Thank you very much, Deputy Presiding Officer. Members will be aware that on 5 June this year the Wales Governance Centre published, 'Imprisonment in Wales: a Factfile', which highlights Wales-specific data across the prison system. Can I state at the outset that I'm very grateful to the Wales Governance Centre and to Dr Robert Jones for this work? We recognise that it is a snapshot rather than an in-depth analysis, but it also tells us a great deal about the prison service and about the way it serves people across Wales.

We also know that this report is a very timely report. We've seen all too often over recent months controversies over safety and performance. I was listening this morning to news that the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office are allowing pepper spray to be used in our prisons—not possibly the best way to respond to some of the difficulties being faced on the prison estate either in Wales or elsewhere.

But the report also does highlight the importance of having Wales-only data in understanding the impact of justice policy and practice on people in this country. All too often, when we look at the justice system, we look at it on a UK basis—Darren Millar seeks to make the point in his amendment—because it isn't a UK system; it is an England and Wales system. And whilst we are happy to note the existence of the UK Government's policy, it would be wrong and improper, I think, for us to seek to imply that there is a UK solution to this.

One of the things that I've found in fulfilling this role over the last year is that devolution matures, which means that we face new questions, new challenges and new understanding of how devolved and reserved matters interact with each other. And I hope that, in justice policy, we're beginning to see some of that understanding.

Some of the key findings of the report include that prisons in Wales are performing less well than prisons in England on a range of safety measures. Since 2010, the number of recorded self-harm incidents and prisoner assaults in Wales have increased at a higher rate than in prisons in England. Despite an increase in prison capacity in Wales, in 2017, nearly 40 per cent of all Welsh prisoners were being held in English prisons. In a large number of cases, Welsh prisoners are placed in establishments far from home. Welsh prisoners were held in 118 different prisons in 2017.

Deputy Presiding Officer, I know from my own constituency, this report describes that there are 52 prisoners being held from Blaenau Gwent, and those 52 prisoners are being held in 20 prisons, not simply in Wales or local to Wales in the south-west of England, but in prisons across the whole of England—in northern England, north-east England and north-west England as well. There may well occasionally be reasons why people are placed in a particular facility, but this is not about individuals; this is about a system that isn't working for people across Wales.

Much of the data we've seen published in June makes for unhappy reading, but nowhere is that more true than when we describe the place of women in the system. The number of Welsh women handed immediate custodial sentences has increased by almost a fifth since 2011. The majority are sentenced to immediate custody and convicted of non-violent offences. Three quarters of all Welsh women receiving immediate custodial sentences in 2016 were given sentences of less than six months. The number of Welsh children in custody has fallen by 72 per cent since 2010; however, a large number of them are being held in establishments across the border in England. So this, as a whole, is not a picture that many of us will want to see.

We recognise that many of the reasons for this are historic. We recognise that we do not have the secure estate that we would require in Wales. And this is why rejecting amendment 2 in the name of Darren Millar is actually very, very important. If we look at the prison estate, the secure estate that we have inherited, this is not a secure estate that is designed for the needs of people in Wales. Up until a couple of years ago, up until 18 months ago, we had no secure accommodation anywhere beyond the M4 corridor. We didn't have any secure facilities serving north Wales at all. Is that what the people of north Wales want from the service? And then when we do see a prison opened in Wrexham, it is opened with a capacity far, far beyond that which is required in the region. It is not there to serve Wales's needs; it's not there to serve the communities of north Wales; it's not there to serve the interests and the needs of the people we represent here in this Chamber.