1. Will the Deputy Minister make a statement on Welsh Government support for the voluntary sector? OAQ53472

A strong and independent voluntary sector is critical to the well-being of Wales and our communities. A sustainable relationship with the voluntary sector through our third sector scheme and our third sector Support Wales grant provides the infrastructure on which the sector can thrive.

Diolch. I'd like to take this opportunity to welcome the Deputy Minister to her post. I'm sure she'll pick it up very quickly. [Laughter.] But to my question: there are many voluntary groups in my constituency, almost too many to mention, but I do want to mention three. One is the Caerphilly Miners Centre for the Community, which is now a thriving social enterprise—a hub in the community. It was actually originally the hospital in which I was born and has been transformed by volunteers. The Aber Valley Heritage Group—they are instrumental in setting up the Welsh National Mining Memorial in Senghenydd. It was the site where Wales's worst mining disaster happened in 1913. And also the Senghenydd Youth Drop In Centre, or SYDIC, which connects young people to the local community and builds a sense of cohesion there—hugely important in Senghenydd. Will the Deputy Minister commit to continued Welsh Government support for these projects and projects like them?

Well, can I thank Hefin David for his kind words and his question? You've highlighted the work of local organisations that are rooted in the heritage and history of your community. Of course, they're also supporting social needs and enhancing well-being. So, I can just say, as a response to the question, that volunteering, of course, remains at the heart of communities across Wales and the Welsh Government values volunteering as an important expression of citizenship and a central component of democracy, and we are providing core funding for not only the Wales Council for Voluntary Action, of course, but those county voluntary councils across Wales to deliver third sector support.

I'd also like to welcome the Deputy Minister to her role. I was pleased to see the Llanelli charity Threshold DAS, formerly known as Llanelli Women's Aid, had been given a grant of £1.5 million to deliver a Wales-wide programme that will offer support to women and girls affected by domestic abuse and violence. Does the Deputy Minister agree with me that particularly domestic and sexual violence services are best provided by local third sector groups, led by service users themselves? And what steps can the Deputy Minister and Welsh Government take to reverse the trend of many of those services being lost through tendering processes to big, multinational companies who really do not understand the communities that they're supposed to be serving, let alone the victims that they're supposed to be supporting?

I thank Helen Mary Jones for that question and also do recognise that services, in terms of tackling violence against women and domestic abuse, of course, started in the third sector—started with Welsh Women's Aid, and the setting up of Cardiff Women's Aid was by women in their local community. And what is important as well, of course, in terms of domestic abuse services, is the strong move towards enabling survivors to help shape the services that are so important and, of course, helping us shape our response and our proactive action in terms of delivering on the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015.

Minister, can you tell me what support you're giving to faith communities to support their voluntary sector engagements? You'll be aware that there was a piece of research that was completed last year into the impact of Wales's pentecostal denominations—the three main pentecostal denominations the Assemblies of God, Elim and the Apostolic Church—and that research found that there are over 2,700 volunteers contributing 5,000 hours worth of voluntary work each week just in those three denominations, contributing over £3 million to the Welsh economy in doing so. That's volunteer work that is not self-serving those particular organisations but actually serving their communities. I'm sure you'll want us to celebrate that, but what work are you doing to engage with the faith sector more widely in order to promote this sort of work so that we can get more value out of it?

Well, of course, as you say, Darren Millar, the faith groups do provide a very important role in their communities through volunteers, through church groups, and we know, for example, that many of our food banks are run by, and with, churches and chapels across Wales. And we know that, of course, also the Muslim Welfare Association has a role to play as well in terms of that kind of voluntary activity. It is very important, through our inter-faith forum and the work that we do to support the third sector, that we look closely at those needs, which, of course, are enhanced, also, by other grant schemes like the Welsh Church Act 1914, like, also, the fact that they can access third sector funding, not just locally, but on a Wales-wide basis as well.