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.