The next item is a Member debate under Standing Order 11.21(iv) on tackling LGBT hate crime. I call on Siân Gwenllian to move the motion.

Motion NDM7144 Sian Gwenllian, Mick Antoniw, Leanne Wood

To propose that the National Assembly for Wales:

1. Calls on the Welsh Government to provide a progress report on its work to tackle LGBT hate crime in Wales.

2. Calls for the devolution of justice to ensure an integrated approach to tackling LGBT hate crime and protect LGBT people in Wales.

3. Calls on the Welsh Government to outline its proposals on how the creation of a devolved Welsh justice system could promote the safety and wellbeing of LGBT people.

Motion moved.

Thank you, Llywydd. And thank you to my fellow Members, Leanne Wood and Mick Antoniw, for allowing this debate to take place today.

I was inspired to look into the issue of hate crimes against the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans community across Wales as a result of events in a town in my constituency. The charity GISDA has been supporting vulnerable young people in Arfon over decades, and I remember working with Brian Thirsk and the first group of volunteers, back in the 1980s, when it became apparent that some of the young people in the area needed support. The charity is now an important and well-known part of our communities, and recently it was identified that there was a need to establish a safe meeting place for some young LGBT people in the area. A youth club was created and there was an opportunity for young people from that community to socialise and share experiences, and to do so through the medium of Welsh.

But, unfortunately, some members of the group and the youth club have suffered homophobic prejudice. Indeed, there was an attack on one young person whilst waiting for a bus having attended the club. This was an appalling homophobic attack. Other members of the club suffered verbal attacks too. Now, as a result of that, some of the young people felt that they could no longer attend the club, but agencies were brought together and there were discussions as to what steps needed to be taken to allow the club to continue to meet for the future.

The Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) took the Chair.

This story highlights why we must tackle the increase in hate crimes against the LGBT community in Wales and that we need to do that as a matter of urgency. Over the past year, almost 4,000 hate crimes were recorded in Wales, the highest number yet for hate crimes in this country and almost double the figure recorded in 2013. It’s disappointing to see the levels increasing again across all the protected characteristics: race, religion, disability, and crimes against the LGBT community. Hate crimes against this community specifically have increased 12 per cent, from 670 to 751 recorded cases over the last year, and the number of hate crimes against the trans community have increased from 64 to 120. That’s almost a doubling in the number. It appears that there are a number of reasons for this increase, including a willingness to come forward to report these incidents and better ways of recording the information, but we must also accept that there is prejudice at the root of this increase in hate crimes, and we must address that prejudice if we are to create a civilised society in Wales—one that embraces difference and respects the rights of individuals in terms of their sexuality.

I would say that all of this is a worthy argument for the devolution of justice to Wales, giving us an opportunity to review the whole process of dealing with hate crimes, and Leanne Wood will address this issue in her contribution. In the meantime, before we can devolve justice to Wales, we do need to tackle the lack of resources. There is huge concern about the lack of resources available to tackle hate crimes, and there is inequality in terms of support across Wales, which means that the resources are patchy and subject to a postcode lottery. For example, the youth club I mentioned in GISDA is the only one of its kind in the whole of Gwynedd and the only one, as far as I know, that provides a space for Welsh-speaking members.

There is good work happening and I am pleased that our police and crime commissioner in north Wales, Arfon Jones, is doing laudable work. North Wales Police have two hate crime diversity officers providing training to new officers to identify hate crimes. And the hate crime justice board has also been doing good work across Wales. Therefore, although the increase in the number of hate crimes recorded by the police is heartbreaking, this may mean that there is greater awareness and that that increase is emerging because of greater awareness among the police and the public and that that has led to an increase in reporting. And, of course, it is better for a victim to be supported through these services, rather than suffering in silence.

But I do have to say that I do feel that the Welsh Government has failed to truly comprehend the need to give priority to this issue and to get to the heart of the problem in dealing with hate crime. There has been a framework drawn up to tackle hate crime, but we haven’t received a great deal of information about that and no update on it for almost two years. And, of course, we do need to give long-term consideration to this issue, so that we see hate crime levels reducing once and for all. And this does mean that we have to consider preventative measures, starting in our schools.

