Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 2:12 pm on 8 June 2022.
Thank you very much for that question and key points, which I'm sure would be shared across this Chamber in terms of the huge commitment—and I made this point in my statement—the huge commitment of those sponsor families, opening up their homes, as I said, and helping people find their feet as they start lives in Wales. Extraordinary acts of kindness, which we're fully grateful for. And also, I have to say, there's the key role of local authorities as well, in supporting the sponsors and engaging with them as well. So, Welsh citizens are really playing a fantastic role in terms of supporting refugees from Ukraine. We have got also a network of third sector organisations and voluntary groups who are also assisting and assisting families with these schemes, and I'm sure across the Chamber as well people are engaging and putting people into contact with each other to provide that kind of support.
I do think that our website, the Sanctuary Wales website, is very helpful. It provides advice and guidance for sponsors as well as local authorities, and it does actually also steer people to any funding opportunities. I think it's very unfortunate that the UK Government is not providing Welsh Government or local authorities with the funding that they really need to properly support people arriving under the family scheme. So, we are urging, I have to say—. When I meet with the Minister, Lord Harrington, my colleague Neil Gray, from Scotland, the Minister, and I urge the UK Government to provide to those families, many who've come, in addition to the figures I've given, under the family scheme—. We urge that they should also get support because they are being supported by their family members with no support at all. But I will say that any family that's coming can access public funds, universal credit, homelessness support, free school meals, and also English to speakers of other languages and all of the other services that they need.