Part of 3. Topical Questions – in the Senedd at 3:22 pm on 29 September 2021.
Thank you, Minister, and I thank you, Llywydd, for accepting my question. As you noted in your written statement yesterday, Minister, it is with great sadness that you should have to issue another statement because another young woman has lost her life. Her name is Sabina Nessa, and we all must remember and say her name.
Women and girls don't feel safe in public places. Public sexual harassment is often described as an epidemic, but it isn't new. You know as well as anyone, Minister, that it's endemic in our society. What has changed, though, is how women and girls, through social media and websites, can now turn their grief and anger into organised resistance, and campaigns like the White Ribbon, Everyone's Invited and Our Streets Now are doing amazing work to raise awareness and lobby for cultural reform.
I very much welcome your commitment to strengthen Wales's end violence against women strategy to include a focus on public spaces and workplaces. But we also need the UK Government to make public sexual harassment a specific crime, and Harriet Harman has tried to do this with the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that is now going through the Lords. Can I urge the Welsh Government to push Westminster on that?
But in terms of what we in Wales can do right now, you said in your statement:
'It is not for women to modify their behaviour, it is for abusers to change theirs.'
And that is absolutely true. But we also need to make women and girls feel safe in public, especially with nightlife reopening and university students returning. So, would you join me in recommending the safe places initiative, which is a network of venues and support where anyone feeling intimidated, at risk or scared can take refuge? It's up and running in Cardiff now, and people can download the safe places app to find the nearest open door on their way home. I know that hotels in Swansea and elsewhere have also adopted similar schemes. It's certainly something we should be looking to expand in Wales, and I would be very grateful for Welsh Government support in doing that. Today, I did write to the Chief Executive and Clerk of the Senedd to ask if we here can use and offer a safe place to keep people safe in Cardiff Bay. I was very pleased to hear that I had a positive response. I call on everyone here in this building to support that application, and I don't expect anybody not to do that. Thank you.