Education in relationship and sex education would mean that children would gain a clear understanding of the diversity of people and healthy relationships. They would learn about different kinds of families, friendships, professional relationships and sexual relationships as well as tolerance and being inclusive in terms of identity. It is crucial, in my view, and I know that the education Minister would agree, that this education is provided to each and every child in Wales.

Stonewall Cymru have said very clearly that sex and relationship education that is inclusive and effective does ensure that every young person receives the information that they need to stay safe, to make informed decisions, to have healthy relationships, and to prepare for life in Wales in the twenty-first century.

It is crucial that all of the possible resources and every support are provided for our schools so that we can ensure that they are confident in presenting sex and relationship education effectively. And it is good to see that including this element—sex and relationship education—in the curriculum is one that has received clear support across parties in this Chamber.

I am pleased that we as a Senedd today can discuss this issue and can make a strong stand together on these grave issues that get to the heart of our society. We do have to look after each other, and I look forward to hearing the contributions of fellow Members on the motion before us today.

I'm pleased to contribute to this debate today. Diolch yn fawr, Siân, for opening. I think it's a sad indictment of the times in which we live that reports of hate crimes against LGBT people in England and Wales have rocketed according to new data, which was just mentioned, compiled by the Home Office and other organisations. In fact, looking at the statistics, I think that I'm right in saying that there's been a 25 per cent rise in hate crimes based on sexual orientation alone—25 per cent.

This is a deeply worrying statistic, but, of course, behind the statistics, there are heart-wrenching individual stories. And, Siân, you mentioned one of the most recent, which has been publicised, which was in Gwynedd, in your constituency, I believe, which left a teen hospitalised. As you said, that was a youth club member—only 13. He was assaulted at a local bus stop while being verbally abused. I understand that, at a meeting, the founder Aled Griffiths called for members—he said allies should stand together for equality. And I think all of us who are allies in this Chamber and in this institution would agree and support those views—we all need to stand together, as you said at the end of your speech on that. Of course, that's one example. There are many more. In another instance, a man punched his neighbour and hurled horrific homophobic abuse at his—I mean, it's horrific even reading the details of this. It's unbelievable that this is happening in today's society, but he punched his neighbour and hurled horrific homophobic abuse at him after allegedly assaulting his partner. So, multiple people were involved in that attack.

So, the purpose of this debate is to call on the Welsh Government to work with local authorities, with schools and the police to try and eradicate the prejudice and the violence that our LGBT constituents across Wales face on a day-to-day basis.

If you dig down into the statistics, it gets even more worrying. Anti-trans hate crime has more than quadrupled in the last five years. So, these really are breathtaking statistics that you wouldn't accept in any other line of life or line of criminal statistics. So, this really does need to be addressed as soon as possible.

You've mentioned the devolution of justice, and I think you said that Leanne Wood was going to go further into that. And I'm certainly not averse to devolution of further powers to this place where necessary. I think it's quite desirable, in many respects, that we do actually have, as the finance Secretary and, indeed, the former First Minister said, the tools of the toolbox in order to deal with these issues. I would urge a word of caution, in that, of course, further powers are not always the answer. We do have to, as I think you said, know what we're going to do with those powers, which is why I think point 3 calls on the Welsh Government to come forward with a strategy of how all of these disparate areas can be joined up to try and make things work better. So, I would be concerned if the focus was taken off using the powers that the Welsh Government currently have on a discussion—important as it may be—about the future design of powers for this place, because I think, at this moment in time, LGBT people across Wales need to know that we are out there looking out for them and doing what we can at the moment to support them.

You did mention education, and the education Minister is in the Camber today, and it seems to me that you cannot deal with this issue of hate crime and homophobia, and all sorts of other phobias, without actually addressing that early on. Often the seeds of crimes later in life are sown very early on, and it comes down to malign influences that young people might have early on that aren’t addressed and that they don’t always have a good example to follow, so I think that schools and education have an important role to play. And I would say, large strides have been made in that area—there are issued that are talked about now in schools that were never mentioned before, so that is progress, but we need to go far further in dealing with this issue to make sure that, in future, LGBT people, trans people—indeed, all the people that we represent—can feel safe and can feel free, in youth clubs or wherever it might be, to express themselves and live the sort of lives that they want to live and which they deserve to be able to live freely and without prejudice in Wales.

