The following amendments have been selected: amendment 1 in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth, and amendments 2, 3 and 4 in the name of Paul Davies.

We come now to the debate on the Equality and Human Rights Commission annual review 2016-2017. I call on the leader of the house to move the motion—Julie James. 

Motion NDM6608 Julie James

To propose the National Assembly of Wales:

Notes the Equality and Human Rights Commission Wales Committee Annual Review 2016-2017.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Llywydd. I very much welcome the opportunity today to debate the 'Equality and Human Rights Commission Wales Committee Annual Review 2016-2017'. I very much welcome the EHRC's annual review and reaffirm the Welsh Government's commitment to work with the commission to address the vital issues it highlights. We've already aligned the key objectives of our strategic equality plan for 2016-20 with the seven key equality and human rights challenges identifies in the commission's overarching report, 'Is Wales Fairer?' These seven key challenges highlight where improvements are needed in Wales. Aligning our plan and objectives with the commission's challenges ensures we are taking a targeted, joined-up approach to tackling inequality in Wales.

Our strategic equality plan provides a flexible basis for a wide range of work we're doing across many aspects of equality and human rights. This includes, for example, investing strongly in new and improved sites for Gypsies and Travellers, our new equality and inclusion funding programme, close partnership working to tackle all forms of hate crime and improved levels of reporting, increased support for refugees and asylum seekers with more funding to support unaccompanied asylum-seeking children. In all of this work and other examples I will mention shortly, we have taken careful note of the EHRC's advice and research. We will continue with this approach both by working with the commission and by listening and responding when they challenge us. 

It is fair to say that this year's annual review covers an unprecedented period for equality and human rights in the UK. the UK's impending exit from the European Union brings with it uncertainty about many things, including the future of important European funding streams. The decades of EU membership have produced a legacy of benefits covering many aspects of daily life in Wales, for example cherished employment rights. We aim to safeguard these benefits to daily life in Wales and we will vigorously oppose any attempt to cut corners and create worse conditions as we leave the EU.

The UK Government's plans to reform human rights are currently on hold until the UK's withdrawal from the EU is finalised. The UK Government has also said it intends to remain a signatory to the European convention on human rights for the duration of this current Parliament. We are very alert to the temporary nature of this statement.

The Welsh Government has said on numerous occasions that we are strongly against any regressive reform of the rights currently enjoyed by the people of Wales. This includes plans to repeal the Human Rights Act 1998. Despite the way it is sometimes caricatured, the Act is an inclusive piece of legislation that protects all our citizens and allows people to challenge inequality and injustice and to hold those in power accountable. This was recently illustrated during the second inquest into the Hillsborough disaster, where families of the victims were able to use the Human Rights Act to seek justice.

Last Sunday was Human Rights Day, which commemorates the day in 1948 when the UN General Assembly adopted the universal declaration of human rights. The declaration was drafted by representatives from all regions of the world and was the first internationally agreed definition of the rights of all people. It was written following the horrific violations of rights during the second world war, and it lay the ground work for the UN treaty system, which the Welsh Government actively participates in. Next year marks the seventieth anniversary of this milestone document, and it's a timely reminder of why we should value human rights and of the importance of promoting and safeguarding the rights of all people.

It continues to be a challenging time for human rights in the UK both at home and abroad. There are sections of the media and some politicians who are intent on fostering suspicion of human rights, even questioning the need for them. In these challenging times, the work of the Equality and Human Rights Commission is as important as it ever has been.

It's been another busy year for the commission. In April, Ruth Coombs was appointed the new head of the Equality and Human Rights Commission in Wales, and I know that Ruth is here. I'm looking forward to welcoming her to this role and very much looking forward to working with her in the future. I'd also like to take the opportunity to congratulate Kate Bennett, who led the EHRC's work in Wales for many years before her retirement at the end of 2016, on the award of her OBE in the Queen's birthday honours—very richly deserved.

This year, the commission was heavily involved in the UN examination of the UK on the implementation of the convention on the rights of disabled people. We welcome the UN committee's criticism of the UK Government's austerity measures. The chair of the committee went so far as to say that the UK Government policies have led to 'a human catastrophe' for disabled people living in the UK. This criticism comes less than a year since the UN held an inquiry into the UK Government's welfare reforms and cuts to public services. The inquiry concluded that there have been grave and systematic violations of the rights of disabled people in the UK. This is the harsh reality for some disabled people in the UK, and we will continue our efforts to mitigate the impact of austerity measures on some of the most disadvantaged people in Wales.

The UN convention reporting system provides an opportunity to highlight the work of the Welsh Government to promote human rights. We were pleased that the UN committee welcomed the introduction of our Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 in its concluding observations. We acknowledge that there is more to do in Wales to promote disabled people's rights, and we value the feedback from the committee on several areas where there is room for improvement.

We will now consider how to take forward the recommendations of the committee as they apply to Wales. We are also taking into account the EHRC's report 'Being disabled in Britain', which was published in April. Throughout this year, we have been working closely with disabled people across Wales to review our framework for action on independent living, which was published in 2013. I would very much like to take this opportunity to thank all those who've taken part in our engagement events, including the members of the steering group that has overseen the process.

