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.