1. In light of the events in the USA, across the world and protests in Wales following the death of George Floyd, will the Welsh Government outline its policies on community cohesion? TQ441

I thank the Member for the question. The death of George Floyd is a tragedy. The impacts of this case are felt globally, and Wales is not immune from racism. We must continue to confront it. Our community cohesion and equality and inclusion programme embeds close engagement with black, Asian and minority ethnic communities to foster good relations and to tackle race inequality in Wales.

Thanks, Minister. I sit here today as the first Welsh-born person of colour to be elected to our national Parliament. My life experience has been the same as a lot of people with brown or black skin in Wales: violent attacks, wrongful arrest, racial slurs and negative stereotyping with the really clever middle-class racism that we encounter. Only last week, I had to correct a published article to tell them that I existed and that Wales's first ever then AM of colour, Dr Altaf Hussain, existed. And BBC Wales were at it again yesterday, in ignoring two Members of the Senedd of colour.

I think we've made progress, but have we really made the progress that we think we've made in terms of class and race? The professional side of the Senedd needs to be more representative of the Wales we live in. In our Parliament it's rare to see people of colour who are not in security, catering or cleansing. Maybe we should look back to the future. The Welsh National Party believes that Wales should have a constitution with a bill of rights, where we can all sign up to being Welsh and talk about what unites us. It doesn't matter where we're from, we can all choose to be Welsh. Our foremothers and forefathers in Tiger Bay showed the way in how to develop a multicultural, loving, harmonious society in the dock area, where my mother was brought up. So, will you support defining in law what it is to be Welsh in Wales through a constitution?

Before finishing, I must say that the murder of George Floyd was horrific. May he rest in peace, and may his legacy be social change throughout the world. Diolch yn fawr. 

Diolch yn fawr, Neil McEvoy, and thank you for asking this question and for expressing it in such a direct and personal way, in terms of your own experiences and the experiences that you've shared with us today. I am reminded of the fact that, just over a year ago, in fact, we had our first debate on race in the Assembly, on tackling racism across Wales. What was good about that debate was it was a cross-party debate. We all signed up to that debate. But what is absolutely clear—and it's the responsibility of all political parties, of course, but particularly of the Welsh Government and, indeed, in terms of all the work that we've been doing in the last few weeks to tackle the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on BAME communities and those who are on the front line, not just in the NHS, social care, but also many in all of the key worker posts. So that's why I'm very pleased that we have got this discussion today, the question from the leader of Plaid Cymru and the response from the First Minister making it clear that we're united to be appalled by the horror of the death of George Floyd last week. 

I'm also very conscious of the fact that Vaughan Gething spoke up as the first black Minister of any of the UK's devolved Governments in 2013, speaking after posting his video online, calling on us all to unite. I respect the work of Black Lives Matter. Black Lives Matter, of course, spoke up and came together over the weekend. Indeed, I've just come this morning from a cross-party group, chaired by John Griffiths, on race, where we heard the details about the Welsh risk assessment tool, which has been mentioned already this morning, which was published and launched last week by the First Minister and the Minister for Health and Social Services. We are also, crucially, importantly, taking on board the socioeconomic issues, and I committed again this morning, as I did a few months ago, to a Wales race action plan.

Mark Isherwood. Mark Isherwood. I can't seem to see him on my screen either, so he's no longer—

I am there. Yes, I'm here. 

Yes, you are. 

Sorry, my sound might have been off, but I am there. 

Yes. You carry on with your question now, Mark. 

Right. On hate crimes, ignorance and prejudice, there's some wonderful work, for instance in north Wales, NWAMI, Networking for World Awareness of Multicultural Integration, which recognises that the best way to tackle that is through integration, through engagement, through sharing together. They're doing some wonderful work during the pandemic delivering food parcels, particularly to members of the black, Asian and minority ethnic community who are isolating and who have dietary requirements due to medical or cultural needs. So, how can we better acknowledge the good work of organisations such as NWAMI and support that work, where it's often lost because it's soft as opposed to hard? It's engaging with people through cultural activities and celebration, and food, music and dance, alongside the more substantive solid projects that Welsh Government and others are also engaged with.

Thank you very much, Mark Isherwood, and NWAMI, I know well of their work; we've discussed it. We talked about it in a forum recently, at a BAME meeting that was held, organised by the Ethnic Minorities and Youth Support Team and Race Council Cymru, who have organised many forums over the last few weeks. And the north Wales one, I particularly heard from NWAMI about their work in Bangor particularly relating to supporting the community—not just international students, but the community. And also, I've raised with Lesley Griffiths, the Minister, about the importance of recognising cultural needs in terms of our food box delivery, and this is very much reflected in the community cohesion that we've seen over the past few weeks.

So, NWAMI is an important force for good for progress and community cohesion in north Wales, alongside many of the other organisations that I've spoken to. In fact, over the last few weeks we've had virtual online forums; the Wales race forum has met twice; we've met with these regional groups, one in Newport that John Griffiths attended. But I think it's important that we recognise that we'd already put funding into hate crime projects: £480,000 from the EU transition fund, and those hate crime projects and, indeed, further funding of £350,000 for tackling racism in schools. We know that Show Racism the Red Card in schools has a huge impact on children's learning and understanding. And that work, already those organisations, third sector BAME organisations, and it always includes those at the grass-roots level because they have such an impact and they're doing the work, as you say, culturally, socially and meeting the needs of some of the most excluded parts of our community. 

I thank the Deputy Minister. We will now break for an hour before afternoon session commences. And therefore, the broadcast should cease. 

Plenary was suspended at 12:18.

The Senedd reconvened at 13:20 with the Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) in the Chair.