I now intend to hand the Chair back over to David Melding for item 12, which is a debate on the Equality and Human Rights Commission Wales committee's impact report 2019-20. I call on the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip to move the motion—Jane Hutt.

David Melding took the Chair.

Motion NDM7496 Rebecca Evans

To propose that the Senedd:

Notes the Equality and Human Rights Commission Wales Committee Impact Report 2019-20.

Motion moved.

Diolch, Dirprwy Lywydd. I welcome this debate on the Equality and Human Rights Commission Wales impact report for 2019-20. This is an unprecedented time for equality and human rights in the UK and communities have been facing exceptional challenges as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. We're all aware some people are disproportionately and adversely affected more than others. I'd like to thank the interim chairs, Dr Alison Parken and Martyn Jones, the Wales board and staff of the EHRC for their continued work in highlighting inequalities and promoting equality and human rights in Wales during this challenging time, and for this impact report.

In their report, the EHRC highlighted as one of their priority areas the importance of education in creating a more equal and fair society. In the new curriculum, learners will explore the local, national, and global context to all aspects of learning. They will learn how to make connections and develop understanding within a diverse society. Last July, the Minister for Education appointed Professor Charlotte Williams to chair the black, Asian and minority ethnic communities, contributions and cynefin in the new curriculum working group. The work of the group includes—but goes beyond—black history, to consider a range of minority ethnicities as part of the story of Wales. Membership comprises experienced practitioners and contributors to black, Asian and minority ethnic and Welsh history.

Transport is also a key policy theme. It's vital to employment, education and access to services, and affects our social and community well-being and health. I'm grateful to the EHRC for providing invaluable advice and information to inform the development of the transport strategy, including information on older and disabled people's experiences of using public transport. The formal consultation closed yesterday, but 'Llwybr Newydd'—new path—sets out a long-term vision for an accessible and sustainable transport system.

Whilst the EHRC report mentions criminal justice, this remains a reserved matter, but many of the services needed to support offenders, ex-offenders and promote rehabilitation are devolved, and the responsibility of the Welsh Government. Last year, the Commission on Justice in Wales published its report, 'Justice in Wales for the People of Wales', and of particular relevance is the finding that the funding of legal advice services through legal aid means access to justice is not universally available across Wales. The commission on justice highlighted growing advice challenges in some areas, a serious risks to the long-term sustainability of many legal practices. But recognising this, the EHRC trained advice providers and public sector workers to raise awareness of discrimination so they can better respond to their clients' needs.

Members will be aware that the Welsh Government introduced the single advice fund to help meet the increasing demand for access to advice services. Ten million pounds of grant funding has been made available for provision of information and advice services from January last year until March this year. It's important that we recognise that advice services have had to change, with the single advice fund providers transferring their face-to-face advice services to remote channels—telephone, e-mail, web chat—a mammoth undertaking by the providers to transfer their services, but reaching out to so many.

It remains the intention of this Government to commence the socioeconomic duty, which will come into force by 31 March. The duty will require certain public bodies to consider the socioeconomic impact when making strategic decisions, and I'm proud our Government is taking this forward. But we've worked closely with the EHRC to prepare for the commencement, and to ensure the duty delivers its intended impact. It is important also that we've taken forward action in a number of other areas where EHRC have engaged with us: the race equality action plan for Wales, the LGBT+ action plan, research into the impact of COVID-19 on disabled people—we're awaiting a report that's been commissioned from Professor Debbie Foster of Cardiff University on that particular subject—but also, importantly, research into opportunities to strengthen and advance equality and human rights in Wales.

I think it's useful to just take note that we have worked to develop plans for Wales that have been co-constructed, particularly the race equality action plan, involving grass-roots groups, young people, older people, along with Welsh Government staff networks, with black, Asian and minority ethnic staff engaging in the vision for the race equality action plan. I think it's also important that the EHRC has played a part in our steering group, in the research into opportunities to strengthen equality and human rights in Wales. We've had many calls for action to strengthen and enhance our equality and human rights in Wales. We've commissioned research to inform future discussions, and a draft report is due next month.

The EHRC's impact report debated today provides us with just a brief taste of the commission's work in Wales, and continues to emphasise the importance of the EHRC's contribution to Welsh life, to improve lives and safeguard rights and help create a more equal Wales. Diolch yn fawr.

I welcome this debate this afternoon on the equality and human rights annual review. The review sets out five priority aims for strengthening the equality and human rights laws in Wales, and it's those things I wish to address in my remarks today.

Their first aim is to promote equal access to the labour market. The sad fact is that women continue to be under-represented in the workforce. Women are more likely to be working in part-time, low-paid roles, and often have to make difficult decisions about whether to work or take on the responsibility of caring for their children. As a result, poverty rates in Wales remain stubbornly high. Women's risk of poverty is closely linked to their position in the labour market and within households. As second earners or primary carers, many women have limited independent income, leaving them especially vulnerable to falling into poverty in the event of a relationship breakdown. This has a direct impact on pay and progression and contributes to the gender pay gap.

