4. What action will the Welsh Government take to reduce homophobic hate crime in Wales in 2018? OAQ51796

We continue to work closely with our partners on the hate crime criminal justice board, including the police and Crown Prosecution Service, to tackle homophobic hate crime. We also provide funding to Victim Support Cymru and Stonewall Cymru, through our equality and inclusion programme, which supports work in this area.

Thank you for that answer, leader of the house. Research by Stonewall Cymru has shown that the number of LGBT people in Wales who have experienced hate crime has increased by 82 per cent within the last five years. They also found that four in five hate crimes and incidents go unreported, with younger people particularly reluctant to go to the police. Leader of the house, what is the Welsh Government doing to encourage the reporting of homophobic hate crime by young people and has it considered using social media, such as the This is Me campaign, which raises awareness of domestic violence?

Yes indeed, we're very proud of the This is Me campaign, which I launched in Gower College a few weeks ago now. It's been widely taken up on social media, and, as the Member will know, it's based very much on promoting what the research shows us, which is that increased gender equality and transgender equality decreases violence as people are able to just express themselves as they wish to be and are not forced into roles and stereotypes that mean that they're not able to cope with their general life.

We have a number of very specific things we do around hate crime. The hate crime criminal justice board will set its 2018 objectives on 9 May. These will be aligned to our 2014 tackling hate crimes and incidents framework. The three objectives are on prevention, support and improving a multi-agency response. We also, as I said in an earlier answer, under the equality and inclusion programme, fund Victim Support at around £624,000 and Stonewall Cymru at around £250,000 a year.

The national hate crime report and support centre, run by Victim Support, continues to raise awareness and help victims of homophobic hate crime. They work closely with their sister service, Rainbow Bridge LGBT domestic abuse service. I hope the Member is aware of Stonewall Cymru's Come Out For LGBT campaign, which encourages people to take a visible stand against LGBT hate crime and show support for LGBT equality in all forms.

We're also, as he specifically asked about schools, working to make sure school staff are well equipped and confident about tackling hate-related bullying. In 2015, the Welsh Government published lesson plans for schools on gender- and transgender-based bullying, aimed at key stages 3 and 4, which can be found in our digital learning service Hwb.