Will the Minister provide an update on the publication of the review of community cohesion and hate crime plans as recommended by the Fifth Senedd's Equality, Local Government and Communities Committee in its 'Into sharp relief: inequality and the pandemic' inquiry?
We will shortly complete a review of the Community Cohesion Programme, which will influence the programme for 2023/24 and beyond. This will also incorporate our work on Community Cohesion Principles that will guide our work.
We began working on an update of the Hate Crime Framework during the pandemic, following the Committee's report. However, our work in Wales to support hate crime victims must dovetail with work undertaken at the UK level. There have been important developments on which we await clarity on the UK Government’s position. These include awaiting a substantive response from the UK Government to the Law Commission’s review of hate crime legislation – the review was published in December 2021 – and having sight of the UK Government’s planned new Hate Crime Strategy.