1. Will the Deputy Minister provide an update on measures to tackle hate crime in Wales? OAQ54993

We've significantly increased our investment in tackling hate crime in recent months to address the rise in hateful narratives. And I'll lead a debate in March providing an update on action to tackle hate crime with our partners in Wales.

Thank you for the reply, Minister. Welsh police forces recorded nearly 4,000 hate crimes in 2018-19. Eleven per cent of these incidents were disability hate crimes—shocking. The learning disability charity United Response has called for measures to be taken across the country and by the authorities to make the process of reporting and convicting disability hate crimes more accessible and less daunting for victims. They went on to say they feel the process is currently a significant barrier to criminals being given the punishment they deserve, especially in the context of the dramatic rise in repeat offenders. Minister, will you take action to address the specific needs of disabled people with regard to reporting hate crime in Wales, please?

I thank you very much for that question, Oscar, because it is true that the rise in disability hate crime was a shocking statistic last year. We have put more funding into our national hate crime report and support centre over the next two years, and that's also on top of annual funding that we give. And we're also developing an anti-hate crime campaign in terms of communications, and we're going to focus particularly on hate crime affecting disabled people, and learning from, for example, the organisation People First—you will be aware of the People First organisations across Wales—so that learning disabled people can contribute to that communications campaign in terms of tackling disabled people's hate crime, which, unfortunately, has been on the rise.

Minister, would you agree with me that hate crime against the Gypsy/Traveller community must be treated with equal seriousness as hate crime against any other community or minority in Wales? I recently met with local members of my Gypsy/Traveller community, and they feel very strongly that too often that isn't the case. They gave examples of social media postings, for example, that were discriminatory, prejudicial and clearly hate crime, but when they tried to get effective action, they found it very, very difficult. Their plea, really, was that hate crime against their community must be treated with equal seriousness as any other hate crime.

Again, I thank John Griffiths for that important question and, indeed, we must treat hate crime against Gypsy/Traveller/Roma communities with equal vigour, as we are against disability hate crime, race hate crime, LGBT hate crime, all the hate crimes that unfortunately are in our midst. And, of course, I'm pleased that we are investing not only in our Travelling Ahead fund in terms of ensuring that we do have Gypsy sites across Wales, but also working with local authorities and those third sector organisations that we are supporting the Gypsy/Traveller/Roma community. And can I also say that it's very important that we have an all-party group to tackle these issues? I meet regularly with Isaac Blake from the Gypsy/Traveller Romani Cultural and Arts Company, and we are funding them in terms of addressing these issues.