Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:46 pm on 14 January 2020.
I'm aware we've had many statements on steel in this Chamber, and I'm grateful for that, but over the weekend I was reliably informed that one particular contractor in Port Talbot has laid off 16 members of staff already. Basically, they were told by Tata that they would get the invoice for the goods that they bought to do a job but that they won't be carrying forth with that particular operation; that's as much detail as I can go into. But I would like for a statement to be given by the Welsh Government specifically on contractors, because it seems that they're the first to go. Many of them are employed by agencies and don't have the same rights as the formal Tata workers in Port Talbot. So, I would like to hear what the Welsh Government are doing specifically on the contractors, because this may be one company, but what will happen then with other contracting companies in the town? It will have a knock-on effect on jobs and prosperity.
The second issue that I wanted to raise with you: you have kindly written to the Office for National Statistics with regard to the census. Clearly, those like the singer Kizzy Crawford who are campaigning because there's no option on the census for a black Welsh definition option, only black British, say they want a specific option on the census—for those who haven't been following it—for Welsh and black. Now, my colleagues Leanne Wood and Liz Saville Roberts have written to the ONS and they've had a response back saying that you can complete a write-in option to define yourself as black Welsh, which I don't think is sufficient enough and doesn't go far enough. They've told Leanne Wood and Liz Saville Roberts in a letter that they've done a significant amount of surveying and questioning in Wales, which I'm totally unaware of, because otherwise I don't think we'd have this outrage. What more can you do to pressurise the ONS not to put forward this Bill to Parliament in 2020 before they consult further on those questions and options? Because I feel that the BME community here in Wales is being let down.