The Chairs of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee and the External Affairs and Additional Legislation Committee stated in their joint letter to the First Minister earlier this year that Wales has a proud history of protecting equality and human rights in world-leading and innovative ways, noting that the Assembly, of course, became the first legislative body in the world to achieve gender parity. I want us to safeguard and make provision to support that proud history.

In the EHRC debate yesterday, I spoke of the importance of our joint committees’ support for the adoption of the socioeconomic duty in Wales, and I’m glad that the Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee today has given his support again to this key objective. I do believe this is a vital duty, and the Welsh Government must now take responsibility to enable us to use this new power. It will play a part in counteracting adverse impacts of Brexit on equality and human rights. Scotland has done it, and we must do it too.

John Griffiths also drew attention to the threats to EU funding and the prospects for the UK’s shared prosperity fund. We made it clear that we share the views of our witnesses—and both committees had witnesses to our reviews and inquiries—that the UK shared prosperity fund proposed by the UK Government should be administered by the Welsh Government in relation to Wales to ensure that it’s sensitive to local needs and inequalities. We also made it clear that the fund should be targeted to tackling inequality and socioeconomic disadvantage. Our committees have identified the EU funds that relate directly to equality and human rights, with around 60 per cent of ESF-funded projects targeting people with one or more protected characteristics. I’m sure the leader of the house will endorse the committee recommendations on this point.

Can I also welcome the work of the recently established Wales civil society forum on Brexit? With over 40 third sector organisations, it is a formidable forum for evidence, backed by the Cardiff University Wales Governance Centre. The forum states that the UK’s withdrawal from the EU charter of fundamental rights presents a serious risk to human rights and equality. I welcome the call to secure domestic legal status for the EU charter through specific Wales-only legislation, giving due regard to the instrument across public policy, if this is feasible. And we need a response to that call. The civil society forum also states that the Welsh Government should seek to ensure that the UK keeps pace with the EU where there are advances in human rights or equality protections. The Welsh Government should seek to implement in Wales any new advances made by the EU. The Women’s Equality Network, for example, points out that the EU is currently considering new legislation regarding parental leave, flexible working and breastfeeding in work. In our letter as AMs to the First Minister, we asked the Welsh Government to set out how it will ensure that the charter rights continue to apply in Wales, and I look forward to the response from the leader of the house, and I hope that the evidence being developed by the Wales civil society forum will be followed up and taken forward.

I have, on many occasions in this Chamber, drawn attention to the Women’s Equality Network manifesto published earlier this year. They draw attention to the threats to equalities and human rights legislation post Brexit. They’re concerned that the impact of leaving the EU will result in the rolling back of legal rights for women, reducing the funding for women’s organisations and putting pressure on specific services.

Llywydd, I chair the women in Europe Wales network to promote women’s rights and gender equality in the context of Brexit. The network is concerned that women should have a stronger voice in the Brexit inquiries and negotiations. These networks are looking at this debate today; they very much welcome it and will expect the committees of the Assembly, as well as the Welsh Government, to take this forward for further exploration and monitoring. In a former role as a county councillor, I accessed the first tranche of ESF funding for the pioneering women's workshop opened in 1984 in Cardiff, training thousands of women over 30 years in information technology and electronics. Those women are now contributing to the local economy. This is now all at risk as a result of Brexit. As Leanne Wood said—bad for equality and bad for the economy. So, much is at risk as a result of Brexit, with equalities at the forefront of our concerns.

I thank the committees for their consideration of these issues and the First Minister for his response, and hope this debate will signal to the women of Wales, black, Asian, minority ethnic people, disabled people, and communities that we are standing up for their human rights in this Assembly.