Item 4 this afternoon is a statement by the Minister for Social Justice on an update on Ukraine. I call on the Minister to make her statement. Jane Hutt.

Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd, and thank you for the opportunity, once again, to provide an update to Members on our ongoing work to support people from Ukraine who continue to flee this most cruel war in the hope of finding sanctuary. With each day that passes, we hear more and more harrowing stories including, at the weekend, when a small number of civilians were evacuated from the besieged steelworks in Mariupol through joint efforts of the United Nations and Red Cross. Putin is gradually increasing the intensity of his offensive in eastern Ukraine, bringing more innocent people into the line of fire, but they are being met by the fiercest resistance of Ukrainian forces.

We know that over 5.5 million people have fled this conflict, and I am encouraged to note that we have seen some progress in the visa approvals from the Home Office. Across the United Kingdom we have seen almost 120,000 visa applications submitted, with 86,100 issued and 27,100 arrivals. Of these arrivals, 16,000 have come as part of the Ukraine family scheme, and 11,100 as part of the Homes for Ukraine scheme. Data published on 27 April shows that 2,300 visas have been issued to people via the Homes for Ukraine scheme who have a sponsor in Wales. A total of 670 of these are via the Welsh Government supersponsor route. We are seeing a steady increase in the amount of people arriving in Wales, including to our own welcome centres, and we expect that these numbers will increase as more visas are approved and more people make plans to travel.

And while we've seen progress on the approval of visas, there are ongoing concerns that the way these visas are processed is leading to confusion and delays for those fleeing. This is particularly true for families who are unable to travel until everyone in their party has been individually granted a visa, instead of visas being considered together. For those who've been able to seek sanctuary here, it is of course crucial that we ensure the highest levels of safeguarding protections are in place. This is a concern I have raised on multiple occasions with the UK Government. It's crucial that the Homes for Ukraine scheme, though commendable in many ways—. We recognise that it includes design flaws that expose those needing sanctuary to harm. We are working tirelessly across Welsh public bodies to reduce and mitigate these risks, but we can't eliminate them entirely. We continue to raise concerns with the UK Government and intervene where possible to prevent harm, but we will not be successful in every instance.

Previous schemes, such as those to support people fleeing Afghanistan, were administered and monitored by Government, much like our supersponsor scheme in Wales. This allowed for people to be supported from the moment of arrival and for proper safeguarding procedures to be put in place. On 5 April we published guidance on how public bodies can help protect people living in households from Ukraine. We are also providing local authorities with details of people arriving from Ukraine via the Homes for Ukraine scheme, so that property and safeguarding checks can be undertaken and support services can be offered.

Our online advice is encouraging potential hosts or sanctuary seekers to use the Reset matching system, rather than more informal systems. Reset have years of experience working with refugees and sponsors in Wales and understand how to ensure some level of consistency, and to ensure safeguarding considerations are addressed. I am particularly concerned about the vulnerability of Ukrainian refugees, the majority of whom are women and children, to acts of unscrupulous people seeking to exploit and abuse.

We have also published separate guidance on safeguarding and modern slavery for local authorities and sponsors, and provided advice to welcome centre and contact centre staff. A third version of the safeguarding and modern slavery guidance is due to be published next week. I have urged the UK Government to continually review the procedures that are in place, and they have offered assurances that their helpdesk has been expanded to respond to safeguarding concerns. We are working with local authorities to explain how referrals can be made, and I continue to press the UK Government to ensure the best procedures are in place. You will also be aware that a Welsh Government helpline was launched on 28 March for people arriving in Wales from Ukraine, as well as for people who are acting as sponsors. The helpline seeks to provide advice and guidance, and it has now been expanded to a 24/7 operation to ensure there is always support available when it is needed.

I met with Lord Harrington, Minister for Refugees, and Neil Gray MSP, the Scottish Government Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, last week, where we raised issues regarding delays, safeguarding and funding. Financial support is still not being provided for the operation of our supersponsor welcome centres, despite this offering the safest route and most comprehensive wraparound support. There will be significant unmet costs arising from the Ukraine visa schemes. In other resettlement programmes, there have been essential separate funds for healthcare and English language tuition, as well as integration funding for year 2 and year 3, none of which has yet been announced by UK Government Ministers. Unfortunately, the UK Government is not currently providing Welsh Government or Welsh local authorities with the funding necessary to be able to properly support people arriving under the family scheme. We are urging the UK Government to provide Ukrainian families with the same level of support as sponsors and Ukrainians under the Homes for Ukraine scheme.

