Thank you, Deputy Minister. As I mentioned when you briefed me earlier, I've been out this afternoon to NWAMI's second international panel meeting, held at Cardiff University student union building. NWAMI being originally the North Wales Association for Multicultural Integration, now the Network for World Awareness of Multicultural Integration. Statements from both yourself and the First Minister were read out there by a senior official, whose name I will not embarrass him by mentioning, unless you wish to, but he read it out very well. 

In my speech, I referred to the launch last year by the UK Government of an initiative to build a more integrated and cohesive society, the 'Integrated Communities Strategy', described by Professor Cantle, who had previously worked with the last UK Labour Government, as

'a very real shift in approach in which the Government will support practical action to promote cohesion and integration.'

The 'Integrated Communities Action Plan' of 2019 takes the UK Government's 2018 strategy forward by providing practical details of the schemes it is developing and supporting. What engagement has the Welsh Government had with that, either by invitation or a proactive intervention, if any?

The Equality and Human Rights Commission's 'Is Wales Fairer?' report for 2018 made a series of recommendations, including the strengthening of human rights infrastructure in Wales, calling on the Welsh Government to incorporate UN treaties into Welsh law and to ensure that equality and human rights protections are safeguarded and enhanced during the Brexit process and beyond. And of course, in your statement, you made reference to the Brexit process. 

The withdrawal agreement between the UK and Northern Ireland and the European Union, which hasn't gone through Westminster, stated that the UK 

'shall ensure that no diminution of rights, safeguards and equality of opportunity as set out in that part of the 1998 Agreement entitled Rights, Safeguards and Equality of Opportunity results from its withdrawal from the Union'.

So, again, as we go forward—and I appreciate we're in a situation of uncertainty and I don't want to party-politicise this—but as we go forward, how will you be further engaging with the UK Government in that context?

You referred to the need to and how Welsh Government might incorporate UN conventions, including the convention on the rights of disabled people, into Welsh law. When we debated this here last September, I said that there is no merit in incorporating the convention into Welsh law in order to strengthen and promote the rights—. Sorry, there is merit. Sorry. 

'There is merit in incorporating the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities into Welsh law in order to strengthen and promote the rights of disabled people, as the Welsh Government did with children's rights by incorporating the convention on the rights of the child into Welsh law in 2011.'

So what consideration might you give to adopting a similar model, when you say you're commissioning research to explore wider options, or do you now have a better way, you think, possibly, of looking at this?

You referred, rightly, to the socioeconomic duty. We know, again, this was debated here not so long ago. The Equality and Human Rights Commission states that the Wales Act 2017 has given the Welsh Government the opportunity to enact a socioeconomic duty, enabling public bodies to work together to tackle the biggest driver of inequality in Wales: poverty. In last July's response, the First Minister stated he would work with the UK Government and EHRC on these issues, so what work has followed with the UK Government and the EHRC in the intervening 11 months?

You referred to the UN rapporteur, Professor Philip Alston. As you know, he said that Wales faced the highest relative poverty rate in the UK and that the Welsh Government's new 'Prosperity for All' strategy

'has no strategic focus or ministerial responsibility for poverty reduction, and lacks clear performance targets and progress indicators.'

How is the Welsh Government going to respond to the section in that report that was specifically targeted at the Welsh Government and asking the Welsh Government to take specific actions?

You rightly referred to the public sector equality duty, to the action on disability right to independent living framework and social model of disability. I've previously described this in the context of co-production, about seeing everyone as equal partners in local services, breaking down the barriers between people who provide services and those who use them, going beyond models of service-user consultation to the better delivery of health and social services and other services to an ageing population, people facing illness and disability, the economically inactive and those living in social isolation. But I have yet to encounter a senior officer in any local authority or health board that admits the existence of these matters or the Social Services and Well-being (Wales) Act 2014 or the Well-being of Future Generations (Wales) Act 2015 until I mention it to them and remind them of their duties and responsibilities. So, in addition to looking further at this, how will the Welsh Government monitor implementation and intervene? Not necessarily to criticise with a big stick, but to ensure better understanding on implementation, so it's understood on the top floors of these public organisations that this isn't a threat, this is an opportunity for them to do things better, to improve lives, and if they get it right, to help them manage their budgets better, too.