Is Wales a Nation of Sanctuary?
Wales has housed thousands of Ukrainian refugees, and there are plans from the Welsh government to welcome people caught up in other conflicts. In the meantime though, with Ukrainian refugees calling Wales home for almost 2 years, payments to people housing them may come to an end soon, so we find out what the Welsh government are doing to help refugees and those housing them.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Just to give you the numbers of those schemes, the numbers of people arriving through the
00:07 schemes who are currently eligible, there remains 1,300 people who have been issued
00:13 visas and are yet to travel. Of these people, approximately 500 have expressed a desire
00:19 to travel to the UK at some point in the future. While the remainder are uncontactable, clearly
00:26 we don't know who all those people are. They indicated they were interested in our scheme.
00:32 But also, there are many who have said they don't require any support from Welsh Government,
00:38 but we clearly recognise those figures and so we are always ready then to provide that
00:45 support if they do come here to Wales.
00:49 The scheme to help Ukrainian families build a life here in the UK and in Wales has been
00:53 going on for more than a year and has given a home to thousands of refugees since its
00:58 inception. Now with the scheme being in place for quite a long time, there have been calls
01:01 for a slight shift in the dynamic. With payments originally coming from the government for
01:05 people to use their home, more money may now come from refugees themselves, in more of
01:10 a landlord-renter situation. Senate Members want to know that this change will be dealt
01:15 with properly.
01:16 It was important that last week I met with the Department for Levelling Up Minister Felicity
01:22 Buchan to discuss many of these issues in terms of those opportunities for Ukrainians
01:28 to extend their stay in Wales, what's happening in terms of the visas, that's obviously a
01:33 clear question, but also we were able to welcome the continuation of thank you payments for
01:39 those hosting Homes for Ukraine visa holders into their third year. So we are looking at
01:45 every possible way in which we can support those who will want to stay longer.
01:50 With so much conflict going on in the world, it's important to remember that it's not
01:54 just Ukrainian refugees who have been seeking a place to live in Wales, and people caught
01:59 up in a number of different conflicts are at risk if measures are not put in place to
02:03 allow people to live in Wales. The Welsh Government say they have plans to help cement their promise
02:08 of making Wales a nation of sanctuary.
02:11 I think this sort of demonstrates the commitment of Welsh people in Wales to the nation of
02:17 sanctuary and to their warmth of welcome to refugees and sanctuary seekers. So this morning
02:24 I've co-chaired with the Welsh Local Government Association a new sanctuary board, it's a
02:32 partnership board with local government because this is about us looking at all needs in terms
02:38 of the nation of sanctuary. We've welcomed not only Syrians, Ukrainians, and now we are
02:44 working very actively on the Afghan citizens resettlement scheme for citizens coming from
02:51 third countries who have left.
02:53 Wales has welcomed thousands of refugees escaping wars over the last few years, and being a
02:57 nation of sanctuary, the Welsh Government say they want to see that continue.
03:01 James H. Watkins, reporting from Wales.
03:03 (car engine revving)