Finally, I would once again like to thank the businesses, organisations, individuals and families across Wales who, through their generosity and efforts, continue to reflect the spirit of our country. I will close, as before, by repeating that help, advice and support is available via our free helpline for sponsors and people coming from Ukraine. Sponsors in Wales can call the 24/7 free helpline for advice. There is a warm welcome waiting in this our nation of sanctuary. Diolch.

Conservative spokesperson, Mark Isherwood.

Diolch. Thank you for your statement, which is obviously becoming a weekly occurrence at the moment. Questioning you last Tuesday, I referred to your written statement update about the Homes for Ukraine scheme on 21 April. In your subsequent update on support for Ukraine last Thursday 28 April, you referred to the latest UK Government figures and stated that, as of 27 April, 2,300 visas have been issued to people from Ukraine to come to Wales via the Homes for Ukraine scheme, of which the Welsh Government is a supersponsor for 670. Overall, a total of 117,600 UK Ukraine scheme visa applications have been received, with, as you state in your statement, 86,100 visas issued and 27,100 total arrivals of visa holders in the UK.

What, therefore, is your understanding of how many have arrived in Wales so far, either in total or under the supersponsor scheme, or more broadly under the Homes for Ukraine scheme? You state that you met with Lord Harrington, UK Minister for Refugees, and with Neil Gray MSP, Scottish Government Minister for Culture, Europe and International Development, last week, where you

'raised issues regarding delays, safeguarding and funding.'

Following on from my questions relating to this last week, what further specific discussions did you therefore have with Lord Richard Harrington about reasons for the gap between growing numbers of visas issued and the increase in total arrivals and about what is being done to identify and address this?

In your update last Thursday, you also stated that a breakdown of local authorities is also available. However, this shows a huge variation in the number of visas issued, ranging from 162 in Cardiff and 153 in Monmouthshire, to an average of 63 across the six north Wales counties, to 18 in Merthyr Tydfil and just five in Blaenau Gwent. Notwithstanding the obvious difference in population size, what is your understanding of the reasons for this range, and how are you targeting support at a local level accordingly?

Questioning you last week, I noted that an anti-human trafficking organisation in Romania had told the previous day's north Wales Ukrainian response Zoom meeting that the most vulnerable people are displaced people, and that therefore the focus now is on safeguarding. In your response, you stated that you were very closely linked to those organisations doing the anti-human trafficking work. You also restated that you are developing your own safeguarding guidance, but very much working on a four-nation basis. What specific work are you therefore doing with anti-human trafficking organisations working on the ground with Ukrainian refugees in the countries they have crossed into, and what position have the four UK Governments, working together, now reached on safeguarding?

As you'll be aware, the Prime Minister addressed the Ukrainian Parliament via video link today, hailing the country's finest hour, as he put it, as it battles the ongoing Russian invasion, and unveiling a new £300 million support package, including new specialised Toyota Land Cruisers to help protect civilian officials in eastern Ukraine and evacuate civilians from front-line areas, following a request from the Ukraine Government. To what extent was the Welsh Government, if at all, aware of this request, and how might this provision assist you in your programme to evacuate civilians in front-line areas and bring them to Wales?

Finally, how are you working with ministerial colleagues to ensure that school places and local GP and NHS services are available to Ukrainian refugees when they arrive in Wales? 

Thank you very much, Mark. I think it's important that the weekly figures that are given on a Thursday—in fact, I quoted 27 April—are figures that are shared on a four-nation basis. So, as I said in my statement, I can again confirm that 2,300 visas have been issued to people via the Homes for Ukraine scheme, those people who have got matched arrangements, family sponsorship, and have a sponsor in Wales. But, 670 of those, of the 2,300, are actually coming via the Welsh Government supersponsor route, and will come to our welcome centres. So, those are the key facts for 27 April, and obviously we'll be publishing the facts, the statistics, on Thursday for an update.

