7. Statement by the Minister for Social Justice: Update on Ukraine

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:40 pm on 14 June 2022.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 4:40, 14 June 2022

So, if we turn to our supersponsor route, which is the route that we are pausing just for these few weeks, we actually had 6,016 submitted applications. They transferred into 4,808 confirmed applications, and 3,435 visas have been issued under our supersponsor scheme. I've said already that the welcome centres are at capacity. The estimated arrivals, as of 14 June, under our supersponsor scheme is 759. In fact, when the Counsel General and I visited the welcome centre last week, it was virtually full then, and they said they were expecting arrivals at the weekend, and it would then be full. But by the end of weekend, all our welcome centres were full. In fact, over 100 people arrived over the weekend, and 100 more were confirmed to travel between Monday and Friday this week.

So, now we've got over 6,000 applications in the system, with around 4,700 confirmed applications, and an estimation, as we said right from the word 'go', that we would be able to provide accommodation for up to 1,000 people. So, this is where we have got to make sure that we can not only support those who are in the system, because everyone who was in the system up until Friday, we were going to progress their applications for the supersponsor route to welcome centres. Everyone else, of course, will continue. Those who are coming under the individual sponsor, Homes for Ukraine sponsor scheme, they were also arriving as well, so there has been—.

It's good, in a sense, your question about gaps between visa approvals and arrivals. That gap has narrowed. I've raised it every time I've met with Lord Harrington, and indeed my colleague from Scotland, Neil Gray, the Minister, these issues, but that has become less of an issue because that gap has reduced. So, that's just the latest update, and I will be updating you on figures as we move through.

I just want to say something about Haven of Light, and the fact that you introduced me to them very early on back in February. Their experience, their expertise, their care and commitment is just tremendous. I've met them on a number of occasions. They're absolutely committed. They're particularly concerned about safeguarding. They've got a lot of experience about sexual exploitation, trafficking. They want to ensure that people are safe and supported, and I'm very pleased to say that Reverend Tim Hall and colleagues sit on the external group that I chair.

But I have given you quite a bit of information in my statement—I won't repeat it all, but you can see—about the work we're doing with the third sector to make sure that we can have specialist support, some funding going out to some organisations like the Welsh Refugee Council. The Red Cross are playing a hugely important role. They were there at the welcome centre we visited last week. They're all playing a key role, but the wonderful events that are being held across Wales, the support that's been given to families and households.

I'll just quickly say on education, yes, we have been very clear about all children living in Wales having a right to access a school, and we have that guidance on school admissions applications on the Schools of Sanctuary website. Local authorities have all played their part to help with the difficulty in many cases where there hasn't been capacity. That has been an issue, but local authorities are looking at ways in which they can address that capacity in terms of class sizes. It has been a challenge in some areas, but I'm very pleased that, last Thursday, the Minister for Finance and Local Government and I met with all the new leaders. We met on that occasion specifically with housing cabinet members, because I will go on to your next point. 

What we need to do is make sure that people can move on from our welcome centres. Some will go to host families, and others will go into more permanent accommodation for the time that they're going to spend in Wales. We're looking at all other opportunities beyond the five centres that we've got, and we've got another one opening shortly. So, thank you again for raising that. I did feed back about the MOD contact you had from the St David's prayer breakfast, and I'll follow that up as well.