Figures published by the Wales TUC in March reveal gender pay gaps as high as 25 per cent in some parts of Wales. Chwarae Teg has a vision for Wales to become a world leader in gender equality, where all women are able to reach their full potential, and I very much share that vision. To achieve this, we have to address another priority aim—to promote equality in the education system. I'm concerned that, all too often, careers advice tends to guide women towards apprenticeships in sectors where pay is less than in those dominated by men. Apprenticeships are often a route into careers in non-traditional sectors, and the gender imbalance is even more stark here. Women accounted for just 2.4 per cent of apprenticeship starts in construction, engineering and manufacturing in 2017-18. As the London School of Economics found, to stop the perpetuation of gender inequality through schools, as well as to address its existence in society at large, initiatives to promote gender equality in and through schools are imperative. Schools have enormous potential to effect change in gender relations, views and practices. 

Acting Presiding Officer, I want to say a few words about the priority aim of supporting the economic and social inclusion of the disabled and elderly through public transport. While improvements have been made, 21 per cent of Welsh railway stations still have no step-free access, making them inaccessible to elderly and disabled passengers. All trains in the UK were meant to be fully accessible by January 2020, but some carriages still do not conform with the law, and a number of stations have steep steps and no lifts or ramps for people to access platforms. The charity Leonard Cheshire has claimed that disabled people's lives are being blighted by inaccessible local stations, and trains not being fit for purpose. Last week, we marked the international day of disabled people. This provided an opportunity for us to reiterate our commitment to create inclusive, accessible and sustainable communities for the disabled here in Wales. Addressing the problem of accessibility of transport for our disabled and elderly people will enable us to do that. 

Acting Presiding Officer, on behalf of the Welsh Conservatives, I welcome this report and the aims it identifies to remove barriers to equal opportunity as we progress to create a fair, just and fully-inclusive Wales. Thank you.  

I'd like to start my contribution to this debate with a quote from the EHRC Wales committee chair, Martyn Jones: 'Behind the statistics are real people with lived experiences of discrimination and inequality. We need to shine a light on the positive contribution made by all groups in society on a daily basis. We must change the narrative from one of burden and negativity to one that empowers individuals to be who they want to be, regardless of their age, sex or socioeconomic background. Everyone has the right to be treated with dignity and respect.'

We in Plaid Cymru would agree. We want Wales to be a fair and just society where everyone is treated equally and enjoys the same rights, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, religion or sexual orientation. The real lived experiences of discrimination and inequality must be recognised when drawing up policies across all Government departments. That's why I welcome the commitment by the Welsh Government to bring the socioeconomic duty into force in March 2021, and I hope this will lead to a cross-Government approach to reducing inequality and poverty through a national outcomes model. This good progress stands in contrast to the Tories in Westminster, who seem intent on undermining human rights, and that is a strong argument in favour of seeking the responsibility for equalities legislation to be devolved to Wales.

Although most of the work highlighted in this report was carried out before the coronavirus pandemic, we cannot ignore the current context from an equalities perspective. COVID has disproportionately affected older people and disabled people, with impacts including mortality, isolation from family and friends, as well as significant effects on physical and mental health. Reduced care availability and the introduction of isolation measures have resulted in nearly 200,000 more people in Wales undertaking unpaid caring responsibilities since the start of the pandemic.

Around a quarter of the adult population of Wales—700,000 people—now care for a family member or friend. I want to see the Deputy Minister commit to placing equalities at the heart of the Welsh Government's pandemic recovery planning, policy development, and implementation, including assessing equality impact and publishing these assessments. Communities and affected groups should be encouraged and enabled to participate in the decision-making process. We have an opportunity to equalise post COVID. Let's do what we can to see that through.

I welcome the report and the debate we're having in the Senedd today. It is a somewhat strange debate, because it relates to a UK-based organisation, on non-devolved functions, which has reported to this Senedd, which we vote on, and we have very little say in the mandate and framework within which it operates. So, I want to express my dissatisfaction with what I think is a timid report and its content, and, indeed, the state of human rights in Wales and the UK, which I believe is a direct result of the actions of this Tory Government in Westminster.

Now, I don't criticise the staff of the EHRC, but I do criticise the direction of the EHRC, which has been, since 2010, downgraded year after year. In 2007, when it was set up, it had a budget of £70 million. This year, some 13 years later, it has a budget of £17 million. So, it's no wonder it's so limited in what it can do and, in my estimation, has had something like a 500 per cent plus cut in its resources. That shouldn't be a surprise to us, because the UK Government has downgraded human rights just as it has downgraded, for example, the health and safety executive. These bodies that should be at the forefront of human rights and workers' safety rights have effectively been deliberately neutered. The Prime Minister and his predecessors have, from day one, attacked the Human Rights Act 1998 and the European convention on human rights, and, as we all know, even attempted to pass laws to allow the UK Government to break international law, and the Welsh Conservatives have collaborated in that agenda.

