My community is enriched by the presence of a rich variety of nationalities, faiths and cultures, and I appreciate the great deal of work that the Welsh Government has done to promote racial harmony in our communities across south Wales and tackle racial inequality.

In education, for example, we can see the very real differences that have been achieved where educational outcomes amongst different ethnic groups have been almost eliminated in terms of differences. If anything, ethnic minorities now outperform our indigenous white community. The exception, of course, is the Roma, Gypsy and Traveller community whose attainment and qualifications are wildly at variation with the average, and a lot of work remains to be done to address that.

I'm also aware of excellent work being done in schools to promote community cohesion, and the Minister has already mentioned the great work being done by Show Racism the Red Card, both in schools and on the terraces. I have noticed a much more robust response in clamping down on racist language in schools that I'm involved in, as well as, I hope, most schools. Remarks that were previously ignored or overlooked are now dealt with and addressed. Persistent offenders are subject to disciplinary proceedings, including exclusion, and quite rightly so.

Sadly, this is against a rising tide of racist incidents outside school. A recent Cytûn analysis highlights a 40 per cent increase in religious hate crime, which has doubled over three years. Islamic communities have been the most targeted, followed by Jewish communities. And the rise of the far right should concern us all. It's nearly two years since a deplorable crime was committed by one of my constituents, who drove all the way to London to mow down innocent worshippers as they gathered outside their place of worship. This man had never met any of these people, nor knew anything about them. His actions, according to his former partner in court, were influenced by the hate messages he'd read online by Stephen Yaxley-Lennon and other people on the far right. The attacks on worshippers in Christchurch in New Zealand in March remind us that this isn't just a problem caused by a particular man now on the payroll of UKIP. Social media has allowed the far right to develop a global profile. There's clearly a lot of work to be done by our colleagues in Westminster to ensure that those who provide a platform for these hateful messages are made liable for what they allow to be published.

In light of the events in New Zealand, not even two months ago, I'm concerned about the slowness of the Home Office response, because they've been very slow to come forward with the funding to strengthen security at Islamic places of worship. There was finally an announcement made on Good Friday, but it was merely asking people to express an interest, and no funding is actually going to be available to do anything until July, and, of course, then they'll have to process the applications before they actually decide on who's going to get what. I hope it won't be a repeat of what happened in the last financial year, when, as I understand it, no place of worship in Wales was in receipt of this Home Office funding, and that is a considerable cause for concern.

But on the wider issue, I'd just like to express some concerns about the way in which we're handling another aspect of a rise in crime, which is in relation to stop and search. In response to an increase in knife crime—which at one time I regarded as mainly a London problem, which has now spread, unfortunately, to most other large cities across the UK—in March this year, Mr Javid, the Home Secretary, increased the powers of the police to stop and search, and the seniority of the people who were allowed to do it. It is of considerable concern to report that this increase in stop and search has also led to an increase in the targeting of people from racial minorities. Black people are now seven times more likely to be stopped and searched than white people in south Wales, and that is just in the last year, when it is up 4.5 per cent more likely. And I think that we need to stop and reflect, having learnt all that we've learnt from the Stephen Lawrence report about the way in which stop and search was being used inappropriately on the black community and was deterring the black community from coming forward. We now have to ensure that it is not used in a way that discriminates against a particular community. This is not devolved but a matter I hope that the Deputy Minister can take up with the Home Office.