We will shortly be setting out anew how our national strategy will support disabled people in Wales, taking account of the UN convention and the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 to provide the basis for a new stronger approach. We will continue to rely heavily on public engagement as we develop our policies, now in the context of 'Prosperity for All'. Our focus on equality across the whole of the Welsh Government and beyond helps to ensure that our national strategy really is inclusive of everyone.

In September, the Welsh Government signed up to the Working Forward pledge, the commission's nationwide campaign to make workplaces the best they can be for pregnant women and new mothers. The commission established the pledge following its research that shows that pregnancy and maternity discrimination and disadvantage at work affect around 390,000 pregnant women and new mothers across Britain each year. The pledge supports the Welsh Government's equality objective to become an exemplar in the equality, diversity and inclusion agenda by 2020.

For the commission itself, it was another year of well-attended events. These included its annual lecture with human rights barrister Adam Wagner and its annual conference, which attracted over 120 people to the Cardiff City stadium. Once again, the commission has released a number of informative and challenging publications over the past year, in addition to the report on disability I've mentioned already. There have been reports on faith-friendly workplaces, reducing pay gaps, and a report called 'Healing the divisions' on protecting equality and human rights after we leave the European Union. These and many others are all available online and I recommend them to all Members.

This year, the EHRC celebrates its 10-year anniversary. The commission held an event at the Senedd last month to mark this milestone and also to formally launch the annual review. I would therefore like to thank the commission not only for its work over the last year but also for a decade of dedication to improving the lives of people in the UK. The commission is an evaluator, an enforcer, an influencer and a catalyst for change. We remain grateful for its guidance and we value its strong and distinct presence here in Wales. Diolch.

I have selected the four amendments to the motion, and I call on Siân Gwenllian to move amendment 1, tabled in the name of Rhun ap Iorwerth—Siân Gwenllian.

Amendment 1. Rhun ap Iorwerth

Add as new point at end of motion:

Regrets that the Equality and Human Right’s Commission’s aim of eliminating violence in the community is hampered by the lack of progress in implementation of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act (Wales) 2015.

Amendment 1 moved.

Thank you, Llywydd. The Equality and Human Rights Commission continues to do important work in the challenging political climate facing us, and I too would like to thank them for their work. Sunday was Human Rights Day—equality, justice and freedom from violence are some of the major themes. The remit of the commission's work is broad, and therefore today I have decided to focus on one specific aspect of equality and human rights, namely freedom from violence, and, specifically, the freedom of women and girls to live without fearing violence and domestic abuse.

According to Byw Heb Ofn/Live Fear Free, which campaigns to put an end to violence against women, 7.7 per cent of women have reported that they have experienced some sort of domestic violence—around 1.2 million throughout England and Wales. That figure is likely to be much higher, bearing in mind the hidden nature of this kind of violence.

I'm not going to apologise for using this afternoon's debate to focus on this single aspect. Violence against women is on the increase and is a sign of a lack of equality that is systemic within society today. Our amendment regrets the lack of progress in implementing the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. The amendment is similar to a Conservative amendment; the difference is that that amendment notes that action needs to be taken, whilst our amendment regrets that that action hasn’t been sufficient to date. A matter of semantics, perhaps, but there is a significant difference.

Last week, in questioning the Minister for equality, I outlined a list of issues with the implementation of this important legislation, and I was pleased to hear the Minister for equality recognising and acknowledging these projects, and showing a desire to move forward in this area. This is what has emerged: there is still no action plan for implementing the violence against women strategy, over a year since its publication. The strategy itself was weak, and was published hastily in order to comply with the timetables listed in the legislation. It appears that guidance wasn’t published in relation to local strategies, and the expert group on education and healthy relationships hasn’t published its recommendations on the new curriculum. They were to be issued in the autumn. Last week, we heard that these will now be published in the new year. I won’t expand on this—there is more, and I did list them in full last week.

It is apparent, therefore, that there has been some dragging of feet in this area. Unfortunately, some within Government still believe that everything is fine and praised the legislation. Earlier today, we heard a statement from the Cabinet Secretary for Local Government and Public Services, who claimed, once again, that the Act broke new ground. It’s one thing to break new ground through legislation, it’s another thing to actually implement that legislation. It’s not enough just to drive legislation through this Chamber and to sit back expecting everything to fall into place. Indeed, once Royal Assent has been given, that is the time to actually take action in order to deliver the change that we want to see.

I won’t accept that this Act is innovative and groundbreaking until I see that the statistics on domestic abuse start to fall. I won’t accept that this Act is innovative until I start to see a change in behaviour from our institutions and within wider society. The freedom of women to live free of violence and to live without the fear of violence is a basic human right. I very much hope that we will see early action from the Government in order to progress this agenda, after the dragging of feet that we have seen. I will be scrutinising that very carefully, and I do very much hope that we will have a far more positive story to tell as we discuss the next Equality and Human Rights Commission annual review next year. I’m happy to work with the Minister for equality on this issue. Thank you.

I call on Mark Isherwood to move amendments 2, 3 and 4, tabled in the name of Paul Davies. Mark Isherwood.

Amendment 2. Paul Davies

Add as new point at end of motion:

Notes that the Equality and Human Rights Commission’s aim of eliminating violence in the community requires implementation of the wider Welsh Government pledges made during the passage of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act (Wales) 2015.

