2. Business Statement and Announcement

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 2:42 pm on 14 March 2023.

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Photo of Joyce Watson Joyce Watson Labour 2:42, 14 March 2023

I would like two statements, the first being on the Welsh Government's response to the National Police Chiefs' Council—NPCC—report released today, that said that nine out of 10 complaints about violence against women and girls by police officers in England and Wales were dropped over a six-month period. But, of the resolved cases, only 13 of those officers were sacked, according to the data from the National Police Chiefs' Council, and two thirds of the public complaints were categorised as use of force. In these cases, complaints from women were regarding the use of force when being handcuffed, and some of those were complaints of sexual assault. We clearly can't go on like this, Minister. Something has to be done.

The second statement from Welsh Government that I would like is about what discussions, if any, you've had with the UK Government regarding Boris Johnson nominating his father, Stanley Johnson, for a knighthood. It's alleged that Stanley Johnson punched his ex-wife, the late Charlotte Wahl, so hard during their first marriage that he broke her nose. It's reported that supporters have said that it was a 'one-off', as if that is okay. Charlotte Wahl, on the other hand, has said that he hit her many times and described their marriage as 'ghastly', 'terrible'. What concerns me and most people is the message that the proposed knighthood could give to other perpetrators of domestic abuse that it's okay to abuse your spouse, and to the victims and their families that what they are being subjected to is acceptable, perhaps even trivial. This risks setting the agenda backwards, while this Government and Members here are trying to move the agenda forward.