4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—credyd fforddiadwy
Can I just stop you a moment? I don't know whether I'm the only person who's finding the sound is distorted at the moment, and I'm not quite sure why that is. It may be just something I'm suffering from in this room. You were crystal clear when we tested your…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—credyd fforddiadwy
Thank you. Daniel Arrowsmith, is your association serving all types of people, or are there particular demographics who use your credit unions?
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—credyd fforddiadwy
If I can now turn to Sara Burch, and I wondered if you could, in your answer, tell us whether the people you serve are of a particular demographic, or the general public. How has Gateway coped with the pandemic?
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—credyd fforddiadwy
Welcome back to the Equality and Social Justice Committee's inquiry into debt and the pandemic, and we're now going to be hearing from our third panel. And all the meeting, the discussion, will be broadcast live on Senedd.tv. So, I'd like to welcome our next…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
We'll now take a 10-minute break before we come to our third panel.
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Okay. Thank you very much, both of you, for the evidence you've given us. We'll be sending you a transcript of what you have said, and I would encourage you to really look at it closely to make sure that we have captured what you said accurately, and to…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Thank you. Lee.
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Yes, okay. Very briefly from me, and if you could just give me short answers: I just wondered how significant you think the debt that people may have been encouraged to acquire online is—so, a catalogue debt, other so to speak no-interest debt, which all…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Ken, did you want to—?
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Okay, can I bring Ken Skates in at this point, bearing in mind that the Welsh Government doesn't have a bottomless pit of money?
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Okay. Altaf Hussain.
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Can I bring Jane Dodds in at this point, because I think she wants to ask for something where it is fairly straightforward to track what's going on, which is around council tax and rent arrears? Jane.
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Thank you for that. Sarah Murphy wanted to come in on how the Welsh Government may be able to help.
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Okay. Just to pursue that, Lee, clearly, we heard from Cerys that a lot of people rely on friends and families to borrow money to get them through a difficult situation, but, clearly, those who may be arriving new to the area they're now living in, they may…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Lee.
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
I know that Sioned Williams wanted to pursue you precisely on this point. So, Sioned.
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Okay. Thank you. Lee Tiratira, the Bevan Foundation report on debt highlights black, Asian and minority ethnic communities as having been disproportionately affected. Could you describe a little bit more whether you think that's correct and which groups?…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Just on the specifics, you mentioned that, in the work you commissioned from the Bevan Foundation, almost half the women who'd survived domestic abuse were in debt as a result of the abuse they had experienced. How does the law need to change in order to…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—effaith ar grwpiau â nodweddion gwarchodedig
Welcome back to this session of the Equality and Social Justice Committee and the second panel of our inquiry into debt and the pandemic. Although the public is excluded from the committee's meetings in order to protect public health, you are able to watch…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—gwasanaethau cyhoeddus
All right, very good. Okay, we'll now take a short break while we prepare for the next panel members. Are you all able to come back at half past, please, so we can start this second session on time?
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—gwasanaethau cyhoeddus
Okay. Well, clearly, there are some challenges ahead. Thank you very much, both of you, for appearing as witnesses in this inquiry. We will be sending you a transcript of what you have said, and I would urge you to ensure that you look at it and make sure…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—gwasanaethau cyhoeddus
Okay, because it's making sure that when people come to you, ostensibly, about one thing, you actually are correctly identifying that what they really need is support about another.
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—gwasanaethau cyhoeddus
[Inaudible.]—front-line workers that local authorities employ in their hubs, or other places where council services are delivered from are sufficiently well trained to be able to identify those who need proper professional debt support?
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—gwasanaethau cyhoeddus
Thank you very much. Are there any other Members who want to ask Lisa any other questions, because she wasn't able to join us in the first part of the meeting? This is a last opportunity before we bring this session to a close. Altaf, did you want to say…
4 Hydref 2021 , Equality and Social Justice Committee
Dyled a'r pandemig—gwasanaethau cyhoeddus
Okay. I wonder if you could write to us with that information, when you're able to collate it, because it would be really useful to know exactly the extent of the problem that we're dealing with.
