Domestic Violence and Abuse

Part of 1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd at 2:18 pm on 11 February 2020.

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Photo of Mark Drakeford Mark Drakeford Labour 2:18, 11 February 2020

Llywydd, can I thank Joyce Watson for that and for the consistent way, over so many years, that she herself has spoken up on these issues here in the Chamber? And she's right: it's genuinely humbling to be at an event when survivors of domestic violence and abuse and other forms of abuse in the home tell their stories, and do it because of their determination to encourage others to have the courage to do the same thing, and the 'ask and act' approach that I referred to in my answer to Paul Davies is very much part of that.

To just recap a couple of the things I said earlier, Llywydd: the Welsh Government has found the resources to train 167,500 workers in the techniques required by the Act. We fund the Live Fear Free helpline to the tune of £455,000 every year. In the quarter to December, there were over 8,000 incoming calls to that helpline, which, I think, is at least some reflection of the success that campaigns last year have had, and workers on the helpline themselves made nearly 2,000 calls to follow up on issues that people phoning into the helpline had raised with them, to get them the help that Paul Davies referred to earlier.

In this financial year, we will provide over £200,000 to the Welsh sexual violence service, including specialist training for staff and direct support to victims of sexual violence, to make sure that the people who came to the event that Joyce Watson referred to—and help us to make sure that the voice of survivors is always there, shaping the work that we do, to make sure that that goes on being supported here in Wales.