National Assembly for Wales

I have not had cause to discuss these non devolved matters with the UK Government, but am happy to receive more detail on any live issues should the Member wish.

Our Animal Welfare Plan for Wales includes a commitment to consider extending compulsory microchipping to include kittens and cats in Wales.

Wales works in partnership with Scotland and England in relation to commission research, which supports similar policies in each country. There have been two recent research reports published – about microchipping and responsible dog ownership. Additionally, a policy paper about pet theft, published by Defra, the Home Office and the Ministry of Justice was published in 2021. All of these make reference to microchipping, database ownership and ease of access.

The Office of the Chief Veterinary Officer is working with colleagues in other administrations to ensure any future changes to the collection and use of microchipping data meets the needs of the public and the enforcement agents alike.  

We will continue to work with Defra to consider future changes in relation to microchipping databases for both cats and dogs. These discussions will include matters around accessibility and a single point of entry.

The Welsh Government’s Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (VAWDASV) Strategy 2022-2026 commits to increase the focus on holding those who commit abuse to account and supporting those who may carry out abusive or violent behaviour to change their behaviour and avoid offending; and to make early intervention and prevention a priority.  The revised strategy will be published in spring 2022.

Welsh Government recognises that VAWDASV is committed primarily but not exclusively by men against women. It is important to recognise therefore that not all victims of VAWDASV are women and it can also affect men and those with a non-binary identity. All victims and survivors regardless of their gender will be supported and perpetrators, regardless of their gender, will be held to account for their actions.

In 2021/22, Welsh Government provided funding of £16,000 in order to provide training to professionals who come into contact with victims and perpetrators in their day to day roles (housing, education, social care) to help them identify, recognise and understand the signs displayed by males who may be experiencing domestic abuse.

Welsh Government continues to support the Safer Wales Dyn Project which protects and supports all males, including Gay, Heterosexual, Bisexual and Transgender men who have experienced domestic abuse in Wales.  The Dyn Project works to enhance safety and increase well-being through a collaborative approach with partners across Wales.

The pandemic has had an impact on our ability to carry out work to gather evidence to support the development of options to enable me to consider this matter afresh. 

The pandemic and our ‘no-one left out’ approach have shone a light on the extent of hidden homelessness in Wales.  We are focusing on preventing homelessness and transforming homelessness services longer term. We are supporting people facing cost of living increases, including supporting people to sustain their tenancies.

Alongside this, the war in Ukraine has caused the displacement of many tens of thousands of Ukrainian people from their homes and marked the onset of the largest humanitarian crisis in Europe for decades.  As a nation of sanctuary, we are committed to do whatever we can to welcome and support refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine.

As a result of these unprecedented pressures, I have asked officials to postpone work on gathering evidence for the remainder of this Senedd term.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), has recently recommended an additional spring booster dose for what it considers to be the most vulnerable individuals in society, based on its consideration of all the available evidence. This includes people over 75 years old, care home residents for older adults and individuals aged over 12 years who are immunosuppressed (as defined in in the Green Book). I have accepted this advice.  

More broadly, the JCVI has signalled an autumn 2022 programme of vaccinations for people who are at higher risk of severe COVID-19, such as those of older age and in wider clinical risk groups. The Green Book defines clinical risk groups and includes individuals with diabetes.

We are working with health boards to plan for some of the more likely scenarios further into autumn and winter 2022-23. Precise details of an autumn programme will be made once I receive and have considered the JCVI advice.

The Welsh Government, through Health and Care Research Wales, provides infrastructure to support and increase research. As a partner of the NCRI, Health and Care Research Wales contributes annually to the NCRI Cancer Research Database which classifies grants according to the Common Scientific Outline (CSO) categories.

NCRI CSO classification covers (a) biology, (b) aetiology, (c) prevention, (d) early detection, diagnosis and prognosis, (e) treatment and (f) outcomes research. In our most recent return covering the period 2020 - 2021, we reported two Health and Care Research Wales funded infrastructure grants (Wales Cancer Research Centre [WCRC] and the Brain Repair and Intracranial Neurotherapeutics [BRAIN] Unit) and one collaborative grant (CRUK Cardiff Experimental Cancer Research Centre [ECMC]) that included some brain tumour research activity.

An NCRI assessment across these three awards showed that the ECMC activities focus around (d) early detection, diagnosis and prognosis and (e) treatment, the WCRC covers (c) prevention and (d) early detection, diagnosis and prognosis and the BRAIN Unit covers (b) aetiology and (c) prevention.

However, due to the nature of these grant awards (e.g., infrastructure covering multiple cancer sites) we do not record data on the funding allocated to each disease site. More information on the CSO coding used by NCRI can be found here: Spend by Research & Disease Site - NCRI