Domestic Violence

Part of 2. Questions to the Leader of the House – in the Senedd at 2:53 pm on 24 January 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 2:53, 24 January 2018

I very much join Julie Morgan in warmly welcoming the recent appointment of our new national advisers, Yasmin Khan and Nazir Afzal. I really think we've done very well in securing the services of two such excellent people. They are, between them, full-time, not two part-time people, so it's a job share, which I'm very happy about as well. In fact, the previous adviser, Rhian—her contract didn't end until October, so it's been a three-month gap between her going out of office and this, and that three months has been taken up in organising the appointment of the new advisers and making sure that the job share arrangements can work. So, I'm very pleased with that. I think we're very happy in Wales that we've got two such excellent prominent advisers in place. They're very happy to work together to determine priorities and approaches to the role, drawing, obviously, on their own individual strengths and experiences, which is why we're so delighted to have them. They will be working with the Home Office to discuss the proposals for the new UK commissioner role, and we'll aim to influence the developments in the UK to reflect the Welsh context, because I think it's fair to say that we are ahead of that game here in Wales and we're very anxious to make sure that the rest of the UK takes advantage of our experience.