Whilst social attitudes and the law has progressed a lot over recent decades, many young people still do not feel accepted for who they are in their own communities. Many people still face daily prejudice, abuse, harassment and hostility. How can we assure young people that they will be accepted when they come out when we cannot protect them from hate crimes? In the last year alone, there have been almost 4,000 recorded hate crimes in Wales on the grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, disability and transgender. This is Wales’s highest figure yet, and it represents a near doubling of the figures over the last six years.

Black, Asian and minority ethnic LGBT people are hit by double discrimination. According to Stonewall, half of black, Asian and minority ethnic LGBT people have experienced discrimination or poor treatment because of their ethnicity from others in their own local LGBT community, and this number rises to three in five black LGBT people. And a third of lesbian, gay and bi people of faith aren’t open with anyone in their faith community about their sexual orientation.

Hate crimes don’t exist in a vacuum. Society has become more polarised and political discourse has become more toxic. And when the UK Prime Minister compares Muslim women who wear the burqa and calls them 'letterboxes', and when he can walk away free from any reprimand or consequence, then we have got work to do.

Wales is not immune to this or these latest statistics, and they show that our society is neither yet wholly accepting or fair. They show that prejudice is a problem, and they show that, despite the many gains that Wales has made in terms of LGBT equality, we are not there yet. Social attitudes may have changed a lot over recent decades, and although changes in law mean more schools and public services are taking notice of and tackling anti-LGBT discrimination, we must still push further.

Of the many equality hurdles we must overcome, present discourse around trans rights is of deep concern to me. Trans people in Wales and throughout the world face prejudice and discrimination on the basis of their gender identity. Fifty-nine percent of trans women and 56 of trans men say they avoid expressing their gender identity for fear of a negative reaction from others. For non-binary respondents, the figure was much higher, at 76 per cent. Trans people are also at higher risk of homelessness and suicide, and have had to travel to London to get basic healthcare. Trans people should have an inalienable right to live free from prejudice, discrimination and persecution. Why can’t we have an ambition for Wales to be a world leader in high-quality trans healthcare and access to services and facilities in accordance with their gender identity?

Real, long-term change can also come from a better justice system. The current England and Wales criminal justice system is failing our communities—it doesn’t work for people here. We need change and full power and responsibility over criminal justice to create a system that will benefit all of our communities, to properly tackle LGBT hate crime and protecting LGBT people. We could review hate crime laws so that hate crimes based on sexual orientation, gender identity or disability and neurodiversity are treated equally to those based on race and faith, by making them aggravated offences. We could better train all police and prosecutors on anti-LGBT hate crimes, on and offline. We could successfully track prosecutions to develop best practice, and provide targeted support to victims.

In a wider context, we must tackle the ingrained prejudice that sees imprisonment rates among BAME communities much more disproportionate, relative to the population, in Wales than in England. If you are a young person of colour in Wales, you are both more likely to be in imprisoned and to receive a longer sentence. That is not acceptable.

We are thankfully far from the days of section 28 and the anti-equal marriage lobby, but we still have so much more to do before LGBT people can feel safe and accepted without exception in Wales today, and for hate crimes to be a thing of the past.

Thank you very much to Leanne and Siân for bringing this debate, along with Mick Antoniw, because I think it's a very interesting debate and one that we don't often address. I want to talk about some positives, because I think we can all agree that there are lots of deplorable things going on in society.

I want to highlight Just a Ball Game?, which is a charity that is combating LGBTQI phobia in sport, which is often one of the places where people feel their inhibitions are laid aside and people feel they can behave on the terraces in a way that is different to how they would behave in the street. I remember hosting a memorable meeting last year in the Pierhead with Just a Ball Game?, organised in collaboration with my late lamented constituent Bob Woods, a distinguished social worker and LGBT rights campaigner. Amongst those attending, to my delight, were five members of the St Teilo's LGBT group, pupils who meet monthly in order to discuss matters of common concern, who were brought, with the consent of their parents, by a member of staff. The speakers included Neville Southall, one of the top 100 football players of the twentieth century—as football fans will know he played for both Everton and Wales—and Gareth Thomas, the second-highest try scorer, behind Shane Williams, and one of the most distinguished rugby union and rugby league players in Wales and Britain. Both of them are icons of their games who have played prominent parts in combating homophobic hate crime in sport.