When we meet—and we've met, actually, every week, the Minister for Refugees, Lord Harrington, Neil Gray and myself—there are three issues we've talked about, and we've talked about them for two weeks running: delays—it's crucial, your point about the delay, because if these visas have been issued, why haven't we seen more arrivals—and we also looked at safeguarding, and funding as well. So, as far as the delays are concerned, there has been widespread frustration that the Minister for Refugees himself recognised, waiting for not just the—. I did mention the fact that there have been frustrations particularly where the whole family hasn't received a visa, and I think this is still the case. I think we've seen and heard in the media, and the Welsh media, examples of this happening at the moment, where there are pending applications relating to Ukrainians and not to all of the family.

As things stand, as I've said, we press the UK Government to improve processes and have less bureaucracy. The Minister for Refugees, Richard Harrington, went to Poland a couple of weeks ago, and he said there were some who have now got their visas, and they're now considering their arrangements in terms of coming to Britain, to Wales, to the UK. I have to say that there are also some who are considering whether they do want to come because of the delays and the bureaucracy. I think you've seen those reports in the press as well, which is very concerning because we should have been able to respond as quickly as those countries in the EU have been able to respond. So, we know that there are delays because of bureaucracy, because of the processes, but we were assured last Thursday by the lead official in the Home Office that they were getting more caseworkers and speeding up the process. 

Safeguarding is crucial; it's a four-nation issue. We've been working together, we've been sharing examples, again, of where this has failed in terms of people going through more informal matching—perhaps arrangements breaking down in terms of the Homes for Ukraine scheme, and then going on to informal matching processes that are not safe and secure. We've had examples of what that has meant in terms of putting particularly women at risk, and that is all taken on board. So, we have got the Disclosure and Barring Service checks, working with the local authorities. We have a letter, actually; we've written to local and regional partners about DBS checks, and I can share that with you, for the chief executives and statutory partners in terms of DBS, and that relates to the health service as well.

Working with local authorities, we're working at senior officer level, and chief executives are meeting regularly as well. Of course, the issues that you raise in terms of safeguarding, anti-human trafficking and recognising that this is something where all of those links, like the link that you're aware of and engaging with in north Wales—. They're very important to share with us to ensure that we can avert people, and give that information more formally in terms of our guidance. It's crucial in terms of education that children can obtain admission to schools, and, indeed, also, I have to say, to the health service, to their GPs, to the health checks that are under way. This is monitored on a daily basis.

Plaid Cymru spokesperson, Sioned Williams.

Thank you Deputy Presiding Officer, and thank you for your statement, Minister. The attitude of the Westminster Government in relation to the appalling situation in Ukraine is entirely paradoxical. On the one hand, the people of Wales and the UK are united in solidarity with the people of Ukraine, and are united in their anger towards Putin and his illegal war and his war crimes. And the Westminster Government claims to share those strong feelings. Indeed, we heard Boris Johnson today addressing the Ukrainian Parliament. 

But, despite the importance of warm words and supportive speeches, actions are more important, and Boris Johnson's Government is failing the people of Ukraine and is undermining Welsh efforts to be a nation of sanctuary. The most effective act that the Westminster Government could take to assist the people of Ukraine is not to give a speech, but to ensure that there is safe and swift passage for people to come to Wales and to the UK. Many of these people have lost loved ones, are suffering trauma as a result of the barbarism of war. What they need is love, a home and an opportunity, and our support and assistance so that they can access those things. 

In listening to Boris Johnson and his Government's rhetoric, one would think that this is exactly what we are providing to Ukrainian refugees, but time and time again in politics, we see that there is a gulf between the rhetoric of those in power and their actions. And the response of the Westminster Government to the situation in Ukraine, unfortunately, is a perfect example of this. The Westminster Government, despite warm words, is letting the people of Ukraine down. The Ukrainian ambassador to the UK has called on the Home Secretary to take urgent action to improve the visa process, which, in his words, is unnecessarily long-winded and bureaucratic, leaving thousands of people powerless across mainland Europe. 

And the Welsh Refugee Council has heard of the frustration of the families who do come here on the families plan rather than the Homes for Ukraine programme, and that the Welsh people offering sanctuary to them aren't qualified for the payment of £350. This is a fundamental injustice, and an example of the Home Office transferring its moral responsibility to the public, with many refugees facing challenges, as we heard, in terms of lack of support and information, language learning, and the fact that registering for schools and GPs is absurdly complex. 

