Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:59 pm on 16 March 2022.
Well thank you very much again for that follow-up question. We actually have worked with the Scottish Government, as you will be aware, so that the First Minister of Scotland and that of Wales, Mark Drakeford, raised this proposal for us to become supersponsors, actually based on our experience, our commitment as a nation of sanctuary, our experience as a result of the Afghan evacuation, but also for years before that, decades of our welcome to Wales, because we work as a team. Indeed, we met with all Welsh local government leaders, myself and the Minister for Finance and Local Government, as soon as we could. I will also say that, as well as the leader of Gwynedd Council raising his concerns, Councillor Andrew Morgan, the leader of the Welsh Local Government Association, also wrote immediately as things started to move, concerned about the barriers with visas. So, he wrote on behalf of the whole of the Welsh Local Government Association as well. All of the chief executives met with our officials yesterday, and we will take this forward.
We did have, as I think the First Minister reported yesterday, a letter back from Michael Gove to him and Nicola Sturgeon recognising that we would play the supersponsor role, and also giving us some more details. I'm going to be updating you probably on a daily basis, and also with those authorities. For example, they've agreed to a tariff similar to that allocated for the Afghan resettlement scheme—£10,500 per beneficiary person. For individual sponsors, we've heard, obviously, of the £350 per month, thank you, and also a tariff for education costs as well, varying depending on the age group, and primary/secondary as well. So, there's quite a lot of detail coming through. We are working, as I said, with our colleagues in the Scottish Government to ensure that, through the supersponsor route, we can provide a clear and supportive route for people to join us.
On the third sector, we're also going to be developing a 'welcome to Wales' fund that we can contribute to as a Government, but also we have got an infrastructure of third sector organisations. We've met with the Wales Council for Voluntary Action, but every authority also works very closely with their councils for voluntary service as well. But, there are many charitable trusts in Wales that want to contribute, so we will be able to then provide a fund for—. This is all being developed, so I'm speaking as we are working on this, but it will be for the voluntary groups, the community groups, the links that are being provided. So, at every level, the team Wales approach, the supersponsor route for refugees from Ukraine will be there, and I hope all colleagues will see today my latest statement giving you an update, and we will continue to do so over the coming days.