Racial Discrimination within the Justice System

Part of 2. Questions to the Counsel General and Minister for the Constitution – in the Senedd at 2:56 pm on 5 October 2022.

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Photo of Mick Antoniw Mick Antoniw Labour 2:56, 5 October 2022

Thank you for the question. You raise a number of issues that I know are under very serious consideration and, I know, the Minister for Social Justice has been looking at and addressing and working on for a long period of time. The first thing you raised was in terms of data. Well, of course data has been something that has been a massive concern to us—the disaggregation of data, being able to obtain data within Wales with regard to the criminal justice system, to enable us to assess the sort of policy that's needed. You need that database, and so on. Now, that is recognised by many within the justice system, and, of course, I accept that it is not necessarily that easy to suddenly start converting systems to do it. It has started, and there is, of course, a dashboard of information that the Minister for Social Justice has been very engaged in and responsible for delivering, which is giving us much better information.

But the very examples that the Member raised are precisely the reasons why the criminal justice anti-racist plan for Wales was developed, and which the Minister for Social Justice published on 8 September, because this strengthens our commitment—the commitment from devolved and from non-devolved partners to tackle racism in all its forms. I know the Minister for Social Justice will be continuing that particular work. I’m also reassured that an independent oversight and advisory panel has been established and will feed in individual lived experience and provide advice. I think the crux of it now that we actually have the plan is the evaluation of that plan, how it works, what it actually delivers, and the question that’s been asked today is one that I hope will be a question that continues to reappear as we begin to assess the challenges that are faced within not just the criminal justice system, but the justice system overall in terms of the representation and the balance and presentation of the justice system, all of which are things about the diversity of our justice system overall.

In terms of the devolution of justice, well, it’s precisely because of reasons like that, all those devolved responsibilities, that our case has been put together in ‘Delivering Justice for Wales’. The devolution of justice is actually such an important and natural step, because it integrates the delivery of justice with all those devolved social policies and areas that actually can make the delivery of justice better and more effective. Ultimately, that is what it is about.