The Impact of COVID-19 on Inequalities

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Finance and Trefnydd – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 13 January 2021.

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Photo of Rebecca Evans Rebecca Evans Labour 1:35, 13 January 2021

Nick Ramsay's right that inequalities have been exacerbated by the COVID pandemic, and we have seen those people who were already disadvantaged become more so as a result of the pandemic. I think the work that we've done to support the third sector in this financial year has been really important in terms of expanding our reach into communities. We, in this financial year, have provided £26.5 million in our third sector response to the COVID-19 crisis, and that was delivered through multi-agency approaches involving the Wales Council for Voluntary Action and the 19 voluntary councils working alongside their statutory partners. So, over 270 organisations have been supported under the voluntary services and emergency recovery fund, enabling nearly 9,000 volunteers to reach out to over 975,000 beneficiaries, and those funds cover a range of support, including advice provision, access to food parcels, medicines delivery and so forth. So, I think that our response to this crisis has created a really strong network upon which we can build in future years.