1. What is the Welsh Government doing to support victims of domestic abuse? OQ58286

Llywydd, I thank the Member for that question. Our five-year national strategy, published last month, sets out the Welsh Government's commitments for supporting victims of domestic abuse and other forms of violence. Its six objectives aim to ensure comprehensive support for victims, wherever they live in Wales.

I thank you for your answer, First Minister. Yesterday, I launched a report on support services for children and young people who experience violence and abuse at home. Domestic violence doesn't just affect the adults involved; around one in five children are impacted, and the law recognises them as victims in their own right. But there's an urgent need for tailored support for them because, without early support, it can lead to a lifetime of adverse impacts. So, I commissioned Welsh Women's Aid to audit provisions across Wales, and what we found is a postcode lottery. So, I'd be most grateful if you would read our report and discuss our findings and recommendations with Cabinet colleagues. The Minister for Social Justice spoke at the launch and has been very supportive. Julie Morgan and Lynne Neagle, Jeremy Miles and Jayne Bryant have all engaged with the project too. So, it would be good to have the Welsh Government's input at every single level. 

Well, Llywydd, I congratulate Joyce Watson on her use of the facility that the Commission makes available to Members to be able to carry out research in issues of local and, in her case, of national significance. I have my copy of the report with me, so, of course, I'm very keen that it should be widely read. It will certainly be discussed by Cabinet colleagues. It includes a series of conclusions from the research and, very importantly, a series of practical actions that it suggests the Welsh Government and others could take to make sure that children who are victims of domestic abuse receive the help and the support that they need. 

During the passage of the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015, I moved amendments calling for the national strategy to include provision of at least one perpetrator programme, noting that Choose2Change was the only then current Respect-accredited programme in Wales. Questioning your predecessor First Minister in 2016, I referred to this and stated that the then Minister, although not accepting the need to include reference to perpetrator programmes, committed the Welsh Government then to gathering further evidence on taking forward pre-custodial perpetrator programmes. I asked him what action his Government was taking to facilitate that. He responded:

'these are issues being taken forward by the ministerial advisory group and, of course, via the strategy.'

So, what specific action has your Government therefore taken since, where your second violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence national strategy, published last month, six years later, refers only to the Welsh Government's intention to build on the work already done in this area by increasing our collective focus on these individuals?

Llywydd, I think the Member makes some important points, and he's right to say that the renewed strategy seeks to build on the progress that has already been made; it would not be possible to build on progress if progress had not already happened during the first five years. I referred in my answer to Joyce Watson to the six objectives of the renewed five-year national strategy. The third of those objectives deals directly with the matters that the Member has raised this afternoon. So, of course the strategy has a focus on perpetrators of domestic violence, of course the strategy intends that those people should face up to the responsibilities for their own actions, but it also sets out ways in which practical programmes can be mobilised to help people who wish to reform and to place their lives on a different and better basis.

Prif Weinidog, I also commend the work of Joyce Watson—the tireless work she's done in this field since her election in 2007. And I'm sure she'll be pleased that I've also read the report, so that's two of us, Prif Weinidog, who have read it, and I'm sure many others have also. We have made some very important steps with regard to victim care, with the establishment of the victims commissioner in 2019 and the domestic abuse commissioner in the same year. However, a mother of a murdered child asked me recently why haven't we got a Welsh victims commissioner, somebody much closer to us. So, do you think, Prif Weinidog, that we should have a Welsh victims commissioner that is answerable to this place rather than the Home Office? Diolch yn fawr.

Llywydd, as a Government, we've worked closely with the victims commissioner, Vera Baird QC. I think she has done a very effective job. She has shown a real interest in what happens in Wales. And I think that that system has so far served us well. Of course, we are always open to ways in which the system can be improved, but I think that this is one of those aspects where—. And I would pay particular tribute to the current postholder, because of the energy and the commitment and the interest that she shows in devolved as well as non-devolved areas. I think that we've had a good service from that commissioner, and, at the moment, I think our views are that we should continue to make the most of the service that we receive.

Good afternoon, First Minister. It was excellent to hear you on the radio this morning too. And may I also thank Joyce Watson for the work that she has done in this field?

Can I just bring the focus back to children and child protection? They are, as you've said, and as Joyce has said as well, other victims of domestic abuse that we need to have at the forefront of our minds. I want to pay tribute to all of those who are working to protect children—our midwives, our health visitors, our schoolteachers, those working in education, and our social workers as well. As you know, I have a degree of experience in working in social work, and I really just wanted to ask you how the Welsh Government is making sure that our social workers here in Wales are having the resources that they need to support them, and that we as a Senedd are responsible for monitoring and supporting them in the work that they do? Diolch yn fawr iawn.

Llywydd, I thank Jane Dodds. Of course, I agree with everything that she said about the work that people do on the front line, particularly those working in the challenging and difficult area of looking after children.

I think the point that Jane Dodds made is an important one, Llywydd. This is the responsibility of all public servants who come into contact with children who show evidence of themselves having been affected by the experience of domestic violence. On the objectives that I referred to of the national strategy, the fifth of the six objectives focuses on the training needs of the workforce, to make sure that people who we ask to do these difficult jobs have the training that they need, have the resources that they need, and, in line with the fourth objective of the plan, to enable them to move their activity upstream, as we would say, so that they are able to focus more on early intervention and prevention, rather than having to arrive as an ambulance service, trying to rescue children from the experiences that will already have affected them.