Shadow Minister for Local Government, Housing and Communities, Mark Isherwood MS, has this afternoon called on the Welsh Government to take immediate action to ensure the inequalities that currently exist in Wales do not worsen further during the pandemic.
Speaking in this afternoon’s Welsh Parliament Debate on the Equality and Local Government and Communities Committee report - 'Into sharp relief: inequality and the pandemic', Mr Isherwood, who is a member of the Committee, said the report acknowledges the measures that have been take by the Welsh Government since March to address the specific or unequal effects on certain group’s of people, but that many respondents to the inquiry “stressed the need for immediate action, rather than the production of more strategies”.
Taking part in the debate from his home in North Wales, Mr Isherwood said:
“The Welsh Government’s response to our Report’s first recommendation states that they ‘will look to learn the lessons of the past few months to ensure that consideration of impact continues to be an integral part of how decisions are made by the Welsh Government’.
“However, as our Report evidences, this is more a matter of becoming - rather than continuing to be - an integral part of how the Welsh Government makes decisions. As our report also notes, it is important that decisions by the Welsh Government and other Public Bodies ‘are informed by lived experience to make sure that existing equalities are not entrenched, but addressed’.
Mr Isherwood also criticised the Welsh Government’s response to Recommendation 4 that “When resources become available Public Sector Equality Duty review work will be restarted”.
He said:
“It is now nine and half years since the Public Sector Equality Duty came into force in Wales, underpinned by specific duties including “engagement, involving and consulting people” and “accessing the impact of policies”. Although this duty applies to all listed Public Authorities in Wales, my casework is jam packed with examples of Public Authorities creating further barriers to the real detriment of people with protected characteristics, particularly disability.
“Failure to resource and prioritise this now will exacerbate inequality during this pandemic and put greater pressure on public resources at every level.
“The Welsh Government’s acceptance in principle only of our Recommendation that it ‘should publish a cross-government poverty reduction strategy with targets and performance indicators’ is unacceptable and their statement that they remain committed to developing their approach to anti-poverty policies and programmes in the future would be risible if this wasn’t so serious. As our report states ‘We have repeatedly made the case for the need for a cross cutting, comprehensive tackling poverty strategy with clear targets, deliverables and milestones which progress can be assessed against’.”
Mr Isherwood challenged the Welsh Government’s claim that it wants to make it as easy as possible for people to claim devolved benefits ‘such as free school meals and council tax reductions’ and that they are ‘working with local authorities and other key stakeholders to identify potential solutions’, highlighting that it almost 2 years since Community Housing Cymru called for the Welsh Government and Local Authorities to work with Job Centre Plus in Wales to co-locate services and enable applications for Local Authority benefits to be made at the same time as Universal Credit.
He also challenged the statement by the Welsh Government that it is ‘continuing to consider opportunities to improve support for those with No Recourse to Public Funds’, stating:
“Specialist services are now calling for clarity on how homelessness support for survivors with no recourse to public funds will continue.
“To be effective in supporting all survivors with no recourse to public funds, the Welsh Government must therefore tell us whether it will agree a sustainable funding model with specialist Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence services, and Local Authorities, this Senedd Term, to ensure safe, secure accommodation.”
