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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 5:33 pm on 22 November 2022.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 5:33, 22 November 2022

I am hoping that we will hear some news next week about the financial position. I suspect that we won't get the full assurances that we need, because this is not just about the 'thank you' payments, which are urgent, but the funding for the next two years, which is the tariff for local authorities, which are helping them provide the wraparound support for people who are hosted, and support through our welcome centres. 

I certainly will look further at the statements that have been made about the tax on the health infrastructure in Ukraine—the humanitarian health corridor, the calls for this. And also, I think we need to look at—. I need to go back to the Disasters Emergency Committee, where we gave £4 million, to get more feedback on how that money is being used and distributed, because it is money that we in Wales have given through our budget. I think the issue about the gendered nature and the context of the circumstances of women and girls in Ukraine is crucially important. One of the things that we have got is the opportunity to engage with so many of the women who've come. The majority, of course, of our Ukrainian guests are women and children, so I will put that on the agenda of the next meeting that we have with them, with the Women's Equality Network.

I think colleagues are aware that Mick Antoniw is leading a convoy in the next week or so. I know it's cross party, whether everyone can go, but I think there have been volunteers from parties; if they want, they can go with him. He is taking a shipment, and he will be reporting back to us on that. He's got a vehicle and he's got the equipment. Actually, he's raised a lot of money, which you probably all contributed to, in recent weeks. Throughout Wales, there has been so much giving. There have been shipments. You all know, probably, people in your constituencies who actually know of that quiet way in which people just get on with it, get a lorry and drive there.

Holodomor—yes, I think that the awareness is really important. I have to say that, as well as the film Mr Jones, recently, in Barry, in my constituency, a plaque was placed on the wall when the ambassador came, in memory of Gareth Jones, who was vilified for exposing the Stalin-made, man-made famine in Ukraine. He was an extraordinary young man who was ultimately murdered for his strength and independence as a journalist.