Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank everyone for their contributions to this afternoon's debate and to the Minister for her robust response, and I agree with her: fundamental to our motion this afternoon is the need to tackle violence against women and girls, which is an unacceptably common experience in our society. Stalking mainly impacts women and girls, with over 80 per cent of those contacting the National Stalking Helpline identifying as female, and the perpetrators being mainly male.

It is clear that stalking is a symptom of a broader social problem and is part of the violence, harassment and abuse that scars the lives of too many women and girls in Wales. We must therefore ensure that the problem is taken into full account in the next VAWDASV strategy.

Minister, I know that the desire and ambition is there, but more must be done; things must improve for the victims of stalking. It's also worth noting the cross-cutting nature of stalking: whilst there is almost always a sexual or sexist element to stalking, many vulnerable and minority groups in our society are more likely to be targets of stalking, for example, as a result of their race of their sexuality. People with illness or disability are also more likely to be stalked, and 2,000 cases of stalking were reported by young people under the age of 18 in 2020 in England and Wales. And as we heard from Heledd Fychan, as in the case of all crimes against women and girls, unfortunately, it's assumed that the number of unreported cases is far higher than these figures.

Although the majority of cases are perpetrated by somebody the victim knows, and that cases can happen within domestic situations, almost a third are carried out by strangers, and therefore trying to ensure that public spaces are safe, are planned or adapted to ensure the safety of women and girls is crucially important. And as we heard in the debate, the digital space also needs to be made safe.

Tackling the prevention of stalking is central to our battle in ensuring an equal Wales. How can we put up with a situation where women suffer in such a way as was described so powerfully by Delyth Jewell and Siân Gwenllian as a result of this crime of stalking? A report by the UN shows that 71 per cent of women in the UK have suffered sexual harassment, and this increases to 86 per cent in the 18 to 24 age group. We are failing our young women, Deputy Presiding Officer. And the Suzy Lamplugh Trust has found that 97 per cent of women have experienced harassment on public transport, but only 14 per cent reported that to the police, and of those, only 6 per cent were offered any support. Only 1 per cent of those prosecuted were found guilty.

Having a culture where people can publicly harass clearly leads stalkers to think that they have free rein to behave in this obsessional and often threatening way, without anyone noticing or without social or legal consequences. The problem in terms of a lack of support and a lack of action in terms of the justice and policing system is clear. Delyth Jewell, Mark Isherwood and Joyce Watson outlined the problems related to the current situation in terms of this, outlining how the response at the moment is ineffective and unacceptable, leaving too many people to experience this terrible crime. And I thank Jenny Rathbone for sharing her constituent's terrible experiences.

Justice and policing, of course, is reserved to Westminster, and although we welcome the amendment in the House of Lords so that the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill will make hate towards women a hate crime in England and Wales, the Conservative Government in Westminster has already suggested that they won't support that amendment, and the Bill is inadequate in terms of tackling the wider socioeconomic problems that contribute to violence against women relating to inequalities on the basis of race, religion, sexuality, class, age, never mind equal access to health services, mental health services, housing and work. 

Many contributors this afternoon have outlined steps that could be taken by the Welsh Government to ensure that support for victims is improved and that more is done to prevent stalking in the first instance, and that we need better training for the police and other support services in order to identify, to respond and to prevent this terrible crime that causes so much anguish and too often leads to violence. Mark Isherwood, sending a message is not enough in the face of the attitude of your party's Government in Westminster. There's no doubt that devolving the powers is needed for us to try and respond more effectively to this crime and those that it affects, and, ultimately, actually do away with the circumstances that lead to stalking entirely. Thank you.