, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Draft budget 2024-25: Ministerial evidence session
Well, absolutely, Chair. The fundamental underpinning of the budget by the well-being of future generations Act is critical and it informs our strategic integrated impact assessment. And you're absolutely right—if we go back to the key principles and goals…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Draft budget 2024-25: Ministerial evidence session
Diolch yn fawr. Thank you very much, Chair. I think, as you will have seen in my written evidence, we've had to make very difficult decisions to refocus our spending plans, as we've laid out, on the public services that matter most to people, and, of course…
, Plenary
Debate on the Equality and Social Justice Committee Report, 'Calling time on child poverty: how Wales can do better'
I'm committed, I want to say, as I said in my response to your report, to tackling child poverty as an absolute priority, as is the Welsh Government, and we will continue to use every lever we have available and take a lead role in wider action to work…
, Plenary
Debate on the Equality and Social Justice Committee Report, 'Calling time on child poverty: how Wales can do better'
The committee’s findings form part of the feedback we’ve received from a wider programme of engagement with a range of stakeholders. The engagement exercise included seeking the views of children and young people, families and communities, and organisations…
, Plenary
Debate on the Equality and Social Justice Committee Report, 'Calling time on child poverty: how Wales can do better'
Diolch yn fawr, Dirprwy Lywydd. Thank you for the opportunity to respond to this important debate on the Equality and Social Justice Committee's report, 'Calling time on child poverty: how Wales can do better'. I welcome the report and its insightful…
, Plenary
Debate on a Member's Legislative Proposal: A Bill on the regulation of debt collectors
Diolch, Llywydd. I do welcome this opportunity to respond to this debate and thank Jack Sargeant for tabling the motion. As the cost-of-living crisis continues, I know debt levels in Wales are growing, including debt owed to public sector creditors. I also…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Well, thank you for that important follow-up question, which is very much addressed, I believe, in our cross-government child poverty strategy, which we are launching in the new year, to address many of those issues. I think that it is important that the PISA…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Tackling the impact of poverty on attainment is at the heart of our national mission in education, as set out in the road map published by the Minister for Education and the Welsh Language in March, 'Our national mission: high standards and aspirations for…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you very much for your question.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Diolch yn fawr. We are facing an extremely challenging financial situation, as you're fully aware, the toughest since devolution, and following months of intensive cross-Government work we are developing a prudent plan to respond to the extraordinary…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Diolch yn fawr, Mabon ap Gwynfor. We're proud of our record of supporting police community support officers—PCSOs—and promoting community safety in Wales, and we continue to work in partnership with policing colleagues to keep communities safe.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you for that important question, and also sharing with us, again, the importance of the Llangollen International Eisteddfod and particularly that significant presence of Ukrainian citizens at that event. We fundamentally believe—and I've responded to…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you, Ken Skates. We will shortly publish our 2023 nation of sanctuary report, which demonstrates continued good progress. We are currently undertaking work to refresh our 'Nation of Sanctuary—Refugee and Asylum Seeker Plan' and we'll be engaging those…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Diolch yn fawr, Jane Dodds, and can I thank you so much for telling us Ryan's story? I don’t know if any of you were able to see—or even if you were walking past—the wonderful Sanctuary in the Senedd event yesterday. I know it was hosted by Jenny Rathbone…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you very much, Altaf Hussain, for that supplementary question. I thought that I had answered Andrew R.T. Davies's question earlier on today with a very positive response to the ways in which we have been supporting refugees from Ukraine, and recognising…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
It's something that—. I was able to join in an inter-ministerial meeting with the Minister for refugees, Felicity Buchan, and also a colleague, Scottish Government Minister Emma Roddick as well, at a meeting we held last week. We were covering a whole range…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you very much for your very important question.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Diolch yn fawr. We remain committed to doing everything we can to make Wales a true nation of sanctuary. The Welsh Government continues to operate a wide range of schemes to ensure sanctuary seekers in Wales can receive the support they require to contribute…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you for that question and that important evidence from Care & Repair, which does such good work, supported by Welsh Government, of course, across Wales. It is important that we look to ways in which we can encourage older people to take up the benefits…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Thank you, Mark Isherwood. We're taking steps to improve the take-up of welfare benefits and payments, including pension credit, and are targeting additional support at households that need it most, including older people affected by the cost-of-living crisis.
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
I'm very grateful for the Equality and Social Justice Committee's report on tackling child poverty and we'll be debating that, I know, in the new year. What's important about the strategy is it's setting out our ambitions for the longer term, and it's clearly…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Well, thank you for that question, Sioned Williams. You know our commitment to tackling child poverty and you know it is a priority of this Government. And I think what's important about this strategy, which will be launched in the new year, is that it…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Well, we've been clear since the inception of the pilot that it would be time limited and properly evaluated, as I've outlined, to determine the benefits of a basic income to this specific group of young people as they transition out of care into adulthood…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Can I just clarify again for the Member? Participation in this pilot was voluntary. Eligible young people were supported by their local authority, provided with advice, funded by the single advice fund, to decide if they take part in the pilot and if it was…
, Plenary
Questions to the Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Well, certainly, that is not the feedback that I've had when I've met with both the beneficiaries of the pioneering basic income pilot for care leavers in Wales and also on meeting with the authorities, the advisers, across Wales. We went to meetings both in…
