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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:58 pm on 14 June 2022.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 4:58, 14 June 2022

Thank you very much, Jayne Bryant. I think we'll all be profoundly moved by the report of that experience from a sponsor family and how desperate they must feel, and the distance, the loss, the fear and isolation of not being able to be there for their family. This is what the war is about; it's not in the headlines all the time, but this is happening now, as we speak here today. When we visited the welcome centre last week, we realised the trauma that people had suffered. You can't just wipe that and say it's about a housing solution or education. I mean, obviously, all of these things help provide a support system, which we want to do for everyone. You know that every family, as they come, are encouraged to register with a GP—that can include mental health services. This is actually, also, about the importance, as I've said, of providing emotional and mental health support, because this has been given parity, as we've seen from the experiences of people coming under the supersponsor scheme and those arriving through the family sponsor route.

Particularly for welcome centres, I've mentioned that we're looking at this in terms of our approach. We're getting support from people like Traumatic Stress Wales, the Royal College of Psychiatrists, and Public Health Wales are developing materials. There's a guidance document focusing on support for displaced people in Wales in private accommodation. They've all been translated into Ukrainian and Russian. But we've also got the CALL mental health helpline, which is able to use LanguageLine. As I said, there's guidance for health boards anyway on the health and well-being of asylum seekers and refugees, but there's Mind Cymru and all those local support schemes as well.

I'll just show Members; this is the pack that is given to everyone in our welcome centres, and I was just asking my colleague who came with me, Mick Antoniw, what the translation was: 'Laskavo prosymo, pryvit', which is 'welcome'. And this is a pack full of information, translated into Ukrainian and Russian, because that is what they need when they come to our welcome centres and to the families, like the wonderful host family that are supporting the Ukrainian refugee.