8. Will the First Minister provide an update on the Government’s strategy to tackle the growing problem of stalking? OQ57529

Llywydd, we are strengthening our violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence strategy to include stalking and harassment of women and girls in public spaces as well as in the home. Tackling misogyny and male violence lies at the heart of our approach.

Diolch, Brif Weinidog. I welcome your answer. In 2012, following a campaign led by the former Plaid Cymru MP Elfyn Llwyd, new laws came into force that, for the first time, recognised stalking as a specific crime. My Plaid Cymru colleague Delyth Jewell also played a pivotal role in this campaign. With this being National Stalking Awareness Month, I would like to urge the Welsh Government to do more to tackle this crime and support victims.

Nearly 1.5 million people in Wales and England are victims of stalking every year—a crime that has grown since the start of the pandemic—and with over 80 per cent of victims who call the national stalking helpline being female and the perpetrators generally being male, stalking is clearly a gendered crime. Between January 2020 and March 2021, worryingly, only two full stalking protection orders, or SPOs, were granted in Wales, despite 3,000 stalking offences being reported to the police. Has the First Minister approached Wales's police and crime commissioners to urge them to set up specialist support for victims of stalking and training for police officers? And will the Government also address the lack of SPOs and ensure that counselling for victims of stalking is also included in its violence against women and girls strategy? Diolch.

Thank you very much for the questions.

There was a series of important points made by the Member there. Just to be clear, Llywydd: we do not agree with the approach of the Home Office, which seems to place the focus on women acting to protect themselves by altering their behaviour rather than changing the attitudes and behaviours of those who carry out the abuse. Now, here in Wales, we have a programme as a Welsh Government of raising awareness, better identification of stalkers, regional training for practitioners in order to address some of the problems that the Member raises. Of course, much of what she says, as she acknowledged, lies in the hands of the police, the non-devolved service. But I can absolutely assure her that the Welsh Government continues to engage directly with the four police forces in Wales on this matter.

Jane Hutt, as the Minister responsible, met the national—by which I mean UK—police lead for violence against women on 1 December. She chaired the police partnership board on 2 December, and that included an update on the police's contribution to the consultation on the VAWDASV strategy from chief constable Pam Kelly, the chief constable of Gwent. And Jane Hutt was again engaged on 19 January with the lead police and crime commissioner for Wales, where discussions included the issue of misogyny. So, our aim is to use our powers as much as we are able to, in that consciousness-raising way, in making sure that practitioners are well equipped, but to work with the police as well, so that they exercise their responsibilities and their powers in Wales that are effective against the issues that the Member raised.

And, Llywydd, maybe I could just finally urge once more anyone who is yet to do so to respond to the Welsh Government's consultation on our revised VAWDASV national strategy. That consultation closes now quite soon on 7 February, and it will be a way of us taking forward many of the points that the Member has raised this afternoon.