2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:45 pm on 12 February 2019.

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Photo of Leanne Wood Leanne Wood Plaid Cymru 2:45, 12 February 2019

Finally, this week the UK Government has admitted that the huge rise in the numbers of people reliant upon food banks is partly, at least, due to the roll-out of the disastrous universal credit. We also know that welfare reform is partly responsible for the steep rise in street homelessness as well. So, surely, after admitting this, the UK Government cannot carry on with it. So, will you agree to write the UK Government to make the case that their benefits reform is causing great harm, and will you tell them in the strongest possible terms to scrap universal credit now?

Figures recently released show that less than one in five complaints of sexual harassment in Wales's public sector have led to a dismissal. Non-disclosure agreements are also being used to silence complainants in sexual harassment and domestic abuse cases. These figures show exactly why we need the new Time's Up network that I've been involved in setting up. The new network aims to give voice to those experiencing sexual harassment and abuse in Wales and aims to change the situation. So, how can these unfair dismissals be stopped? Can the Welsh Government give a statement on what it's doing to curb the corrosive culture that persists in our society, and, specifically, can you tell us what can be done to prevent complainants from losing their jobs?

I've been contacted by two separate people complaining about the difficulties trans people face accessing healthcare in Wales: one whose personal experience dates back to the period 2008-12, but another who has a more recent experience confirms that matters have not changed in the intervening seven years. It's not acceptable, is it, for someone to have to go to Scotland to self-refer themselves to a gender identity clinic because of such a long delay in getting a referral from Wales—a delay that saw this person attempting suicide because of the toll it took on their mental health. It's not clear why people can't self-refer in Wales or why they have to go through community mental health teams when that provision doesn't exist elsewhere. On moving back to Wales, the man who contacted me was refused a repeat prescription of HRT and told they would have to start the process from scratch, despite being on HRT for two years and having had a mastectomy whilst in Scotland. Clearly, this was unacceptable then and it's unacceptable now. Now, I understand that there are proposals to bring Wales in line with Scotland's more progressive approach to trans people. So, can the Welsh Government please give an update to this Senedd on the progress with the new gender identity service for Wales and how the specific inequalities that I've talked about can be ended?

And, finally, the former leader of UKIP in the Assembly over the weekend described his former party as an 'anti-Muslim party'. Now, we have, for a long time, recognised this truth in Plaid Cymru, including when that former AM was the leader of the party in Wales. So, will you join me in condemning any hate-based party that singles out or treats people differently on the basis of their religion, their language, or because they belong to a minority? And will you agree with me that this politics has no place in Wales and anyone pushing a dangerous or discriminatory agenda ought to be ashamed of themselves?