1. Will the Deputy Minister make a statement on support for women’s refuges in Wales during the COVID-19 pandemic? OQ56035

This year, we have invested over £4 million of additional funding in the violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence sector. This includes £1.3 million of new money for disbursed community-based accommodation, which will free up refuge space. And during the pandemic, I've repurposed funding to support refuges and published guidance for providers.

Thank you, Deputy Minister, and I acknowledge that support and welcome it greatly. I've recently spoken to Rhondda Cynon Taf Women's Aid, who tell me that they can't get onsite COVID-19 testing for staff or residents of refuges, which is causing them problems and impacting on their ability to help people in need. Can you raise this with colleagues in Welsh Government, so that women's refuges can perhaps be treated in the same way as care homes for the purpose of COVID testing?

I thank Vikki Howells for that important question, and I have raised this with the violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence strategic group. That meets regularly with all the service providers, and they invited the test, trace and protect officials to attend the meeting to discuss this with the strategic group, to answer questions and address concerns. So, Welsh Government is currently considering access to testing for asymptomatic underrepresented groups. This would include both workers and clients in hospitals, as well as refuges, because they are being considered as part of this work. And I think test, trace and protect protocols would apply, of course. If anyone living or working in a refuge is able to access testing, they obviously have to show symptoms of coronavirus. But, those in refuges who have vulnerabilities and receive support services, we need to ensure that we can access this, and I believe the discussions ongoing with the providers, and Women's Aid, of course, will lead us to the right outcome. 

Deputy Minister, a report from the National Rural Crime Network last year, highlighted by Welsh Women's Aid, found that, for victims of domestic violence in rural areas, and I'm going to quote directly here, 'barriers to action' are 

'far more complicated and inhibiting' in rural areas than in urban areas;

'in rural areas it seems likely victims do not know where to go to for the type of support required; it is harder to coordinate or access and the fear of any approaches becoming known is higher.'

Given that fewer survivors in rural settings disclose, services obviously will need to be based on need rather than demand, and it requires a deliberate strategy to ensure research, data and analysis are not skewed towards the urban demands and are fully inclusive of our rural communities. So, I just wondered, Deputy Minister, if you could outline what actions your Government has taken to redress this urban bias, and to ensure that the needs of rural victims of domestic violence are also fully addressed. 

Thank you to Angela Burns for that important question. And the issues of rurality are being addressed. In fact, I thank Joyce Watson, who convened and hosted a meeting on the White Ribbon Week that specifically focused, with the National Federation of Women's Institutes, on issues of domestic violence in rural areas. And issues—. For example, the ways in which we can support and help have been made available. We've got six video-conferencing suites across Dyfed-Powys, in your region, to make it easier to hold those all-important, cross-sector case conferences, the multi-agency risk assessment conferences. We've provided additional funding for disbursed community-based accommodation, provided funding to enable witnesses to give evidence remotely, with support from service providers. And indeed, in terms of that extra money for community-based accommodation, £427,543 has been allocated directly to Mid and West Wales. But training is crucially important—around 30,000 professionals trained through our national training framework in Mid and West Wales last year. So, it has to be an all-Wales response. But rurality, I can assure the Member, is crucial in terms of reaching out and providing that support.