Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:55 pm on 4 May 2022.
Thank you very much. I made clear in my statement yesterday the statistics that were published formally by the four nations, with the UK Government and Scottish Government, last Thursday, and they will be updated tomorrow. There were 2,300 visas issued where the sponsor was from Wales as of last Thursday, 1,650 sponsored by individuals, and 670 sponsored by the Welsh Government as a supersponsor. We've already said—I think it was in my very opening statement—that we are ready to welcome in our welcome centres. We have welcome centres ready and open, giving refuge to Ukrainian refugees. I also thank all those households who are sponsoring through the Homes for Ukraine scheme. There are also many others who have come through the families scheme, and as I said yesterday, unfortunately the Home Office can give us no information about how many, who they are, in terms of families with UK links, but we know they got here first in terms of getting visas. There is no funding for support for people in those schemes, and, indeed, there's a lot of pressure on our local authorities, but they're willing and able and are stepping up to reach and support all those Ukrainian refugees that are joining us here in Wales. But, the delays are unacceptable; the lack of funding has to be addressed by the UK Government.