be open and to talk about all these issues in an open, matter-of-fact way.

Of course, I know that the Welsh Government is committed to tackling FGM, and I welcome, of course, the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 in which female genital mutilation is included as a form of gender-based violence. At this point, I would like to pay a personal tribute to Carl Sargeant, who would, of course, have been answering this debate, for his total commitment and work to eradicate violence against women, and his initiation of this legislation. He saw female genital mutilation as part of the whole problem of violence against women. It is an absolute integral part, as it is a form of gender-based violence. In this Chamber, Carl said we should not shy away from tackling culturally sensitive issues, such as FGM, which are not acceptable in our society.

So, in this motion, we call on the Welsh Government to use every opportunity to raise awareness of this practice in schools and among staff and trainee teachers, and I welcome the fact that the Cabinet Secretary for Education wrote to all headteachers in July to seek their assistance in helping eradicate FGM. Teachers have a vital role to play in spotting potential cases where girls may be at risk of FGM, particularly when school holidays are approaching, as girls are often sent to be cut under the guise of visiting family members in countries where FGM is rife.

I know the new curriculum has not yet fully come in, but I would like to see that tackling FGM as part of the sex and relationship education curriculum is mandatory, not optional. So, I don't know whether it would be possible, in the ministerial response, for the Cabinet Secretary to outline whether pupils will be taught about female genital mutilation as part of the health and well-being area of the new curriculum being devolved in Wales, because I think it is absolutely essential that learning about FGM is part of a whole, that it is integrated into the whole of health and well-being.

I would also like to ask if the Cabinet Secretary could tell us when is the healthy relationships expert panel's report due to be made public, and can she clarify when detailed planning of the topics included in this part of the curriculum will be carried out. And, in terms of new teacher training programmes, could it be clarified whether female genital mutilation will be specifically taught as a topic?

The work of educating people in communities in which FGM is practised is key, and I'd like to pay tribute to the work of BAWSO, which supports black and ethnic minority women affected by FGM. I believe members of BAWSO have come here today. I have been involved with BAWSO since it was set up in 1995 and they do a huge amount of work offering support to women who have undergone FGM and raising awareness of it. And it is absolutely vital that the work is done in communities to support people and to try to offer education and understanding within the communities where this may be practiced.

BAWSO have helped set up the Wales FGM forum, and have raised awareness in more than 20 diverse communities here in Wales, and more than 2,200 professionals have been trained. In the last seven years, they've engaged with 4,350 people and they've offered one-to-one support and community engagement. BAWSO also runs a very important 24-hour FGM helpline. I think we shouldn't shy away from tackling this issue with communities. I think Carl said, when he spoke here in the Chamber, about you have to face up to these culturally sensitive issues, because you can do it and you can do it in a way that condemns the practice but doesn't condemn the communities, that makes an effort to understand why people think that this is the right thing to do and to try to change this practice.

So, I feel that it is very important that we've having this debate today, because we are actually trying to open up this subject to debate it in public here in the National Assembly for Wales and to show that we recognise that it is our duty as a National Assembly and as a Government here in Wales to recognise the harm that this practice does and to do everything we can in as sensitive a way as possible to see that it ends. So, I look forward to hearing the other speakers about this issue.