Amendment 3. Paul Davies

Add as new point at end of motion:

Notes with concern the increase in reported hate crime in Wales.

Amendment 4. Paul Davies

Add as new point at end of motion:

Notes that the Equality and Human Right’s Commission’s efforts to ensure that equality and human rights are embedded in work taken forward under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2017 will require 'real and meaningful dialogue between communities, individuals and their public services' as called for by the Future Generations Commissioner in her draft strategic plan.

Amendments 2, 3 and 4 moved.

Diolch, Llywydd. As this annual review begins, the Equality and Human Rights Commission is here to make Wales a fairer place, and as it states, one of its key challenges is to eliminate violence, abuse and harassment in the community.

Working alongside Plaid Cymru’s Jocelyn Davies and Liberal Democrat Peter Black, I was one of the three AMs in the last Assembly who took the Welsh Government to the line over passage of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Act (Wales) 2015. And Welsh Women's Aid are now concerned about the lack of health budget being invested in specialist violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence providers.

We will therefore be supporting amendment 1 and, in this context, I also move amendment 2, noting that the commission’s aim of eliminating violence in the community requires implementation of the wider Welsh Government pledges made during the passage of the Act.

I moved amendments then calling for national and local strategies to meet the gender-specific needs of women and men. The Stage 1 committee report recommended that Welsh Minister should ensure that services are tailored to the specific needs of men and women respectively. The Minister then opposed these amendments, stating that this will already be taken into consideration by authorities in the preparation and implementation of national and local strategies.

In emphasising that women and girls are disproportionately impacted by violence, the Domestic Abuse Safety Unit in Shotton also provides a gender-neutral service, because they say that domestic abuse and sexual violence affect both genders. When I visited them recently, they told me that their male refuge received five referrals for just two spaces on its first day, that it had been full ever since and that they are currently operating waiting lists. I understand it's the only male refuge in north Wales, currently funded by the council, supporting victims until next March, with funding for female victims supported only one year more. A written Welsh Government response to me last month stated that a 2015 survey showed 274 refuge spaces across Wales, of which four in Montgomery were provided for males.

I moved then amendments calling for the national strategy to include provision for at least one perpetrator programme. As Relate Cymru have told committee, 90 per cent of the partners they question some time after the end of their programme said

'that there has been a complete stop in violence and intimidation by their partner.'

The Minister responded that he did not consider my amendments appropriate, but had jointly funded research to help inform future responses to perpetrators. Well, as reiterated at the last meeting of the cross-party group on violence against women and children, Relate's programme Choose 2 Change is the only current Respect-accredited programme in Wales. Tomorrow, I'll be chairing a meeting of the cross-party group highlighting the Respect accreditation standard for work with perpetrators, its evidence-based focus on behaviour change and risk management, and its emphasis on the safety of survivors and children.

We fought resolutely for inclusion in the Act of healthy relationships education. As I said in the Stage 4 debate, the three opposition parties had worked together

'to secure concessions from the Minister', and he then said he would involve stakeholders from the violence against women sector in developing proposals for healthy relationships education within the curriculum. So, this Welsh Government must note the Minister’s pledge then to report back to the Assembly on both this and perpetrator programmes. 

I move amendment 3, noting the increase in reported hate crime in Wales, with the majority being racially motivated, but the biggest increase being in disability and transgender hate crimes, although this is in part due to better crime recording and more people coming forward.

Finally, I move amendment 4, which notes that the commission's

'efforts to ensure that equality and human rights are embedded in work taken forward under the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act'

2015—there's an error on the paper, it should say 2015—detailed in their annual review will require, quote, the

'real and meaningful dialogue between communities, individuals and their public services'

—end of quote—called for by the future generations commissioner in her draft strategic plan.

Equally, the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act places a specific duty on public authorities to promote the involvement of people in the design and delivery of care and support services. But tell that to the deaf community in Conwy denied their independence, to wheelchair users in Flintshire denied access to the coastal path, and to disabled learners in Wales denied access to apprenticeships, where 1.3 per cent of all apprenticeships were started by them, compared with 9 per cent in England. There's much left to do.

I am pleased to speak in this debate today as Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee. The commission, of course, is one of the committee's key stakeholders. We have enjoyed a very positive and constructive relationship with them, and, over the past year, they have directly informed a number of pieces of our work, including our report on refugees and asylum seekers in Wales. More recently, we were pleased to welcome the chief executive to Cardiff, earlier this term, to hear her perspective on human rights in Wales post Brexit.

I welcome the commission's 2016-17 annual review, published as the commission celebrates 10 years since its establishment. In that time, their work in Wales has had a significant impact, and I am confident that that will continue. I would, as well, Llywydd, like to pay tribute to the central role that Kate Bennett, the first Wales director, has played during those 10 years, and also welcome Ruth Coombs, Kate's successor. We've already had the pleasure working with Ruth since she was appointed to the role of director.

The annual review, then, for 2016-17, detailed some of the commission's most significant achievements, which I think it's fair to say have been realised in the challenging and, indeed, unsettled political climate. Before moving on to some of those achievements, I wanted to mention briefly some of the statistics that indicate the challenges that we face: 32 per cent of all children live in poverty in Wales—32 per cent of our children live in poverty; black workers with a degree earn 23.1 per cent less on average than white workers; and in 2014-15 only 1.3 per cent of all apprenticeships in Wales were started by disabled learners. So, there is significant progress to be made—further progress to be made. And, of course, Brexit is a crucial framework in terms of how we move forward on these issues and all issues facing us at the moment.

