4. Statement by the Deputy Minister for Social Partnership: Pride, and Progress on the LGBTQ+ Action Plan

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:24 pm on 21 June 2022.

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Photo of Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn Labour 3:24, 21 June 2022

Can I thank the Member for those warm words of support for Pride at the end of his contribution there, and also very much welcome the supportive comments around what we're trying to do in the LGBTQ+ action plan? I'd be more than happy, as we develop the plan, to discuss certain elements that the Member might have a specific interest in. As we do that over the coming weeks and months, I'm more than happy to do that, and I think it's really important that, in this place here, in this Chamber, we do take a very different tone and a very different approach than perhaps elsewhere in terms of standing together to do the right thing.

If I just touch on a couple of specific points you made, Altaf, in that contribution, you're right to highlight the very real challenges that the LGBTQ+ community face in terms of challenges with mental health, isolation. It can stem from a variety of things. We know that it has been exacerbated, perhaps, during the pandemic for people who may have had to remain living with people who they were maybe not out to, who they were not able to be themselves with, or perhaps in an environment that was less than friendly towards them. So, we have done—. As well as what's outlined in the action plan, there is a piece of work that we've been doing to look at the impact of COVID-19 on the LGBTQ+ community particularly. So, it's hoped that can feed into the broader work of the action plan. But I think you make a really valid point, which I'm sure our officials and our experts are already taking forward, in terms of actually making sure people know where the support and resources are and that, if they don't feel able to, they don't have to put their hand up and declare who they are if they don't feel comfortable at that point in life in doing it to be able to access certain services. So, I think there's a really, really important and valid point there. 

On LGBTQ+ friendly and inclusive workplaces, I think, absolutely, we spend so much of our time and our life at work, in a workplace, and I know from my own personal experience that, at the point when I was able to be out and be myself at work, I suddenly was not just happier at work, but I was probably more productive; I wanted to be there. And I think when you're in that situation sometimes where you don't feel that you can be yourself, you expend so much energy on that, rather than energy on more positive things, things that you could focus on. So, that's a really important strand of what we're doing. You talk about a homogenous approach, and I recognise what you say, that one size doesn't fit all, but I think it's about having that parity and equality of support and resource for workplaces, whether they be in the public or private sector—and the voluntary sector, of course. And we know that there are really good examples of best practice. We see it in those major organisations, businesses, in Wales who are recognised for their networks and their inclusivity. And we also know that, within the trade union movement, there are a lot of good equality courses there and support for members, and that's another way to facilitate and to disseminate that information within the workplace.

So, I think what we mean is making sure that we get that better practice and make sure that it's shared and everybody has the opportunity to access that support and to have that support at work as well. And, of course, it's central—when we talk about being a nation of fair work, of course, equality in the workplace and being able to be yourself at work is a key part of that in terms of your well-being at work as well.