Survivors of Domestic Violence

Part of Questions to the Deputy Minister and Chief Whip – in the Senedd at 2:38 pm on 2 February 2021.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 2:38, 2 February 2021

Thank you, Delyth Jewell, for raising that important question, because we must make sure that this money that's been allocated does actually reach those specialist services. Because the sector itself—and, as I said, my officials, and indeed myself, when I can, meet the sector regularly—have received over £4 million of additional funding this year; it's an extra 67 per cent compared with last year. And this is also about ensuring that we're investing in the needs of the sector, particularly, for example, in terms of accommodation, the dispersed community based accommodation—so capital as well as revenue. And it is important also that the extra revenue funding does respond to the needs that have been raised with us during the pandemic. I of course will talk to my officials about the ways in which we can ensure that that money not only reaches the specialist services, but that they can spend it and that there is that flexibility. Because it is crucial that the extra money that we've been able to raise in the budget as a result of the pandemic, and, indeed, through into the draft budget, does reach those victims and the women particularly who are escaping domestic violence and abuse, and that five years into our VAWDASV legislation—pioneering legislation—it actually is delivering at the sharp end.