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

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:44 pm on 14 February 2023.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 4:44, 14 February 2023

Thank you very much, Mark Isherwood, and can I say I absolutely agree with your opening comments about the barbaric, as you say, invasion? And we are, of course, now, facing a year where we all stood together in this Chamber to acknowledge this and to pledge ourselves to respond in the humanitarian way that we do believe is right and just as a nation of sanctuary. We have worked very closely, I would say, over the past year, with the UK Government, and with Scottish colleagues as well—Scottish Government. Both the Scottish Government and the Welsh Government agreed and decided to develop the supersponsor route, which meant that those who were fleeing the invasion could come to Wales and go straight into initial accommodation and that we would support them with our funding that was being made available by the Welsh Government during this financial year, and of course, as I've said, we have in the draft budget the £40 million for the next financial year. Inter-governmental relations, therefore, have been important in terms of the way that we've worked together to move forward, but also to provide evidence that the route that we've taken with our supersponsor scheme has been beneficial in terms of the initial accommodation that we've provided through our welcome centres.