4. Statement by the Leader of the House and Chief Whip: Refugee Week — Wales, a Nation of Sanctuary

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:28 pm on 19 June 2018.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 4:28, 19 June 2018

On that one, if you want to write to me with the specific details, I can do something about that. We do not like the two-tier system, Deputy Presiding Officer. The Welsh Government is doing everything it can to minimise the discrepancies by ensuring that all refugees are eligible for Welsh Government schemes in Wales. So, we're doing our best. A two-tier system has been put in place by the UK Government, but we're doing our best to make sure that that doesn't happen.

I'm afraid I share Bethan Sayed's cynicism about the accommodation strategy. I think it's both a money-saving thing and a thing that forces people not to integrate as well as they might. A large part of what we do is attempting to make sure that that doesn't happen, so it's a little bit of a push-shove thing.

But I just wanted to go back to what she started with, really, Deputy Presiding Officer, because Bloom and SHARP are two organisations I'm very familiar with in the Swansea area, but there are, right across Wales, and it is absolutely heartening that when you do put an appeal out on social media or one of those puts a little list up of things that they particularly need for a family, the people of Wales are incredibly generous in their response to that. It always brings a smile to my heart, anyway, to see that happening, because after all, Deputy Presiding Officer, we really are a nation of sanctuary.