Shamefully, just under a year ago, Gareth Thomas was the subject of a homophobic attack whilst on a night out in my constituency, in Cardiff. It was to his credit that Gareth Thomas opted to go down the restorative justice route, rather than prosecute the 16-year-old and give him a criminal record—something that Neville Southall commended him for. I'm sure that that is a much more effective way of getting this 16-year-old to rethink his ideas about his prejudice, which he no doubt had picked up from other people in his family.

I also want to speak about the Cardiff Dragons Football Club, which is Wales's first and only LGBTQI football team. It was set up in 2008 by football fans who wanted to create a team free from homophobia and play football in a safe and supportive space. They still have difficulty getting pitches in the winter months, which are normally taken up by other clubs. So, if anybody knows of a winter weather football space that they could offer them, please do get in touch.

Their mission statement is to promote participation in and awareness of football, social cohesion and healthy lifestyles within the LGBTQI community in Cardiff, south Wales and beyond. They take part, playing in the Gay Football Supporters' Network league against teams from all over the UK. The supporters network was set up in 1989 by fans of the sport, and it has extended from simply following the game to campaigning for LGBTQI rights and freedom from abuse while they go to matches as well as also playing. The Cardiff team also plays in straight leagues as well, where they are, from time to time, subject to abusive comments from opposition teams. Whilst these complaints tend to be quickly dealt with by the league, we nevertheless have to understand that homophobia, just like racism, is, unfortunately, something that we have still a lot of work to do on in sport, particularly in football.

So, the Cardiff Dragons are in talks with Cardiff City to set up a Cardiff City LGBT supporters network, which they're hoping to launch in February next year to coincide with Football v Homophobia Month, and I will be delighted to support that.

The Wales team doesn't have an LGBT supporters network at the moment either, so these are important initiatives to normalise respect for difference in sport, which is one of the arenas where people do feel that they can start to air their prejudice. 

We have to be constantly vigilant about, and intolerant of, homophobia and racism in sport. We have to ensure that the next generation is enabled to combat the inherited prejudices that were enshrined in law in the past. And section 28 has already been mentioned as a really shameful period in our history. I can recall that, over a decade after decriminalisation, my own uncle had several scrapes with the law simply because homophobic policemen had nothing better to do than harass gay people who were meeting furtively in public places rather than having the confidence to meet out in the open on the same terms as heterosexual people.

Can you wind up, please?

Siân Gwenllian has already mentioned the importance of the relationships and sexuality curriculum, and I do hope that this will be a game changer in ensuring that the next generation really does understand respect for difference and ensuring that people are not consumed by their prejudices, which can lead to lifelong mental health problems.

May I congratulate Siân Gwenllian on getting this debate and leading it in the way she has, and on her work in her constituency? I was particularly interested in the story around the youth club there, GISDA.

She did say at one point in her speech that prejudice was the root of the increase. We heard from Leanne Wood that, I think quite rightly, social attitudes have progressed a lot in recent decades. I just don't know whether it's right to say that prejudice is the root of the increase, which, to me, implies that prejudice has got worse. I don't know if that is the case in the near term. Certainly, in the longer term, my impression, as with Leanne, is that things have got better—clearly, not good enough and there are problems that we need to address.

We have these statistics, and the focus has been on those reported to the police and the way they've recorded the crimes, and the 17 per cent increase in Wales and the 10 per cent across England and Wales in the past year. When someone reports a hate crime, it's very important that the police record them in a consistent way. Until recently, unfortunately, there's evidence that that hasn't been the case, and it's important that the standards of crime recording are set centrally.

The way it's done is, if someone alleges a crime has been committed, reports an incident, then it's recorded as a crime. If that person, or indeed anyone else, says that they consider race or another protected characteristic to be a motivating factor, then, again, it must be recorded as a hate crime. I think that is right and proper, but it's also right that we understand that and how that wasn't reliably the case in the past. And not all of these cases were necessarily proved to be that, and we haven't heard from other people there, or particularly a defendant, as to what they might say. I think 13 per cent of these cases lead to a charge or a summons, which is a somewhat higher proportion than for crime overall.