On a UK level, the commission's report, 'Healing the divisions', was a positive response to some of the key equalities and human rights issues that have emerged following the 2016 referendum, and that report helped inform our work on human rights. We support the commission's call that the UK's current level of equalities and human rights protections should be retained, and that, going forward, the UK should continue to be a global leader on equalities and human rights.

As a committee, one of our key strands of work over the course of this Assembly is poverty in Wales. We are looking at this across a range of inquiries that are exploring different aspects. The most recent research published by the commission last month stated that the overall impact of changes to tax and welfare policy has been regressive in terms of equality. Ethnic minority households; households with one or more disabled members; lone parents; women; and older people have faced the most significant decreases in household income as a result of these policies. We also know from the UK poverty 2017 report of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation that Wales has consistently had the highest levels of poverty of the four UK nations. During the 2016-17 review period, the commission produced their report 'Is Wales Fairer?', which identified the seven key equality and human rights challenges facing the Welsh Government. All of these link with the work that the committee, my committee, is taking forward in terms of poverty. There are particular challenges around the need to encourage fair recruitment, development and rewards in employment; improving living conditions in cohesive communities, and eliminating violence, abuse and harassment in the community; and the committee will be pursuing further work in terms of our post-legislative scrutiny of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015.

Llywydd, there is much then that's very important and significant in terms of the work of the commission and the work that my committee is taking forward, and we very much value our relationship with them. Included in their future work, relevant to our work, is their recent announcement of an inquiry into the Grenfell Tower tragedy. I do believe it is significant that they will ensure that there is no overlooking of the human rights and equality dimension of the fire and the surrounding circumstances, and hopefully that will help prevent future tragedies happening. So, I very much look forward to continuing the committee's relationship with the commission, Llywydd, over the coming year on these matters of shared interest.

Thanks to the Wales Committee of the Equality and Human Rights Commission for their annual review. I think it would be fair to say that many of us in UKIP don't quite share the same enthusiasm for so-called human rights as people in other parties.

Beautifully put.

That's true.

Yes. We are specifically concerned that the increasing focus on the rights of minorities will ultimately impact negatively on the rights of the majority population. Now, we have to make a distinction here between—[Interruption.] No, I'm not taking any interventions—

Will you take an intervention?

I have no time.

You've got plenty of time. 

Thank you for the offer, Joyce, but there is no time. 

Now, we have to make a distinction here between the very genuine and meaningful rights that we enjoy here in the United Kingdom that have evolved over 1,000 years and more, and the very narrowly focused minority rights stuff that we get told, today, signifies human rights.

We have a functioning democracy here in the UK. We have basic freedoms, and these things have existed in effect for a long time—regardless of whether or not they are specifically written down. Obviously, we don't have a written constitution, but we have a bill of rights, among other things. You can trace these rights back to the Magna Carta in 1215, but they go back even before that to Alfred the Great, who was, to some extent, the English lawgiver. These rights are nothing to do with the European Court of Justice or the European Court of Human Rights, or with any other international organisation. They are rights that evolved here in the United Kingdom, and we won't lose these rights with Brexit. They also don't have anything to do with Amnesty International or Liberty or any other group that is fixated on minority rights.

What we have to understand, in terms of minority rights, is that minorities are members of society. Therefore they—

And therefore they have rights.

Yes, well done, Simon. Therefore, they should enjoy some rights. But we can't go on as a society endlessly acceding to the demands of minorities. At some point, we have to recognise that granting more rights to a particular minority group will negatively impact on the rights of the majority of people in our society as a whole.

We have a perfect example of this with the recent controversies over transgender rights. A Conservative Government at Westminster is proposing some fairly wide-ranging increases to the rights of transgender people. This could mean that anyone who wishes to identify as being of a gender different to their physical gender may be able to do so, simply by defining themselves as such. So, we could have men entering women's public toilets because these men claim to define themselves as women. We could have male criminals demanding to be sent to women's prisons because they define themselves as women. We could end up with the Girl Guide movement having to accept men who define themselves as women as guide leaders, because if the Girl Guide movement refuses to do this, they may end up facing prosecution because they have somehow breached somebody's so-called human rights. We are going to have a lot of fun with this over the next few years if we continue to proceed as a society with this kind of minority-obsessed nonsense.

What we need to do is have a grown-up conversation about the issue of minority rights and accept that there have to be limits to them. There is only so much deviation from the norm that any society can take before that society completely implodes. And if we carry on down this road of appeasing the nuttiest elements of the transgender movement, then what we will face as a society, within a very short space of time, is total implosion.

Now, having made this general observation, that is not to say that there is no good work taking place in the field of human rights in Wales. There is some good work going on. But some of the concern that this report expresses is certainly, in my view, misplaced. For instance, there is the issue of prisoners getting the vote. To quote the report,

'Prisoners in Wales, as in the rest of Britain, remain subject to a blanket ban on voting in elections, which the European Court of Human Rights has found to be in violation of their convention rights.'

