6. Statement by the Minister for Social Justice: The Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence Strategy

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:14 pm on 7 December 2021.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 5:14, 7 December 2021

Diolch yn fawr, James Evans. This is just what we need, isn't it, in terms of the response to the statement today? You were very powerful on the steps of the Senedd when you talked about being a father as well, and I think other speakers—Rhun ap Iorwerth and others, and Jack Sargeant—spoke so powerfully. So, you are part of the solution, and thank you for the support of your party, as I think we have cross-party agreement across this Chamber. It is not for women to modify their behaviour; it is for abusers to change theirs. And if this message can come out from today, that's all the more important. I think I've covered some of the points that you raised. I think the police schools programme is important. It's another intervention outside the school curriculum. We are going to have a very powerful opportunity with the school curriculum changes as well. But also, I think, as I said in response to Jenny Rathbone, the voices of children and young people are going to be very key to the consultation on the draft strategy. That's never happened before. So, they are going to help us. They are the future. They are the ones who are also targeted, particularly through social media, for some of the horrendous ways in which misogyny is deepened and becomes endemic. We saw—and I think, Janet Finch-Saunders, you might have seen that programme, and others did—how young boys were saying, 'We've seen what's wrong about the way that men and boys can treat women'. That was the learning from that Hafan Spectrum programme. That's got to happen in every classroom, as far as I'm concerned.