What I think is a useful corrective, though, is to check the police recorded crime statistics against what we see from the British crime survey. The trend in that has been different. On these issues, we've got the waves of the survey, and the first I'll refer to is in 2007 to 2009, and that, grossed up from the survey number to total population, suggested 69,000 hate crimes related to sexual orientation across the UK. And then, in 2010-12, that fell from 69,000 to 42,000 on the British crime survey, and then in 2013-15 fell again to 29,000. There is a small uptick in 2016-18 from 29,000 to 30,000, but not statistically significant on the basis of the numbers in the survey. On the transgender hate crimes, they didn't ask the relevant questions back in the first two surveys. They did in the latter two, but they have a sort of asterisk response, saying that the numbers were too small for them reliably to gross up and give an estimate for the country as a whole. One hate crime is too many, and these transgender hate crimes—. Clearly, transgender people and having that identity has become greater, and it's talked about in a way that it wasn't even almost a decade or so ago. People may debate what are the arrangements for sport or what are the arrangements for lavatories, but it's inexcusable when there are crimes, often crimes of violence, simply for, or at least motivated by, someone's identity.

So, I agree with much of what's been said in this debate, but I would just put that corrective of looking at the British crime survey, as well as the recorded police statistics. I would say that, when you compare the police statistics across the UK, overall, the Welsh forces aren't coming in the top 10 for hate crimes, but there's one exception to that, and that area is sexual orientation, where two of the Welsh forces—Gwent, in my region, and south Wales, which touches on part of my region—are fourth and fifth out of the 43, at 26 hate crimes on sexual orientation per 100,000. So, it may suggest at least in south Wales there is a particular issue there in Wales that we should be concerned about and interrogate why that is, and look to see how we can improve it, even if, overall, on the other hate crimes, we don't see Wales to the fore.

I'll just say that I'm not yet convinced of the link to points 2 and 3 of the motion, and for that reason I don't propose to support the motion today. It's unfortunate in terms of timing, because I'm very much looking forward to hearing Lord Thomas tomorrow; I think he's launching his commissioner's report on the Justice Commission for Wales from 8:30 tomorrow in the Pierhead. I hope to see some colleagues there, and I really want to listen to, read and digest that report before considering our position on devolution of justice. We're not yet convinced of it; in particular, I'd worry if we were then to go from police and crime commissioners who are elected to a Wales-wide force. I know that Wales's Government is doing some good things in some areas here, but that of itself doesn't strike me as a sufficient reason to devolve the whole of justice, but I will be reading very, very carefully what Lord Thomas and his team say tomorrow. Thank you.

Diolch, Llywydd, and I'm really pleased to be speaking in this debate. There's a famous line in the 1976 film, Network: 'I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore'. It's a statement for our time, isn't it? So much anger, especially from the keyboard warriors online. But, at the same time, people aren't prepared to take it anymore. Victims of abuse are reporting crimes, calling out the trolls and the bullies in record numbers. So, that's why we must encourage and support the reporting mechanisms, as Welsh Government is doing through the National Hate Crime Report and Support centre, as well as the new hate crime minority communities grant.

The police stats for the last year do show a 17 per cent increase in reported hate crimes in Wales compared to the year before. Today, we are focusing on crimes against the LGBT community and, as has already been said, they do account for nearly a quarter of all recorded offences. The charity Stonewall says that it's just the tip of the iceberg, and according to their research four in five anti-LGBT hate crimes go unreported, with younger people particularly reluctant to go to the police. So, it seems that it's impossible to tackle this pervasive problem through the criminal justice system alone. It is society's problem and it demands social solutions.