End of quote. My response to that would be that prisoners are in prison because they have committed offences—that is, apart from the relatively small number who have been wrongfully convicted. They have therefore acted against the interests of society as a whole. In doing so, they have forfeited some fairly major rights, such as the right to their own liberty. Therefore, they are locked up. The right to liberty is a greater right than the right to vote. Therefore, if they forfeit the right to their own liberty, what lunatic dreamed up the notion that they should have the right to vote?

We are about to leave the European Union precisely because of nonsense like this. This proposal to give prisoners the vote has no popular consent. If this is what the European Court of Human Rights comes up with, then the sooner we leave it and all the other related institutions, then the better. Thank you.

Thank you very much. I'm very pleased to speak in this debate, and I'd like to start by paying tribute to the Equality and Human Rights Commission, and thank them for the very important work that they do in Wales, highlighting issues that affect so many different groups in society. I'd also to thank Kate Bennett, my constituent for many years, for all the work that she's done there, and I look forward to working with Ruth Coombs. 

I think it's particularly interesting in their report how they point out that they are going to work strategically with the future generations commissioner, work with the children's commissioner, and also the work with the prison service I think is very important. I also think it's very important about the human rights that they will be working to protect when we leave the European Union. I'm also very pleased that they highlight the inequalities and promote the rights of Gypsies and Travellers, which I strongly welcome as the Chair of the cross-party group on Gypsies and Travellers. And I notice that they do mention in the report about how the mental health of Gypsies and Travellers is worse than the rest of the population, which I think is a very important point, because the other important point to note is that most Gypsies and Travellers actually live in houses, and the effect of living in houses for people whose lifestyles is not geared towards that way of life does have a big toll on their mental health. So, I'm very pleased that those points are highlighted in their report. 

I looked at the Plaid amendment and listened to Siân Gwenllian's speech, and I took the opportunity to discuss with people active in the field of domestic abuse to see what impetus the Act is actually having at the moment. And, obviously, everyone welcomes the principles of the Act and the statement of intent, but they do agree that the implementation is absolutely the key issue. So, looking at my own local authority, Cardiff, I had a discussion with Cardiff Women's Aid to see how they felt that the violence against women Act was actually affecting the work that they were actually doing, and they really feel that Cardiff council has actually done a really good job of adopting the principles of the Bill into their commissioning strategy, very much supported by third sector agencies, and they've actually taken a very welcome holistic report. So, I did find that in my own authority it was very positive towards the way that the Act was being implemented. But, of course, that is just one local authority, so we really do need to keep up the scrutiny of the implementation of the Act, and to keep this very firmly on the political agenda, because it does depend so much on how individual authorities are operating. But, as I say, that was good feedback. 

I also discussed it with the Black Association of Women Step Out, and Bawso felt that there has been some initial churn, but that now they really feel that things are coming together and they're getting to grips with the issues. And I just wanted to briefly mention an example of very good practice of the Identification of Referral to Improve Safety project being delivered by Cardiff Women's Aid, Atal y Fro in the Vale, and Bawso, and it's funded up until March next year by the police and crime commissioners. This scheme targets GPs, because that's where 80 per cent of the women who have been abused say they feel comfortable going to talk about abuse, and it's the one place they can go without their partner being suspicious or trying to stop them. And GPs are offered training sessions to help them identify victims of domestic abuse, and there's a clear referral pathway. And this has resulted in a huge increase in the number of women the GPs in the pilot scheme have referred for help—it's gone up from four or five a year to 202 this last year. This scheme is a forerunner of the 'ask and act' training, which is due to be implemented as part of the Act. So, I wanted to highlight that good practice that is actually going on. 

There are two points I wanted to raise with the Minister. I know that there's been a delay in the appointment of the national adviser. I wonder if she had any information about when that might happen, and, of course, the UK is appointing a UK commissioner, and I wondered if she'd given any thought about how the national adviser here in Wales would relate to the UK commissioner, who would presumably be working on non-devolved issues, but it seems to me that's quite an important area. 

And then the final point is a point that was raised by Siân Gwenllian about the expert group on sex and healthy relationships, which I know I've asked about lots of times. I wondered if she had any information about when that was likely to report, and, obviously, the key issue that has already been raised is about how will any recommendations from that group be implemented.

I welcome this annual review, which identifies seven key equality and human rights challenges. I want to address in my brief contribution today one of those challenges: the elimination of violence, abuse and harassment in the community, and I particularly want to address the issue of Islamophobia, and antisemitism in the same way.

There were 500 more hate crimes in Wales this year compared to last year. That is a staggering figure, and we must stop it. This represents a rise of more than 22 per cent in Wales, and the majority of them were racially motivated—more than 2,000 incidents across Wales, mainly in the South Wales Police area. Offences tend to increase following terrorist attacks such as the ones at Westminster bridge and the Parsons Green tube bombing. In such circumstances, it is natural for people to look to the politicians and ask what we are doing to tackle hate crimes in Wales.

We sometimes overlook what our Muslim communities are doing to reassure people and encourage greater cohesion between the communities. Following the Parsons Green tube attacks a number of arrests were made across the country, including in Cardiff and Newport. A member of Al Noor mosque in Newport moved to reassure people that they had nothing to worry about, that a strong and diverse local community spirit would be continued. The mosque's general secretary, Mr Abdul Rahman Mujahid, issued a powerful statement totally condemning the bombing, and he went on to say, in his words:

'These people do not represent our views, all of us are British and Britain is our home where we have chosen to live and bring up our families, we support and enhance diversity.'

