2. Will the Deputy Minister make a statement on how the Welsh Government is monitoring levels of domestic abuse during the emergency period? OQ55340

I monitor weekly figures on contacts to our Live Fear Free helpline and the number of refuge spaces across Wales. To address the impact of COVID-19, a weekly meeting is held for all of our violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence stakeholders with Welsh Government to assess the situation, and a campaign, 'Home shouldn't be a place of fear', launched on 7 May. 

Thank you for that, Minister. I think we're all aware that there's been an increase in domestic abuse over the last few months. I'm very concerned that we do hear warm words from Government, but we see little investment in the services to help and support women and children, who are sometimes in quite desperate need. We have some fantastic organisations and some brilliant people in Blaenau Gwent, but they need more support and greater support. They need the resources and the investment to reach out and help women who are fleeing from abuse and violence at home. 

I want the Welsh Government to provide us active support, Minister. We don't need warm words, we don't need meetings, we don't need assessments. We need action, and I hope, Minister, that you will be able to provide that action and that impetus to meet the needs of these women who are running away from violence at home and who are in a terrible situation in too many cases. 

I thank Alun Davies for his question, and for raising this today. It's a key priority for me, and, indeed, it is important that we meet with those  specialist providers, such as the services provided in Blaenau Gwent, to find out from the front line in terms of the impact of domestic abuse in the lockdown and how that has actually prevented people from coming forward. I know that you have raised this issue, particularly in terms of constituents who've been affected, but we have provided funding—£1.2 million of new money—to buy dispersed community-based accommodation. We've provided an additional £250,000 of new money to support the delivery of VAWDASV services.

Also, those services are benefiting from the £10 million homelessness package provided for emergency accommodation, and of course, as you know, there is regional work in terms of specialist needs and providers, and close working with the police, which has been particularly important. Can I say that we've just also allocated over £100,000 to Welsh Women's Aid to provide strategic support to those at the front line? It is very important that we recognise that, as we come out of the lockdown, the needs will indeed possibly be even greater as victims come forward. But it is during the lockdown that we've had to work very closely and ensure that our funding gets out to those services.

Minister, I was listening to your answer to the Member for Blaenau Gwent, and what's really important is that this level of support is understood, that it's making a difference on the ground. Very often, people who are affected greatly by domestic violence are the children in households where domestic violence has been undertaken. What confidence can you give me as a Member and my constituents that the help that you are putting in place is being targeted to support the children, who very often end up in the crossfire of this horrendous crime against individuals?

Well, I'm grateful to Andrew R.T. Davies for that question, specifically focusing on the needs of those children. We have to recognise that there have been households who have been victims of domestic violence who haven't been able to communicate. In the early days, our Live Fear Free helpline wasn't receiving those calls. In fact, we were encouraging people to use the 999 plus 55. The police have been crucially important, because that was a way in which they could get out to seek support. But also recognising that many of those victims would have come forward if their children were at school. Hub schools have been very important, but we've also got pharmacies and supermarkets to be our link places where victims might be able to go and get support and advice.

I think the 'Home shouldn't be a place of fear' campaign has actually stimulated and brought out calls for support and calls for help, and that's where all our specialist providers have to step in. We obviously need to look particularly at those needs of children and I think, as the schools reopen, that will be another important place where both victims and those children can benefit from going back into school and back into the sort of support that they will need.