Next month, I'll be organising a series of White Ribbon campaign events to raise awareness against domestic abuse, and the big focus for me is engaging with young people by linking that to healthy relationships that are taught at school. The only fears we're born with The only fears we're born with are of heights and loud noises. Everything else is learned behaviour. In other words, children are innately tolerant. It's us, the adults, that are the problem, quite frankly. With social media so central to their lives today, young people are perhaps uniquely vulnerable to being attacked for who they are, what they believe in and who they love. That is why we must defend LGBT-inclusive lessons now more than ever. We've seen on the news how schools in Birmingham trying to teach the No Outsiders programme have been attacked on supposedly religious grounds. It's sad to see adults preaching bigotry outside school gates. It reminds me of the ugly images from another Birmingham—Birmingham, Alabama in the 1960s. That was a different prejudice, driven by the same narrow-mindedness. I hope, then, that the Welsh Government will back our schools and our education authorities to the hilt against any such campaigns, should they arise in Wales.

Thank you. Can I now call the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip, Jane Hutt?

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. I want to start by thanking Members for bringing forward this debate today, which the Welsh Government welcomes. It does contribute to our drive to secure greater equality and inclusion for all people in Wales. Intolerance, hate speech and instances of hate crime have no place in our society. We're determined to root them out, and the debate today has shown the strength of feeling on those points across the Chamber. Any incident of hate crime, regardless of its type or manner, is unacceptable. I've written to the Home Secretary to urge the UK Government to acknowledge hate crime motivated by hostility based on sexual orientation be recognised as an aggravated offence, in line with race and faith hate crime, and, in addition, I will be writing to the Home Secretary urging hate crime motivated by hostility based on transgender identity and disability also be recognised as an aggravated offence. 

Will the Minister take an intervention? I'm really pleased to hear you say that you'll be making those representations. Of course, one of the protected characteristics where violence against the persons holding that protected characteristic is not treated as a hate crime is violence against women. Do you believe that there may be a case? I wouldn't ask you to postpone—I'd ask you to consider the action on the others—but I'd ask you to consider whether the time has come to make violence against women treatable as a hate crime as well, because, after all, misogyny is one of the deepest and most deep-rooted prejudices in our society today. 

Yes. Well, I'm grateful to Helen Mary Jones for raising that point. Of course, there is an interaction, and I think the fact that hate crime—. This has been brought up today. Intersectionality has been particularly problematic as well. For example, there could be a disabled person who has also experienced hate crime and violence as well, and all of the protected characteristics need to be applicable in terms of recognising hate crime perpetrated on the basis of several protected characteristics.

But we must recognise that last week we did see a rise, a disappointing rise, in hate crime. The statistics published by the Home Office, as Siân Gwenllian said, show a 17 per cent increase in recorded hate crimes across Wales compared to 2017-18, and, of the 3,932 recorded hate crimes across the four Welsh police force areas, 19 per cent were sexual orientation hate crimes and 3 per cent transgender hate crimes, and although hate crimes related to LGBT+ individuals represent roughly 22 per cent of these crimes, this appears to be increasing. We have done a significant amount of work to increase awareness of hate crime and to urge victims to come forward and report, so the increase is likely to be partly due to an improvement in reporting, but these statistics remind us how we need to reflect on what more can be done—and that has to be the outcome of this debate—to ensure no-one is targeted because of their identity. So, the police forces across Wales also have worked hard to ensure they're correctly identifying hateful motivations for crime, and this may be driving some of the apparent increases in recorded hate crime, but we need to remember, as Nick Ramsay said, that behind each statistic is an individual with a story of hostility or trauma. Working with the four Welsh police forces and the hate crime criminal justice board, we have robust systems in place to investigate hate crimes, support victims and ensure perpetrators face justice. But we also have to review the effectiveness of those systems.

Through the European transition fund, we are providing an additional £360,000 over the next two years to the national hate crime report and support centre, run by Victim Support Cymru. That is important, as Joyce Watson said, it is also about how we're addressing this, raising awareness and supporting victims. The funding is going to be used to train volunteers and raise awareness of how to report hate crime. I visited the centre last week, along with organisations such as Stonewall Cymru and Pride, when we were looking at how we could ensure, support and advise the national hate crime report and support centre about the issues and that we were now able to extend their services with this funding.

Supporting victims is crucial, but we need to prevent hateful attitudes from forming in the first place. So, that's why we're also, through the EU transition funding, providing £350,000 to the Welsh Local Government Association for the hate crime in schools project. This project is designed to encourage children to develop their critical thinking skills, to question hateful speech and behaviour, and dissuade them from becoming perpetrators of hate crime in the future. So, activities will equip staff with the skills to challenge hate crime and support victims in school. And it is through this and the wider work on the new curriculum, which has already been mentioned, that we aim to support teaching staff to ensure that schools nurture ethical, informed citizens who contribute to more cohesive society.

