Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:41 pm on 23 March 2021.
I just want to thank Jane Hutt for all the work that she's done on this really challenging issue, which we know is not about to be finished any time soon. We really do have to ensure that those of us who return in the next Parliament really grasp this issue with both hands because this is a really complex area of work, because it's fantastic that Professor Williams's report on how we're going to teach black history in the curriculum is very, very important. But we're not going to be reaping the harvest of that for many years because, obviously, it takes time for children to work their way through the education system, and there's so much more that we need to do now.
I'm afraid that the death of people like Mohamud Hassan, Christopher Kapessa and Moyied Bashir really do make black and ethnic minority people feel very fearful about the workings of the criminal justice system. As Leanne said, there are far more black and ethnic minority people locked up than from any other ethnic group. But I think these unresolved, unexplained deaths also undermine people's faith in the police as the guardian of the law. So, there is a great deal more work to be done on that.
I also think it's also about people's sense of 'cynefin' in our community. And one of the most important things we did in this Parliament was not just to give the vote to 16 and 17-year-olds, but to give the vote to all citizens, whatever their nationality. And I just wonder, Deputy Minister, if you could tell us how the Government, as well as the Parliament, is ensuring or trying to reach out to people at this very difficult time to ensure that people know that they are entitled to vote in the elections on 6 May. There are so many people who I've met in the past who say, 'Oh, I'm not entitled to vote in this election', and we really do need to get that across to ensure that they have their say on how their taxes are being deployed on all our behalf.