National Assembly for Wales

I've had no apologies for today's meeting as all Members are present. Are there any declarations of interest? I see none. 

We have six papers to note. I wondered if anybody wished to raise any issues arising from this correspondence. Julie Morgan.

Yes, thank you very much. I think that we've got interesting correspondence from Public Health Wales, with a lot of emphasis on the importance of a healthy start, but I was a bit surprised that they didn't mention breastfeeding at all, because I think it's such an important issue at the start of life that I would have thought that they would have included it. So, I just wondered if we could perhaps flag that up. 

Yes. If Members are content, we could write to Public Health Wales in order to try to understand why they're not even mentioning it in the key issues they're planning to make their priorities. Is that agreeable?

Yes.

Jane Dodds, is that on this subject or something else?

Another subject.

Fine. Okay. So, if Members are happy, we'll write to Public Health Wales. Jane.

hank you very much. I'd like to just refer to the letter from Jane Hutt as Cabinet Secretary with regard to welcome tickets for asylum seekers. I have read the answer fully. I am still very concerned that there is no solution being offered in order to restore this opportunity for asylum seekers to travel for free. We've managed to do it with age groups—that is, under-22-year-olds—and I'd like to help the committee to develop a letter to go to the Cabinet Secretary from the committee, please.

I wonder if it's worth a letter when we're going to be seeing Jane Hutt about the draft budget next Monday. We could write to her, but, clearly, she's unlikely to have responded before we see her in person and, clearly, that's something that you'll be able to raise.

Sorry, Chair, may I just come back? I would appreciate a letter in order to give her some preparation time to respond to us, if that's feasible, please.

I'm sure it is, yes. 

Altaf, was yours on this same subject?

Yes, it is with regard to the tickets, although I agree with Jane, really, about it. But will you talk about the travel day? Are there any specific issues, like that you're going to work, you're going to college, you're going to school? Are they to be mentioned in those tickets, or is it a free day, going anywhere, wherever you like?

I think you make a very good point about going to college and going to school. Obviously, an asylum seeker isn't entitled to work, so that wouldn't be a criteria that would come into this.

So, will there be any restrictions to that ticket?

Let's add your points to that letter.

Thank you.

Thank you. Mick, you wanted to make a point.

I wanted to come in on item 2.4, correspondence from Dr Rob Jones to the Chair regarding the prisons and imprisonment fact file. As to the information in this, this is something we've been long seeking more detailed data with regard to Wales. As you know, we have a justice system on the verge, on the precipice of collapse. We have a prison system that is not only overburdened, but the sole solution seems to be spending hundreds of millions of pounds building more prisons. I think this really warrants an opportunity to look at these figures and to discuss this issue with Dr Rob Jones. As you know, we have a particular interest in the issue of health and welfare in prisons. We have a specific interest in terms of probation, and yet we seem to have a very adverse response from the UK Government in terms of our views on the overcentralisation of this sort of archaic Victorian system that is in such a dire situation at the moment. So, I'm wondering if we could look at having some time to be able to go through this in more detail. I think it is very, very significant and important for many devolved functions that we have within Wales.

Thank you, Mick. Sioned Williams.

I would endorse Mick's suggestion there. Also, I think we should be writing to the Cabinet Secretary, because, in his letter to us with the report, Dr Rob Jones draws our attention to the fact that despite the commitments—and I'm quoting—

'set out in Women’s Justice Blueprint to reduce the Welsh female prison population,'

for example, the

'report reveals that the number of Welsh women in prison increased for a fourth consecutive year',

and also we see the use of remand increasing. We also see those sentenced to immediate custody for one month or less has risen by 51 per cent. That's something that we particularly focus in on in our report on women in the criminal justice system. So, I think there are commitments in the blueprint around this, which is in the Cabinet Secretary's portfolio, so I'd like, perhaps, a response from her as regards what actions she's taking on behalf of the Welsh Government within the blueprint to address this.

Okay. Julie Morgan.

Can I just say I do think that we should look at this in more depth, because we also have no news about the residential centre for women, unless I've missed it? I don't think we have any more news on that. So, it does feel as if things have stalled and in fact, given the figures that Sioned has just raised, things are getting worse. So, I think we really should do some work with Rob Jones.

Okay. Well, let's see what Rob Jones's availability is, and hopefully we can get him in before the Christmas recess.

Great.

Are there any further questions anybody wants to raise?

If not, could I ask you to agree, under Standing Order 17.42, to resolve to exclude the public for the remainder of today's meeting and for any items in the meeting next Monday if we need to do any further work on the draft report on the British Sign Language Bill? I see no objection. Therefore, we will now go into private session.