We are developing a Wales-wide anti-hate crime communications campaign. We're gathering the views of people affected by hate crime to help shape the campaign. But I'm also pleased we've seen the growth of LGBT+ self-organised student groups in many of our schools. You've mentioned St Teilo's, Jenny Rathbone, the school group, and there are student-led bodies that are having a positive impact on their school communities and the attitudes and values of future generations of Welsh citizens.

I met with the GISDA project recently in north Wales. I'm horrified to hear about the assaults and the daily attitudes that those young people have faced. I raised this immediately with North Wales Police and community safety agencies, and I think there now is support coming forward.

But we do need to do all we can to advance LGBT rights through policy, funding and visible support. This can be also done through the events that we hold throughout the year—Pride events. In fact, in September, I had the honour of opening the first ever Barry Pride, and Pride events are happening in towns across Wales. The First Minister led the Pride Cymru parade in Cardiff. They do raise awareness of equality and diversity in the most visible way, and we provided £21,000 for Pride Cymru for this year's event.

I think it is important that the funding that we're giving to Stonewall Cymru, which we gave in 2017 for the equality inclusion grant, does include appointing a new education youth officer to work within schools across Wales, taking forward their school role models programme. And those role models will visit schools across Wales to tell their stories and raise awareness of LGBT people's experience. But they also have specific funding for a trans engagement officer.

So, it is through early-intervention prevention work, it's our community cohesion programme—£1.52 million over the next two years—supporting small teams in each of our eight community cohesion regions of Wales that we can improve and intensify our preventative work. And I do hope, also, that we can work together in terms of not just Welsh Government, local authorities, third sector, with the hate crime criminal justice board, but it also has to be with the UK Government.

So, we do look forward to seeing Lord Thomas's commission's report when it's published tomorrow. We'll be looking carefully at those recommendations and seeing what more we can do to improve justice outcomes. But I hope the reflection on wider issues will inform our consideration of how we can better tackle LGBT+ hate crime. We need a justice system that works for Wales, aligned with our policy drivers and commitment. 

So, in closing, I want to reiterate that we are committed to creating a society where diversity is valued and respected and where everyone can flourish. I want to have a Government debate next year on hate crime to provide that progress report you called for and to ensure that we can be held to account for the work we're doing to drive this forward.

Thank you. Can I now call on Mick Antoniw to reply to the debate?

Thank you, Deputy Llywydd. First, I start by thanking Siân Gwenllian for bringing forward and instigating this debate—I think a very timely debate. Siân, of course, has a long history of campaigning on these issues, as have quite a number of people within this Chamber, so it was good to see these coming together for this debate today.

It isn't my intention, as is sometimes traditional with these, to summarise what everyone has said, because the points have been made so powerfully; the statistics are there. So, I really just thought that it might be an opportunity to reflect, actually, on where we have come from, because certainly those of my generation and anyone brought up in school in the late 1950s and early 1960s will know that, in school, racism, homophobia and antisemitism were part of the culture of schools. The actual changes that have taken place through the 1960s, the 1970s, the 1980s to today are quite phenomenal and I think it's important to recognise them, because in recognising those, we're also able to identify what the current challenges still are.

I remember when I was a student, when the National Union of Students Wales was formed, they were one of the bodies that first, actually, went over the barricades in order to take forward the campaign for gay rights then, which was not popular. It was not a welcoming campaign that people approached with open arms. But it was one that I think young people coming up in the 1970s felt was a necessary one that had to be fought; it was part of the change in society. And in Wales, in fact, it was the Welsh national institutions that produced, I think, the first Welsh translation of the campaign—'ymgyrch hawliau hoyw'—and distributed badges at the 1976 or 1977 Eisteddfod. And it was very interesting to see all these people going around thinking they were supporting a happy campaign, but it opened the door and it was the first step to confronting the inherent cultural prejudice that existed in so many communities and in those generations.

