North Wales Assembly Member Mark Isherwood has criticised the First Minister for his “shameful” responses after he challenged him yesterday over funding for domestic abuse charities and hospices which have been hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Raising the matter during this week’s virtual Plenary Meeting of the Welsh Parliament, Mr Isherwood emphasised the crucial role that these charities are playing to support people amid the crisis, and questioned the First Minister over additional funding for them.
Speaking from his North Wales home via ‘Zoom’, Mr Isherwood said:
“The Home Office announced on 11 April that it was working with charities in England to provide an additional £2 million for domestic abuse helplines and online support. Almost two weeks later, Welsh Women's Aid wrote to your Deputy Minister stating that violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence specialist services across Wales have expressed confusion, frustration and concern as to what additional funding is being made available as a response to COVID-19. So, aside from the £1.2 million announced in December, what new money has therefore been ring-fenced by the Welsh Government for these specialist services in Wales?”
He also challenged the First Minister over support for hospices, stating:
“Her Majesty's Government announced £200 million of new money for hospices in England, and it's understood the consequent allocation to the Welsh Government would be significantly more than the additional support of up to £6.3 million you announced for hospices in Wales. How, therefore, do you respond to the concern expressed by hospices across Wales that this additional money will not be used by the Welsh Government to support and sustain essential hospice services in Wales?”
In his response the First Minister said
“What happens in a different part of the United Kingdom is not a template for Wales, and we're not to be judged against actions that other people choose to take in other parts of the United Kingdom. What we do is to make decisions in a way that meets Welsh needs, Welsh circumstances and our ability to respond to them.
“There is nobody better placed than the Deputy Minister Jane Hutt, the founder of Welsh Women's Aid herself 30 years and more ago, to be in conversations with that sector to understand their needs and to make sure that we are doing everything we can to respond to them.
With regards hospices, the First Minister said “we have regular, close and, I think, productive dialogue with that sector here in Wales, and we devise solutions that are right for them and right for us in Wales.”
Mr Isherwood added:
“The Scottish Government have committed to spending on hospices the full allocation received from the UK Government in consequence of its new money for hospices in England and the Northern Ireland Executive is expected to do the same this week. We now need to see the same commitment from the Welsh Government.
“The First Minister’s responses were shameful – I despair at his apparent indifference to urgent questions raised by third sector providers delivering key specialist services in Wales at this critical time. Yet again, dumb Welsh Government budgeting threatens to increase pressure on statutory health and care services when smart budgeting could and should instead be reducing this.”
