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18 July 2023
Dear Colleague,
Consultation: Anti-racist Wales
The Senedd’s Equality and Social Justice Committee is holding an inquiry looking at the implementation and delivery of the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan. The aim of the Plan is to build an anti‑racist Wales, tackling institutional and systemic racism. At a roundtable meeting held on 20 March 2023, Stakeholders highlighted issues around the overall implementation and delivery of the plan and raised concerns in the following policy areas:
- Health: concerns include the use of children as translators in healthcare settings.
- Education: concerns include racism in schools, training and skills, attainment gaps and barriers in higher education.
- Housing: concerns include low levels of awareness about the plan and a lack of engagement with private landlords.
- Crime and Justice: concerns around lack of actions on reporting racism, tackling ‘everyday racism’ and overt forms of racism targeted at specific groups (including migrants and refugees) and racial disproportionality in the criminal justice system.
The Committee has agreed to explore these issues further by holding an inquiry into the effectiveness of the implementation and delivery of the Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan.
Invitation to contribute to the inquiry
The Committee would like to invite you to submit written evidence to assist in its consideration of the inquiry. In responding to the consultation, it would be helpful to have your comments in response to the terms of reference below:
- Consider the effectiveness of Welsh Government actions to deliver the plan, including what is being done to ‘lead by example’ in taking a pro-active and cross-governmental approach to racism.
- Consider progress and monitoring arrangements for the Plan, including the role of the public sector (local authorities, health, education), third sector and where applicable, the private sector.
- Examine the progress of the Racial Disparity Unit, and determine whether there are gaps in data collection and analysis of data is being carried out effectively.
- Explore what channels of communication has been established to ensure people with lived experience are informed of the plan’s progress and what changes are happening as a result of the plan.
- Evaluate the effectiveness of the Plan in its first year, including whether actions have been delivered, what the key outcomes have been so far and to determine why any outstanding actions have not been implemented.
- Help further understanding of what other interventions are needed to support delivery of the plan and whether there are barriers to implementing the plan.
Given the importance of intersectionality, the inquiry will also consider how people’s intersecting identities have been taken into account when developing and implementing the Plan.
If you wish to submit evidence, please send an electronic copy of your submission to: SeneddEquality@Senedd.Wales
Submissions should arrive by 6 October 2023.
Guidance
Submissions should be no longer than five sides of A4, with numbered paragraphs, and should focus on the terms of reference.
If you are responding on behalf of an organisation, please provide a brief description of the role of your organisation.
Please see the guidance for those providing evidence for committees.
Bilingual Policy
The Committee welcomes contributions in both or either of our official languages, English and Welsh. Information not submitted bilingually will not be translated and will be published in the language of submission only. We expect organisations to implement their own standards and schemes and to comply with their statutory obligations.
How we use your information
We will usually publish correspondence or written evidence on our website. If you have responded in a personal capacity, your name will be published along with your contribution, unless you have asked for your contribution to be anonymised. If you have responded in a professional capacity, the published version of your response will include your name, your job title/role, if relevant, and the name of your organisation.
Contact details
If you wish to speak to someone regarding this consultation, please use the following contact details:
Equality and Social Justice Committee
Welsh Parliament
Cardiff Bay, CF99 1SN
Email: SeneddEquality@Senedd.Wales
Telephone: 0300 200 6565
Yours sincerely,
Jenny Rathbone MS
Chair of the Equality and Social Justice Committee
Croesewir gohebiaeth yn Gymraeg neu Saesneg.
We welcome correspondence in Welsh or English.