Of course, it's also important to recognise where we came from in respect of the numbers of people who, until the laws were changed, were prosecuted and actually jailed because of their sexual orientation. In 1945, 800 men were prosecuted, because it was regarded as a male offence. In 1955, 2,500 were prosecuted, of whom 700 were jailed. So, the actual significance of what was being done in the 1950s by leaders like Bertrand Russell, Clem Attlee and Isaiah Berlin to actually bring forward the concept of law reform and to challenge those—. It's quite sad within our society sometimes that we end up with correcting so many injustices posthumously. So, Alan Turing, when Gordon Brown actually apologised, supported by David Cameron at the time, for that. So many of these issues are ones that we have to deal with in that posthumous way. And the idea of chemical castration as being part of the norm of a treatment for a criminal offence would be something we would just regard as something that was fascistic.

Of course, we lived through the 1980s campaign, the section 28 campaign, where there was a mobilisation of Conservative forces to actually re-establish norms of restriction on gay rights, and a campaign to actually fight against that. And then the action that was taken to lower the age of consent from 21 to 18, which was, in fact, the campaign to lower it to 16, but of course, because of the objections there, it was only 18 at the time. I think everyone was amazed then, again, at the real breakthrough in legislation, which was the Civil Partnership Act 2004, which I think really opened the door.

But, we can't ignore that there is a substantial growth of prejudice and bigotry that was perhaps underlying there that now re-emerges within the toxicity that exists within our politics, not just within Wales or the UK, but across Europe and internationally. It is, in part, fuelled by the growth of the far right, and it is, in part, fuelled by inequality. If you look at the situation that gay people face now in Putin's Russia, the actual physical persecution that still exists, and we deal, as Governments, with these people, so the whole issue of how our international ethics need to change to actually combat this, rather than what effectively happens internationally, which is the turning of the blind eye to those unethical events.

I was so impressed—I know I can rarely make a speech without mentioning Ukraine because of my background—that they had the Pride demonstration for the first time in Kyiv where there were no events on it and politicians joined it. To see that comparator between what is happening there and then what is happening in Moscow, I think is important, because we live within this global world, yet there are still 73 countries where being gay is still not legal. So, I won't go through the statements on that, but clearly there are major issues within our communities in terms of sex education, training and the role that that actually plays. And I think we all still know that there is an enormous, long way to go, an undercurrent.

I not very long ago had a phone call during one of the election campaigns, someone lobbying me to ask me about what we were going to do about the obscenity of homosexuality that was being taught within our schools. The only way I thought I could respond was by saying, 'Well, my son is gay, what do you suggest I say to him?' and the phone was put down. But there is that undercurrent that feels more capable of talking in that particular way, and I think there are links between the forms of prejudice, of racism and bigotry that have emerged.

Can I also say—? In my past role, working as a trade union lawyer, the work that the trade union reps have done and the gay reps have done within our trade unions to actually give voice and representation. I'll never forget one representative who I was talking to and giving advice to on something was telling me that in his capacity as rep, his parents had never spoken to him since he declared that he was gay, and that there were still people like that, who basically don't have those sorts of family connections anymore.

We saw recently the attack on Owen Jones, the journalist, which was clearly a provoked gay attack on him, and because of his outspoken positions. So, I very much welcome how far we have come, but it is important to understand how far we still have to go. So, I very much look forward to what Lord Thomas is going to say tomorrow, because the key thing about devolution and the legal system—it's not about law for law's sake, but it's about laws being there to enable policy to actually work, to be implemented and enforced, and it's creating that framework.

I welcome all the speeches that have been made today. I'm just going to concentrate on a couple, because I thought Joyce—

No, no, I think you're going to have to be quick.

I'll conclude now. Joyce Watson has made a couple of very important points: the impact of social media, the importance of reporting mechanisms, the points from Stonewall about the tip of the iceberg and, for example, what has been happening in Birmingham and the lessons we must be aware of and learn from that. And to welcome very much what the Minister has said in terms of the funding, the reporting and the campaigns. But as the old National Union of Miners miners have always said, the price of freedom is eternal vigilance, and we need to be vigilant in this area as in so many other areas at this very difficult, toxic political time and situation that we live in. Thank you.

Thank you. The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? No, therefore, the motion's agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.