He keeps on saying:

'All communities live together happily in Newport and we respect each other’s belief and faith. Nowhere in Muslim religion...is it stated to hurt innocent people.'

That is not in Islam, and we don't agree with it.

Presiding Officer, I fully endorse these sentiments. This is an example of positive action being taken by a community to allay the negative impression being conveyed. Only last week, the Muslim Council of Wales organised a wonderful event in City Hall, Cardiff. Some of my colleagues were there. Jane Hutt was given a great service to the community award there. The fact is there were Jews, Muslims, Christians and every other ethnic minority hierarchy—the Archbishop of Wales, the chief Muslim Imam from Europe was there, and other dignitaries were there. As a matter of fact, we should celebrate our festivities together, and we must from the top down go towards the schools and the children must understand and enjoy our festivities, like Christmas coming—so, Muslims, Jews, Christians and everybody must enjoy it. Similarly, our Eids and our—.

So, what I saw last week is one example. Saleem Kidwai and the Muslim Council of Wales are doing a wonderful job. My point there is: why can't we have some sort of linkage, as Julie just mentioned? A commissioner, or some link or threads towards one focus point where all the communities can not only understand each other, but educate and celebrate each other's festivities. That is the point I want to make, Presiding Officer. I fully endorse these sentiments, and this is an example that has already been mentioned by Newport Imams. I call on Muslim communities all over Wales to reach out and engage with other faiths and other communities to promote greater cohesion. And not only Muslims—all other communities, I mean. In this way, Presiding Officer, we can tackle the surge of hate crime in Wales forever, and for our next generation.

I'm very pleased to speak in support of the Equality and Human Rights Commission , with special reference to the chapter on improving Welsh workplaces. The Equality and Human Rights Commission's stated aim is to improve workplaces by working with employers and by encouraging effective equality and human rights workplace practices. I welcome the working forward coalition that the EHRC has set up, with a commitment made by over 20 organisations in Wales, including the Welsh Government, to attract, develop and retain women at work, and this will help address the inequalities women are still facing, with the gender pay gap in Britain standing at 18.1 per cent. Further statistics they give in their review: 86 per cent of Welsh employers saying that they're firm supporters of female staff during and after pregnancy, but 71 per cent of mothers still saying that they have a negative or possibly discriminatory experience at work.

These statistics show how much further we need to go and I was reminded of this at the twenty-fifth anniversary of Chwarae Teg, which I attended last week, when the chief executive, Cerys Furlong, looked back to the start of Chwarae Teg when I was appointed as the first director, following a major survey of the role of women in the Welsh workforce. At that time, one in five women were not in work; by 2010, it was one in 10. But Cerys told us that women still carry out, on average, 60 per cent more unpaid work than men, at 26 hours per week compared with 16 hours. She reminded us that Chwarae Teg has been working over the last 25 years with women, businesses, schools and policy makers to ensure that women in Wales can enter the workplace, develop their skills and build rewarding careers.

Can I draw attention to the Chwarae Teg Agile Nation 2 programme set up to help improve the position of women in the workforce? The European Social Fund and Welsh Government funded programme was developed as a direct response to a body of evidence, showing a clear need for positive measures to be taken to support the progression of women in Wales. For example, national figures show that 7 per cent of employed women in Wales are in management, compared with 11 per cent of men. And women are underrepresented in key STEM industries—science, technology, engineering and maths. Agile Nation 2 will support 2,207 women and 500 businesses during its planned life cycle.

At this point, I want to pay tribute to Val Feld, former Assembly Member for Swansea East, who was the leading force behind the setting up of Chwarae Teg when she was director of the Equal Opportunities Commission in Wales. I know that this Assembly will be pleased to hear that we've progressed with the plan to install a purple plaque at this Senedd in the new year, when we can give due time and attention to her considerable legacy before her life was cut short after a brave fight against cancer. In memory of Val and in support of Chwarae Teg, ambitious about their goal to make Wales the global lead in gender equality, can I welcome Chwarae Teg's new fair play employer benchmark, launched last week? I know Val would be so pleased to hear of this and of their ambition.

The fair play employer benchmark will help employers see where they are ranked in terms of gender equality and equip them with an action plan to take them forward in terms of gender pay reporting. This fair play initiative will be available to public, private and third sector employers to help them receive recognition as a fair play employer. Can I just ask the Cabinet Secretary if Welsh Government can engage with this inspiring new initiative? I think this must be embedded in the economic action plan, on which, of course, there was a statement made by Ken Skates this afternoon. We must show our determination to drive change for gender equality in Wales to take us forward and I do thank the Equality and Human Rights Commission for their informative annual review.

Some really good words across the Chamber. I did smile at the UKIP Member's reference to 'so-called human rights'. Well, human rights are human rights. And I disagree with the phrase 'minority rights'; I would, preferably, say 'rights for all'. Everybody needs to be respected and everybody should have a right, because, when everybody is respected, that brings harmony to our society.

The legislation that is the subject of the amendments is the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015. Well, a very obvious question from me is: what about men? What about boys? And what about a bit of equality? The legislation says that violence against women and girls means gender-based violence, domestic abuse and sexual violence where the victim is female. Well, one in three victims are male, they're men, and 10 per cent—only 10 per cent—of men will report domestic abuse.

