, Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Child Poverty
Diolch yn fawr, Llywydd. I do want to thank Plaid Cymru for bringing forward this debate on this really important subject, especially in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, which, we all fear, will drive child poverty rates here and across the UK even…
, Plenary
Plaid Cymru Debate: Child Poverty
Formally.
, Plenary
Debate on the Equality and Social Justice Committee Report—'Gender based violence: The needs of migrant women'
Wales cannot and will not be a bystander to abuse, and that's why the report and its recommendations are so welcome. I'm really pleased that the report includes the important works and makes the connections with our commitment to Wales being a nation of…
, Plenary
Debate on the Equality and Social Justice Committee Report—'Gender based violence: The needs of migrant women'
Diolch, Deputy Llywydd. I'm very grateful to the committee for conducting this inquiry on gender-based violence impacting on migrant women, and thank all of those who gave evidence, but especially those who shared their lived experiences, and the specialist…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Thank you.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Thank you very much, and I also undertake to get to you a summary of the Cordis Bright evaluation, hopefully in time for your concluding work on this inquiry.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Well, that is shocking feedback that you had from that visit, from that evidence you took in Styal. When I heard about it, and it came, obviously, in response to my oral statement, I asked for it to looked at. This should not be happening. It is the…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Diolch yn fawr. I think another work stream of that's going on—. I've mentioned the Llamau and Glyndŵr work is looking at those issues, because it's looking at all of the needs that will come: health needs, including access to substance misuse services…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Diolch yn fawr, Jane. I wanted to—. Can I make a correction to my written evidence? I wanted to refer to the important work that is being undertaken by Glyndŵr university and Llamau to look at accommodation needs, and, unfortunately, in the written evidence…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Well, again, we are funding the Visiting Mum scheme, alongside the UK Government. We need to—. And this is going to be—. There are, again, huge budget pressures and priorities that we face. We want to take responsibility by providing this funding, but we…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Sixty-eight. That's one example, anyway, of Visiting Mum making an impact.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Diolch yn fawr, Jane. Well, I think in my written evidence I did give a section on support for women and their children, particularly focusing on the Visiting Mum service, which again the Welsh Government is funding—the Prison Advice and Care Trust Visiting…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Can I just quickly say that I wanted to mention earlier on that I was meeting the prisons Minister tomorrow and that I'll also raise with him the issue about the funding that Sarah raised, about the funding of the women's centre? And I'll raise the issue…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Well, again, I think this shows the difficulties about not being responsible for all the services that affect Welsh women. We would rather they weren't in an English prison and that they were here in Wales and that we were providing for their needs. So, as…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Well, this is something that is very much shared with my colleague Julie Morgan, the Deputy Minister for Social Services. In fact, last year we visited Hillside together. We've visited Hillside on more than one occasion. And I met with the UK Government…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Thank you. I've given you the figures already of the contacts that have been made with sentencers—the 270 contacts and more—and it's a part of the blueprint, it's a work stream of the blueprint that they work with magistrates, and magistrates, of course, are…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Well, I mean, James has given a very good ministerial response to your questions, Sioned. Obviously, I can understand Dr Robert Jones's concerns about the impact of what's happening now for women in the criminal justice system, and I very much welcome the…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Sioned, those are all really important questions, some of which—. I'm not a sentencer, and we're not responsible for all those issues, and I'm sure you will have taken evidence. I know you took evidence from magistrates and HMPPS in terms of the impacts of…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Yes. I'm visiting the Eastwood Park women's centre on 19 January with Mick Antoniw, the Counsel General. We're doing a range of joint visits. In fact, he came with me to the women's centre on Thursday, run by Safer Wales, and we're going up to Berwyn and…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Well, thank you very much, and this is crucial to the blueprint, and actually crucial to what Jean Corston was asking of us. One of her recommendations—and I was just checking up what Jean Corston said, in terms of her recommendations, recently—is she said…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
The issues around training and access to training and trauma-informed training, which, I think, is part of your question, is part of the blueprint, and it's the professionals who need that training. And, of course, that includes—. They need to have that…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
It's planned. So, I think the fact that we need to—. This links, to me, very much to the 'Anti-racist Wales Action Plan', and the fact that justice forms one of the stands of the 'Anti-racist Wales Action Plan', I think, does show that we are, as a Welsh…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
—and responding directly from that kind of evidence. We haven't—. The research, as well, I think that's been commissioned.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Well, these are stark figures. In my written evidence, again, I said that we'd commission research to better understand the needs of women from ethnically and racially diverse backgrounds, but also said that there's going to be part-time specialist worker…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Women's experiences in the criminal justice system—evidence session 4
Sarah.