How is the Welsh Government going to overcome these inconsistencies in light of the tardiness of the UK Government? Two thousand three hundred visas have been allowed in Wales under the Homes for Ukraine programme. And as you mentioned, of these, 670 have been supersponsored by the Welsh Government. Scotland has seen 5,200 visas, with 3,000 of them supersponsored by the Scottish Government. This gap between the two nations is substantial. So, can the Minister explain the reason for this inconsistency between Wales and Scotland? Is the Minister confident that there is no factor beyond chance that is responsible for this?

It's likely that refugees arriving here, particularly women and children who are vulnerable, will have already suffered trauma. And so, as you mentioned, and as Mark Isherwood also mentioned, ensuring that they are safe and cared for when they arrive is crucially important. And I do welcome what you've said in terms of how you're trying to address these issues, but a number of refugee organisations and anti-people trading organisations have written to Michael Gove to express their grave concerns about safeguarding, with people traffickers already targeting women and children from Ukraine. 

This is a heartbreaking situation, which contradicts entirely the rhetoric of the UK Government. There is no reason why we shouldn't or couldn't have a humanitarian programme that welcomes refugees and safeguards them entirely from abuse. 

It doesn't sound to me as if the Minister was entirely content that the changes in training and professional support in terms of the programme here in Wales is adequate to ensure security and safety for Ukrainian refugees. So, what more can be done? Thank you?

Diolch yn fawr, Sioned. This is one of the points about meeting together, which we have done regularly over the last few weeks, myself and the Minister for Refugees, Lord Harrington, and Neil Gray, MSP, the Minister in the Scottish Government, because both myself and the Scottish Government Minister are in common cause here in saying, which we actually said right from the word go, that, actually the supersponsor route, which means that, with our commitment in Wales to support 1,000 people, skipping the need to identify individual sponsors, being sponsored directly by the Welsh Government, or the Scottish Government—.

In Scotland they're experiencing the same delays, even though they've got even more who are actually applying; they've got more numbers applying to go through their supersponsor route in terms of population proportion. That's right, but they're still having the delays that we're having. But also saying that, actually, this can really address the issue around safeguarding, because, for example, in terms of the family scheme, last week I said to the Home Office and to the Minister, 'Can you tell us how many and where the families are who've come through the family route?' They can't tell us. They do not have that information. They cannot tell us how many Ukrainian refugees have come through the family route, and there is no funding available whatsoever for families, and, actually, of course, as I said in my statistics, more have come through the family route than any other route. They got their visas first, they came through. No funding, no information, no data given to us. They can't give it, even if—. I've asked them for it. So, there are huge inadequacies in the way in which the UK Government has approached the refugee crisis.

And as I said earlier on, in the response to Mark Isherwood, if you look at the—. And here there have been some programmes, there's been press, there have been families commenting. The wonderful relationships and solidarity and support that, actually, I think we've heard about from those who've come and met Welsh families, they've met their sponsor—. So, we must recognise that there are great strengths where that works with the Homes for Ukraine arrangements. But I noticed a refugee who'd declined to come to the UK. Everything happened so quickly in Germany. It makes it very easy for Ukrainians to get benefits, get work, get support. Why aren't we in that position?

So, I have mentioned in my statement today, for the first time, a comparison with the arrangements we had, which the UK Government supported, with the Afghanistan evacuation last August, where we knew who was coming and we were able to support them. So, we continue to press on that point, because I think safeguarding is crucial. And if I can say today, if we can get that message out that it is dangerous to even contemplate or share on social media, through Facebook, any opportunities for new arrangements to take place—because it has actually led to sexual exploitation. This is what we're raising. So, I've said it's not just delays; it's delays, safeguarding and funding, which is what we press every week with the UK Government, because there are people who, in Wales, are desperate to welcome their families. We saw one last night on the BBC Wales programme. And they're desperate to come here, they're stuck, they're running out of money and we will do everything that we can to get them here and to support them. 

Minister, everything you've said today in your statement reflects the experiences now of host families in my constituency. Some of these are—. They're just incredible families. They are living in terraced houses in my constituency, have not a great deal of means themselves, but have opened their homes to families from Ukraine, that they want to actually bring here right now. They are having to not only go through what they regard as an opaque system that has no transparency, that has no feedback loop at all for them or for the families whatsoever, that has delays, that is granting visas to some members of the family but not to others, but these families here in Ogmore—and it's typical across Wales and the UK—are then trying to help financially these families who are living elsewhere in other European nations who have taken them in very quickly, and are deeply frustrated.

