Responding to yesterday’s Statement by the Minister for Social Justice, ‘Update on Ukraine’, Shadow Social Justice Minister and North Wales MS Mark Isherwood questioned the Minister over the temporary pause of the Welsh Government’s Super Sponsor Scheme for Ukrainian refugees.
Mr Isherwood, who has previously questioned the Minister over actions being taken by the Welsh Government to ensure that school places and local GP and NHS services are available to Ukrainian refugees when they arrive in Wales, and referred to the case of a constituent who had experienced problems accessing a school place for the child of a Ukrainian family arriving under the Homes for Ukraine scheme, asked the Minister to what extent the pause of the Super Sponsor Scheme in Wales is due to a shortage of accommodation and limited availability of services.
He said:
“Responding to you four weeks ago, I referred to the constituent who had contacted me stating that a Ukrainian refugee family was arriving the following morning under the Homes for Ukraine scheme who had been told by the Local Authority's school admissions that the family's primary school-age child could not start education until she had a medical from the GP, and by the GP they had registered the family with that they refused to do a medical, knew nothing of this requirement and did not have the capacity.
“I thanked you for your prompt response, in which you stated that officials were following up with the admissions officer in the local authority to confirm that, providing the child is well, they do not need to wait for a health assessment to attend the school and that, regarding the position relayed to the family from the GP practice, you had asked health officials to follow up on that with the health board as a matter of urgency. I therefore concluded by asking how you therefore are working with colleagues to ensure that this capacity issue is addressed and finally how you would now ensure that local authority and health services across Wales understand your expectations of them.
“To what extent, therefore, is your temporary pause of the Welsh Government's Super Sponsor Scheme dictated by a shortage of accommodation and to what extent by restrictions to the limited availability of services, including school placements and health provision? Can this realistically be addressed and, if so, when by and how?”
In his response, Mr Isherwood also referred to Haven of Light's work with Link International on the Ukrainian response in North Wales, which he has previously raised in the Chamber on several occasions.
He said:
“I first highlighted this to you in the Chamber on 15th March, when I stated that they were being: 'established by a team of local professionals and partnering Third Sector organisations and Churches across North Wales, working from a central hub in Llandudno, to prepare for the arrival of Ukrainian nationals and others affected by the war who will come to North Wales in the weeks and months ahead'.
“I asked you ‘how will the Welsh Government support these vital initiatives and facilitate local authority engagement with them?’. I was therefore pleased to receive an e-mail earlier this month from Ali Ussery, Haven of Light, stating that both she and Reverend Tim Hall from the Charity Link International sit on the External Stakeholders’ Group with you. And Ali added, 'As you know, I always focus my work at grassroots level, meeting with the people and letting them lead', and she invited me to ‘a barbecue with a focus on Ukrainian families now living in Conwy County’, which I will be attending.
“Will you therefore provide us with an update on the work of the External Stakeholder Group, particularly with people at grassroots level across Wales? Ali told me that ‘100 Ukrainians came and spent the day together, informally meeting, sharing experiences, weeping, laughing and playing’ at their last event, adding that ‘it was an amazing time to see so many children having fun and talking with others in their own language’.”