I deal with a lot of casework with lots of fathers coming into the surgery who are victims of domestic abuse, and it's very difficult in south Wales to get men recognised as such, and it's taken my intervention in a number of cases to get those people classified as victims. There's nowhere in this city, or region in fact, to send those people for non-judgemental support—nowhere. Men are assessed because they're classified as perpetrators because we are male, and no other reason. The commission has issued a legal opinion stating that this is discrimination, and I would ask the Government if they're going to move on that.

The Cabinet Secretary said two weeks ago that two women per week are victims of murder through domestic violence. In fact, the figure of two a week includes men, and the breakdown is 29 males and 79 females for 2015-16. You also said that we need to get our priorities right. Now, are those 29 people not a priority? Of course, it's a UK figure. Are men and boys not a priority? They should be, so I would ask you if you want to include them in your list of priorities, as you've said.

I'm here elected to represent everybody. It doesn't matter what your gender is, whether you're male, female or no gender or transgender. I'm here to represent you, and we all are, and we should all speak out against discrimination. Domestic violence affects everyone, can affect everyone—all classes, all occupations, and it's something that needs to be recognised. 

I do want to touch on what Mohammad Asghar said about Islamophobia—some great words there. And I think it was John Griffiths who mentioned black people, people of colour. I would ask all Assembly Members to walk around this Assembly and see whether you can find many persons of colour who don't work in security or don't wok in cleansing. There are not many people at all. That's something this Assembly needs to address, and I hope the Government will come forward with proposals to do that. If you look at the walk-to-work area around this Assembly—Butetown, Riverside, Grangetown—it's the most diverse area in Wales, and you will not see that reflected in the people employed here behind the scenes in this Assembly, unless you're talking about cleansing and security. So, I think that's something that really needs to be worked on and there's an effort to be made.

I just go back to my original point, really, because it really is high time—high time—that it is recognised that men can be victims of domestic violence as well. Some of us know that all too well. Diolch yn fawr.

Last week, I attended the Women's Equality Network Wales's AGM. You might expect, and it was the case, that many of these issues were on their agenda. In discussing equality and human rights, inevitably you end up talking about Brexit. So, I am really encouraged that the Equality and Human Rights Commission is providing advice to the Welsh Government advisory group on Brexit and also, we've heard, to Members through their committees. Brexit is fundamental to the conversation because, when we leave the EU, we will leave the charter of fundamental rights. That means rights not covered by the UK Human Rights Act 1998, like various workers' rights, and rules around discrimination could be scrapped, and we want and need to understand that.

The UK Government has, of course, promised to protect them under the great repeal Bill. Sounds great, but I'm a sceptic that a Conservative Party that opposed many of those rights and freedoms in the first place will defend them to the hilt once the ink is dry on the divorce papers. And even—

Will the Member give way?

In a minute.

And, even where rights are protected, I worry there will be moves to downgrade rights in Britain post Brexit. For example, EU law says that compensation for victims of sex discrimination mustn't be capped, but Conservative MPs have openly said that they want to limit those payments, and that has already happened with unfair dismissal, which is not protected by EU law. 

Thank you. Does she recall that the Labour Government, under Tony Blair, also opposed the charter, and only accepted it finally on the basis that it wouldn't be legally binding and would have all the legal potency of The Beano, according to the then Minister for Europe?

My answer to you is this: I will protect and always have protected human rights. That's my answer to you. I'm not here to discuss Tony Blair. I'm here to discuss what I believe to be fundamental principles in life, and one of those is human rights.

So, we've seen a steep rise in the cost of bringing forward dismissal cases. In fact, if you haven't got £1,500 in your back pocket, you're going to have a huge problem taking forward a case of unfair dismissal. And it was the Conservative Government that ensured that that's what you're going to need. So, I think that Wales has to be alert to rights deflation throughout and after Brexit, and the EHRC's oversight will be hugely important in that. We cannot afford to fall behind Europe, and there are warning signs. Because at the same time that the UK has been entangled in Brexit talks—and it has been a big tangle—the European Commission has been discussing with trade unions and employer organisations a new package of rights to improve work-life balance that include carers' leave, flexible working and stronger protection from dismissal for new mothers. The reality is that, outside the EU, we will have to fight harder for new rights and harder to defend the existing ones. But we should be ambitious. We can be pacemakers. We mustn't get lapped, whatever else happens in other parts of the UK.

Julie—no, I think it might have been Jane—already talked about the fact that female staff during and after pregnancy do suffer disproportionately. There is evidence that nearly one in five male human resource decision makers say that they are reluctant to hire young women who might have children, despite it being illegal to consider that factor when recruiting. There was a YouGov poll of 800 HR decision makers, and they found that one in 10 female HR staff were also hesitant to hire women in their 20s and their 30s. A quarter of decision makers said that they work for companies that considered whether a woman was pregnant or had young children when making a decision about promotion, and Carole Easton, chief executive of Young Women's Trust, representing women aged between 16 and 30 on low or no pay, and which commissioned the survey, said that it is shocking, and indeed it is absolutely shocking.