I worry, Minister, that, actually, the footnotes on this episode have already been written, which are that we have countries within the United Kingdom, like Scotland, like Wales, that have rightly held out their arms and said, 'Come to us, come to us now. We will put in place those procedures to make sure that you are safe to do this officially through official channels', and what we're being frustrated with, and this is not a political point, it is a deeply moral point—. When people argued about taking control back of our borders, I did not think that they meant taking back control to stop refugees fleeing here to the UK, when they were in desperate need of timely intervention. That is now what's happening.

So, Minister, can I thank you for taking up representations that I've made to you on behalf of my constituents who want to open their homes right now to those families? But I urge you, Minister, to keep that argument going, because I think this is going to be an episode in which we take pride in the generosity of the people of these nations, pride in the roles of some of our devolved Governments, and, I have to say, at this moment as we stand here, feel a real deep shame in the role of the UK Government, which seems—my constituents will tell me—to have put every obstacle in place of families coming here when they really need it. That's what taking control back was. 

Thank you very much, Huw Irranca-Davies. And I think that's another important reason why I need to come with my statements here, as regularly as the Llywydd and the Senedd allow me to, because we need to have that feedback. I need to have that feedback, as I've had today. All the words that have been used, 'shambolic', 'disgraceful'—it's not just a deeply moral and ethical point, it's actually hugely important about safeguarding. Because there is no control. This is about, 'You get on with it', and great if it works out, like the wonderful families who've come forward, but it's also an operational point. It's actually how you manage things so that they work. We did manage, with the UK Government, very flexibly, the Syrian refugee displacement scheme, and many of us know of all the Syrian families who've settled in our communities, and also with the Afghanistan refugee scheme in the summer. So, it's important that—and I am with my colleague from the Scottish Government—we're in common course on this as we meet with the Minister for Refugees, Richard Harrington.

But it's also very important—I'll just say, finally—that we are working with the Ukrainian community in Wales, the third sector. We're building links on the ground to reach out to people to make sure that the welcome centres—. The local authorities are not getting the funding, they're not getting even the funding we got for the Afghan refugee crisis. Local authorities are again under huge pressure in terms of meeting these needs. We need to get that right. Even though we won't get the funding, we need to get this right in every local authority area, with all our health boards, and recognise that we've got Urdd Gobaith Cymru, we've got many organisations helping us with our welcome centres, and many volunteers working to make this a nation of sanctuary, which is what Wales is.

And finally, Heledd Fychan.

Thank you, Dirprwy Lywydd. As we all unfortunately know, sexual violence and exploitation are often witnessed in wars. There are a number of reports of women being raped by Russian soldiers in Ukraine. Indeed, on 11 April the BBC broadcast devastating evidence from Ukraine on this issue. It's difficult to comprehend how appallingly these women have been treated, with soldiers from Russia telling many of them that their intention was to abuse them so badly that they wouldn't want sexual contact with any man in future, to prevent them from having children with Ukrainian parents.

A number of charities have been sending medical abortion pills and emergency contraception, the morning-after pill, to parts of Ukraine most affected. Clearly, some of the women who come to Wales for sanctuary will have faced such violence. As part of our humanitarian aid, what support has been given to women who have been raped and who remain in Ukraine, and to those who are in Wales or will come here in future?

Diolch yn fawr, Heledd Fychan, and I thank you for raising that important issue as well. The horrors—it's night after night we've seen it, the horrors of the crimes, the war crimes and the rape of women. This is something that is crucially important, that we're able to support, but also get the evidence. This is something that the Counsel General is taking up as well in terms of ensuring that we get that indictment, as it will come, in terms of the horrors of the war crimes from Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

But also you make such a key point, not only are they coming—. It's mainly women and children who are coming here as our refugees, so that means that they're coming with all that they've experienced and their loss—their menfolk are on the front line—their experiences, and with their children. But also, when they come here, they need to have access to that counselling, that support, our violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence services. Also, that makes it so important that we then can provide them with the assurance that we will safeguard them when they come to Wales.

I thank the Minister.