I thank very much the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip for her statement on Hate Crime Awareness Week, and I do agree that there are different statistics that will offer different measures, but the prescience of this statement can be seen by the 2019-20 national hate crime statistics for England and Wales that were published by the Home Office today. They show that overall 2 per cent increase in recorded hate crime for Wales, compared to an 8 per cent increase across England and Wales as a whole. This smaller increase, though, is an increase that we in Wales will do everything to counter.

As the Minister stated, the statistics included a 10 per cent increase in transgender hate crime, a 2 per cent rise in disability hate crime and a 2 per cent rise in hate crime where sexual orientation is that motivating factor. This is additional to the recent strategic rise, as has been alluded to by Leanne Wood, in hate crime over the last two years, contrary to the earlier trend. Too often, I think we can fall into this trap of believing that we are dealing with an abstract, with theoretical data and issues within the Chamber of this Senedd, this Welsh Parliament, but behind each one of these figures are real lives, individual human stories, mothers and fathers, grandparents, sisters and brothers, and their lives are blighted in society, sometimes feeling diminished, different and ostracised. So, these, Deputy Minister, as has been alluded to, are the tip of the iceberg of reported crimes; underneath that, lies an iceberg.

Minister, following recent measure announcements and the 'Nation of Sanctuary' and the Welsh Government signing the Victim Support Cymru hate crime charter, how can the Welsh Government continue in its real and active effort to further eradicate the scourge of hate crime and how can Welsh Government aid the work of important, critical partner agencies, such as Gwent Police in my constituency, who are actively working to protect all of the citizens that they represent? And to conclude, I also wish to echo the Deputy Minister: if you have suffered from any hate crime, please come forward and report, because Wales will listen and Wales will act. Thank you.