I want to finish by saying that I absolutely completely disassociate myself from any of the comments made by UKIP here today. I will not stay quiet, because staying quiet is what allowed injustice and abuse of human rights in the very first place.

I call on the leader of the house to reply to the debate—Julie James.

Diolch, Llywydd. I'd like to thank Assembly Members for participating today. One Member in particular has, perhaps inadvertently, strongly demonstrated why it is important that the Equality and Human Rights Commission continues to have a strong and distinct presence in Wales to combat the sort of prejudice and discrimination that, unfortunately, we've heard in the Chamber. I must say I have to reference my friend Lily, who lost her fight for life last year, and her defiant championing of transgender rights. I wish that she had been here to hear the vile accusations made by Gareth Bennett, and I recommend to him her blog, in which she outlines why transgender people are people like everybody else and deserve the same human rights as everybody else. I commend Joyce's disassociation; I'd like to associate myself with that.

Turning to the amendments, we will be opposing amendment 1. We do continue to make progress in implementing measures to prevent violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. We have a number of things that are already happening. Julie Morgan highlighted one of them and, in response to her question about the national adviser, I do hope to be making an announcement very shortly about the national adviser, who will, of course then be working very closely with the UK, as we take this agenda forward. For example, I know that Kirsty Williams will shortly be making a statement about establishing her expert group to advise her on current and future sex and relationship education in Wales, and we look forward to hearing from her on that.

However, we do recognise that there are still areas to progress and we will build on the foundations that have already been made. I very much want to welcome Siân Gwenllian's offer to work alongside us in progressing this agenda and I look forward to working with her on doing it. There is so very much more to do. I very much welcome the contributions for that. We want to make absolutely certain that we take this agenda forward in the best possible way.

I also welcome Mark Isherwood's remarks. He outlined some areas of concern, but I do invite him also to think about the impact of the Tory Government's austerity agenda in this area because there's absolutely no doubt at all that it is hampering efforts to help some of the people who he rightly highlighted require our help.

We do support amendment 2. Violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence prevention is central to improving health and well-being, reducing crime and the harm caused by violent crime, safeguarding children and adults, promoting education and learning, and promoting equality. I agree that there is very much more to do, though, and many Members, and particularly Jane Hutt, reminded us why we need to do that work so very much more and all of the myriad ways that we need to combat it.

Will you give way?

Certainly.

Do you recognise that the points that I made—and I'm not going to talk about another place—had they been implemented or were they to be implemented, it would actually save money for secondary services because they are preventative interventionist proposals as opposed to additional costs in dealing with symptoms?

I take that point, but I do think the Member ought to also realise that some of the austerity impacts that they're having on the ability of people who live independently, for example, with disability and so on, are very much impacting on the services that they require. But I'm more than happy to work with him on identifying any areas in which he thinks we can invest to save, because that's of great interest to us.

But, as I was saying, Jane Hutt really highlighted why we need an integrated approach to ending all forms of violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence from leadership to front-line professionals, which mainstreams and prioritises the issues, making it absolutely everyone's business here in Wales.

Mohammad Asghar also highlighted the issue of Islamophobia, and I share his concerns in this area and very much welcome his views about delivering wider community cohesion in some of the ideas that he outlined.

We do support amendment 3, but we should be clear that there have been significant steps taken to increase the confidence of victims to come forward and report. The number of hate crimes reported in Wales in 2016-17 was up 22 per cent on the previous year, but part of the 22 per cent increase is due to an increase in the rates of reporting. This reflects the amount of work the Welsh Government, the police, the third sector and our partners have put into encouraging victims to report. An increase is welcome, as we know from research that almost 50 per cent of hate crimes are still not being reported. However, part of that increase is very likely due to a genuine rise in hate crime around the time of the EU referendum and following the terrorist attacks that took place during the reporting period. I thought that Mohammad Asghar outlined some of the issues there very ably indeed.

The Welsh Government remains committed to protecting and supporting victims of hate crime, violence and abuse. We will continue to deliver our framework for action with our partners across Wales. I'd just like to highlight Neil McEvoy's intervention. Of course, we want to work with all victims of all kinds of hate crime, violence and abuse wherever they are and wherever they are found in Wales.

We support amendment 4. The sustainable development principle in the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015, includes in its five ways of working a requirement for public bodies to involve people in their full diversity in everything they do. Therefore, it is entirely within the existing framework and spirit of the Act for real and meaningful dialogue between communities, individuals and their public services to be the expectation when embedding the work of the commission. The work of the Equality and Human Rights Commission contributes very directly to the goals of a more equal Wales, a Wales of cohesive communities and a Wales of vibrant culture and thriving Welsh language, but, because of their interdependence, it's also clearly essential to progress towards all of these goals together.

I'll close this debate by once again thanking the Equality and Human Rights Commission. For the past 10 years, the commission has worked alongside the public sector, private sector and third sector to tackle inequality and injustice in Wales. Year on year, the commission has delivered its distinct and relevant work programme to reflect the unique political, legal and social landscape of Wales. The commission is a critical friend to the National Assembly for Wales—here to guide us all and bring about positive change. I look forward to working with them in the future and continuing our very positive and productive relationship. Diolch. 

The proposal is to agree amendment 1. Does any Member object? [Objection.] I will defer voting under this item until voting time.

Voting deferred until voting time.