North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has questioned the First Minister this week over what action his Government is taking to support women in Wales who were affected by the Spy Cops scandal.
A public inquiry into claims of wrongdoing by undercover officers who infiltrated activist groups in England and Wales was launched three years ago.
In the Assembly Chamber yesterday, Mr Isherwood asked the First Minister Carwyn Jones what representation the Welsh Government has made to the Inquiry on behalf of the women in Wales who were exploited.
He said:
“Terms of Reference for the Undercover Policing Inquiry, which was launched in 2015 by the then Home Secretary, Theresa May, says the investigation would ‘include, but not be limited to, whether and to what purpose, extent and effect undercover police operations have targeted political and social justice campaigners’.
“However, it makes no explicit reference to the many women deceived into sexual relationships by undercover police officers. What, if any, representations has the Welsh Government made to the Inquiry on behalf of women in Wales who were exploited in this way, or, if not, can you explain what limitations on the Welsh Government's intervention there might be in this respect?”
The First Minister replied:
“The inquiry itself will be looking at the deployment of police officers in undercover roles. It has been established following the controversy surrounding the conduct of undercover officers. Now, the inquiry will make, as I understand, recommendations as to how undercover policing is conducted and will scrutinise the use of undercover officers by the now defunct SDS and the National Public Order Intelligence Unit. Now, among the allegations, of course, are that undercover officers took fake identities from dead children, had relationships with the campaigners and fathered children. Those are on the record. It would strike me as hugely difficult to understand if the inquiry itself did not also look at those issues in order to provide a comprehensive report.”