Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:38 pm on 23 March 2021.
Diolch yn fawr, John Griffiths, and can I thank you, in your capacity as Chair of the Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee, for bringing this to the fore, in terms of your seminal reports in terms of exposing the inequalities, as a result of the impact of coronavirus, particularly on black, Asian, and minority ethnic people in communities, but also other people in groups with protected characteristics. And it's been important to have that scrutiny and that questioning from the Senedd in terms of preparations for taking this work forward, and, also, in terms of your role as Senedd Member for Newport East.
And I know that you and Jayne Bryant, your colleague, had a meeting, of course, with Vaughan Gething recently, and with community leaders, to look at the importance of raising the message of community engagement about the roll-out of the vaccination programme, and it's very good to hear of the mosque opening its doors to be a vaccination centre. But that's about trust—trust and engagement—that you have developed in your role as a Senedd Member and, also, Chair of the committee, and saying that this is about thinking differently and this has got to actually deliver change. And, also, seeing that this is something where, for example, one of our mentors—. One of our mentors is a councillor, Councillor Abdul-Majid Rahman, from Newport, who has huge experience and, also, being a member of the cabinet in Newport City Council, bringing to us not just his experience, but also saying how important local government is in terms of delivering those services, and recognising this is not a strategy, it's an action plan, and we had the Welsh Local Government Association clearly involved as a stakeholder.
But also, Gypsy, Traveller and Roma experience through mentoring and through also their engagement on the race forum, is very much impacting on the outcomes in the action plan. If you look at every department in the Welsh Government, they have responsibilities and action points that include that community. And also, that we've managed to extend the funding for the support for EU citizens in terms of settled status up until the end of this calendar year and having their voice and engagement as well to reflect the wonderful diversity of Wales; and also, going back to the points that I've made about the contribution in terms of the economy, community and particularly our health service and social care. Thank you.