, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—affordable credit
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—affordable credit
Thank you. Daniel Arrowsmith, is your association serving all types of people, or are there particular demographics who use your credit unions?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—affordable credit
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?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—affordable credit
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
We'll now take a 10-minute break before we come to our third panel.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
Thank you. Lee.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
Ken, did you want to—?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
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?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
Okay. Altaf Hussain.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
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.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
Thank you for that. Sarah Murphy wanted to come in on how the Welsh Government may be able to help.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
Lee.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
I know that Sioned Williams wanted to pursue you precisely on this point. So, Sioned.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
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?…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—impact on groups with protected characteristics
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—public services
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?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—public services
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—public services
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.
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—public services
[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?
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—public services
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…
, Equality and Social Justice Committee
Debt and the pandemic—public services
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.