Turning to the report itself, it is, in my view, wholly inadequate and disappointing. The detail is limited and it fails to report on some of the big challenges facing Wales. In fact, there is more detail in the UK report relating to Wales than there is in the Welsh report. It fails to tackle head on the diminution of access to justice in Wales, the closure of courts. It fails to refer in any way to the way in which our communities have now limited access to justice and, in fact, were it not for the Welsh Government's support for citizens advice and support networks, there would be virtually no access to justice for so many people in Wales. It fails to make any useful comment on the impact of UK Government welfare reforms on inequality and poverty, and the disastrous roll-out of universal credit has not even been mentioned. Part of the problem is that its mandate now from UK Government is so watered down that it has become virtually invisible. I believe it is time that the functions of the EHRC in Wales were fully devolved, and I say the same for the health and safety executive. I cannot see how these bodies can any longer function effectively until their organisation and their mandate is devolved and becomes properly accountable to this Senedd and thereby to the people of Wales. Diolch.

And the Minister to reply to the debate.

Thank you, acting Deputy Presiding Officer. I would like to thank Members of the Senedd for participating today, clearly demonstrating why it's important that the Equality and Human Rights Commission continues to have a strong and distinct presence in Wales, taking on board, of course, Mick Antoniw's challenges, as far as that's concerned their ability to deliver in terms of the restrictions not just on their budget but also in terms of their relationships and our powers here in Wales in relation to equality and human rights. Of course, that's what the research that we're undertaking is enabling us to look at, to test out in terms of strengthening equality and human rights, for us to consider whether we need to legislate in this field. I'm grateful for the contributions that have been made in the debate today, and particularly, Laura Anne Jones, the fact that you focused on gender, women's rights, equal access to the labour market and the difficulties and barriers that women still face. I think it's interesting that we've got the gender budgeting pilot now in terms of personal learning accounts, and we discussed that in the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee last week, because that, actually, does identify where we need to target and focus on particular barriers facing women, and still the gender segregation in the labour market. But, of course, the Chwarae Teg gender equality review does provide us with a road map to continue to address many of those issues. 

Of course, also, Leanne speaks very powerfully about the importance of us learning and engaging, as Martyn Jones has said, in terms of the lived experience of those who are facing inequality and disadvantage. And I think one of the points that I'd like to—I shone a bit of a light on the work that we're doing with the race equality action plan. This plan should and must demonstrate our commitment as an anti-racist Government. We're trying to ensure that we learn through the lived experience of those who are engaging with us, through mentoring schemes, for example, and grants to small grass-roots organisations, as I've said, but also recognising that we need to make real cultural change in order to deliver on those objectives. And we have trialled many approaches through the plan with, for example, the steering group chaired by both Professor Emmanuel Ogbonna and the Permanent Secretary, which, of course, is a real step change in the way that we do business in Wales. But, of course, Leanne and, indeed, Mick Antoniw are completely clear about the challenge that we've got in terms of socioeconomic inequalities, which came through very clearly in terms of the work that was done by our black, Asian and minority ethnic COVID-19 advisory group—that we needed to look at the socioeconomic impacts of coronavirus on people and communities in terms of the socioeconomic factors and not just clinical factors that may be disproportionately impacting on black, Asian and minority ethnic communities. So, again, the socioeconomic duty that we are enacting is a crucial sign of this Government's commitment to enacting that.

I'm interested as well that there are a lot of calls in England for this to be enacted—Part 1 of the Equality Act 2010. We are determined to enact it and I think there's strong support in this Senedd as well, based on the evidence that you receive in your committees. Again, that's been clearly highlighted in the committee chaired by John Griffiths as a crucial way forward in terms of us tackling socioeconomic disadvantage in terms of inequality.

So, in terms of responding to the Equality and Human Rights Commission impact report, we have got some insights into their work and their priorities in Wales, and also recognise, as I have identified, ways in which we can work together to deliver on the opportunities that we can share in terms of strengthening equality and advancing human rights. But as of today, it is about the opportunity that we do have to deliver for the people of Wales in terms of tackling inequalities, focusing, as we are now, on the impact of coronavirus on equality and human rights.

And finally, to say that, as you know and as has been said very clearly by the Welsh Government and by the First Minister, and, indeed, the Counsel General in terms of recovery, equality and human rights are at the heart of recovery and continuity plans. And the equality impact assessments, as Leanne Wood has asked, have to guide and steer every decision that we make in the Welsh Government. Diolch yn fawr.

Thank you, Minister. The proposal is to agree the motion. Does any Member object? I do not think that there is an objection. The motion is therefore agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Motion agreed in accordance with Standing Order 12.36.

Now, in accordance with Standing Order 12.18, I will suspend the meeting before we proceed to voting time.

Plenary was suspended at 17:55.

The Senedd reconvened at 17:59, with the Deputy Presiding Officer (Ann Jones) in the Chair.