6. Statement by the Minister for Social Justice: Ukraine Humanitarian Response

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:46 pm on 14 February 2023.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 4:46, 14 February 2023

I think it is important to say that we have been working very hard with our local authorities, not only to support people in initial accommodation, but then, all importantly, to help them to move on. But just to recognise that we have been providing comprehensive support for particularly the first few weeks of Ukrainians arriving in Wales. We call this the welcome phase. It does obviously mean that we can then work with local authorities in terms of getting access to schools, translation services, health services, and English for speakers of other languages, and then to support arrivals into longer term accommodation.

Yes, as I said, the £150 million, we await the response from the UK Government as to how that's going to be allocated. We worked with the Scottish Government in terms of finding a way forward to make sure there was a fair, proportionate allocation of funding, and we await to hear the response from the UK Government to our proposals.

But it is very much linked to our framework of accommodation, which is the other point that you make, and I'll just focus on that in terms of concluding my response to your questions, because the move-on accommodation is crucial, and that's working with local authorities. We have a framework for accommodation in order to work with them. It has a formula and it provides support for local authorities, working with the Welsh Local Government Association, to look at ways we can help all those in temporary housing need in Wales.

In terms of securing longer term accommodation, which is why we want to access the £150 million, it's a mixture of accommodation; individual hosting, as I've said in the statement; the private rented sector; and also other forms of good-quality transitional accommodation. This is actually where we can share what we're doing in Wales with UK Government and Scottish Government. The transitional accommodation capital programme, which was £65 million at this financial year, we're actually increasing that to £89 million with support from Plaid Cymru. We've got these wider housing pressures, and we are looking to see that transitional accommodation capital programme delivering a range of initiatives, including, of course, ways in which we can support good-quality housing, opening up empty housing, and also ensuring that we can have the modular accommodation that can be provided at pace and at cost, and that it can be then used as a transitional capital programme into the next financial year.

I think it is important, just for the record again, to say that over 1,300 have now moved on into longer term accommodation—over 800 of those settling within Wales—and of our supersponsor arrivals, almost 1,100 have moved on into longer term accommodation. And also to recognise, of course, that these are all members of our communities, many of whom are working, integrating, and you will know them all across Wales.

Can I just say how much I appreciated visiting the Polish integration support centre in Wrexham with you? You've raised this on a number of occasion. But also, in north Wales, meeting Link International, and meeting with all the third sector organisations who've been supporting Ukrainian guests throughout the whole of Wales. They've all been invited to come to the Senedd on 27 February, as you have as well, and I hope that they will all be able to join us, because they have played a crucial role. And don't forget that we've been funding the third sector organisations—the British Red Cross, Asylum Justice, Housing Justice Cymru—all of them, and the Welsh Refugee Council, to help them with the resettlement of our Ukrainian guests.