English: My thanks to my fellow committee members, and our Chair and our clerks, and especially those who gave evidence for helping us to bring forward wide-ranging recommendations in respect of our committee's report on inequality during the COVID-19 pandemic. One thing is crystal clear: the harsh social and economic inequalities that have always been present have sharpened as a result of the pandemic. As such, the committee is equally clear that the responses to the pandemic must focus on those who have been most exposed by this virus and who are at greatest risk of suffering the deepening and entrenching of that inequality: those who are in poverty already, in precarious work on low incomes; those with lower educational attainment and skills, in the worst housing, and overcrowded and poor standard private rented housing; single parents, the vast majority of whom are women; low earners from certain ethnic groups working in that low-paid, precarious employment, exposed to the economic slowdown and the health inequalities affecting men and older people, but with a virus perniciously targeting people from certain black, Asian and minority ethnic groups; the women who, in the majority, have taken on the additional unpaid caring roles for children and older relatives that have arisen through COVID-19; children with low educational attainment, who will have fallen further behind; children with special education needs or additional learning needs, who will be likewise affected by the absence of educational and wider support during the pandemic; disabled people who've seen their world shrink because of necessary COVID measures; carers and older people receiving care at home, or in a residential setting, who have also seen the COVID world closing around them; and migrants, who are most likely to work in those shut-down sectors, and are even more exposed through their restricted access to benefits and other public funds. These are the same people, collectively and individually - because behind this there are thousands upon thousands of individual human stories - who were already vulnerable to poverty and inequality before, but the harsh winds of coronavirus have shaken violently what defences were previously in place. So, I'm pleased, therefore, that the Government has indeed accepted, or largely accepted, or accepted in principle, the vast majority of our recommendations - so, for example, on equality impact assessments, to comply with our human rights obligations and public sector equality duties; on health and care and coronavirus-related data gathering; on the impact of the Coronavirus Act 2020 on measures affecting social care and mental health duties; on poverty reduction strategies and targets and performance indicators; on school meals and summer holidays; on fair work measures to a values-led recovery, and implementation of the Fair Work Commission's recommendations; on additional funding to advice services on benefits and employment and discrimination, especially for BAME and disabled employees; on a benefits take-up campaign; on exploring automatic entitlement to devolved benefits; on reviewing and rolling out the BAME advisory group's assessment tool; on promoting fair and flexible work to all employers receiving Welsh Government support; maximising the income of unpaid carers through council tax discounts; on reviewing the accessibility and availability of mental health services, especially for men from lower socioeconomic groups; on delivering a sustainable funding model for the violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence sector before the end of this Senedd; on data collection for older abuse victims; on updating and reviewing community cohesion and hate crime plans and frameworks; and, I have to say, on lobbying the UK Government for the lifting of 'no recourse to public funds' restrictions; on migrant awareness training for front-line public staff; and on targeting employment support at those who are furthest from the labour market, and so on. Now, the Government has rejected a couple of our recommendations with reasons, and some are accepted only in principle, as I say. But I welcome the fact that we have a Government that has responded positively to the vast majority of recommendations, and indeed has not waited to act on many of them already. It's clearly committed to tackling the inequalities that have been brought into such sharp relief by this pandemic. If anything positive at all comes out of this personal and human tragedy of COVID-19, in which many have lost their lives and their loved ones, then it must be, surely, the redoubling of our efforts to reduce the inequalities in life that are there by chance of birth and chance of geography. Let's extend our hands further to help people up when the world must seem to them to be always knocking them down. Thank you.
Welsh: Diolch i fy nghyd-aelodau ar y pwyllgor, a'n Cadeirydd a'n clercod, ac yn enwedig y rhai a roddodd dystiolaeth am ein helpu i gyflwyno argymhellion eang eu cwmpas mewn perthynas ag adroddiad ein pwyllgor ar anghydraddoldeb yn ystod pandemig COVID-19. Mae un peth yn gwbl glir: mae'r anghydraddoldebau cymdeithasol ac economaidd llym sydd wedi bod yn bresennol erioed wedi miniogi o ganlyniad i'r pandemig. O'r herwydd, mae'r pwyllgor yr un mor glir fod yn rhaid i'r ymatebion i'r pandemig ganolbwyntio ar y rhai sydd wedi bod yn fwyaf agored i niwed yn sgil y feirws hwn ac sy'n wynebu'r perygl mwyaf o weld yr anghydraddoldeb hwnnw'n dyfnhau ac yn magu gwraidd: rhai sydd mewn tlodi eisoes, mewn gwaith ansicr ar incwm isel; rhai sydd â chyrhaeddiad addysgol a lefel sgiliau is, yn y tai gwaethaf, a thai rhent preifat gorlawn ac ansafonol; rhieni sengl, gyda'r mwyafrif helaeth ohonynt yn fenywod; rhai sy'n ennill cyflogau is o grwpiau ethnig sy'n gweithio mewn cyflogaeth ansicr am gyflogau isel, yn agored i'r arafu economaidd a'r anghydraddoldebau iechyd sy'n effeithio ar ddynion a phobl hŷn, ond gyda feirws niweidiol yn targedu pobl o grwpiau penodol o bobl dduon, pobl Asiaidd a phobl o leiafrifoedd ethnig; y menywod sydd, gan mwyaf, wedi ymgymryd â rolau gofalu di-dâl ychwanegol am blant a pherthnasau hŷn yn sgil COVID-19; plant â chyrhaeddiad addysgol isel, a fydd wedi syrthio ymhellach ar ei hôl hi; plant ag anghenion addysgol arbennig neu anghenion dysgu ychwanegol, y bydd diffyg cymorth addysgol a chymorth ehangach hefyd yn effeithio arnynt yn ystod y pandemig; pobl anabl sydd wedi gweld eu byd yn crebachu oherwydd mesurau COVID angenrheidiol; gofalwyr a phobl hŷn sy'n derbyn gofal gartref, neu mewn lleoliad preswyl, sydd hefyd wedi gweld byd COVID yn cau o'u cwmpas; ac ymfudwyr, sy'n fwyaf tebygol o fod yn gweithio yn y sectorau sydd wedi cau, ac sydd hyd yn oed yn fwy agored i niwed drwy eu mynediad cyfyngedig at fudd-daliadau a chronfeydd cyhoeddus eraill. Dyma'r un bobl, ar y cyd ac fel unigolion - oherwydd y tu ôl i hyn mae miloedd ar filoedd o straeon dynol unigol - a oedd eisoes yn agored i dlodi ac anghydraddoldeb o'r blaen, ond mae gwyntoedd llym coronafeirws wedi chwalu'n rhacs yr amddiffynfeydd a oedd ar waith yn flaenorol. Felly, rwy'n falch fod y Llywodraeth wedi derbyn, neu wedi derbyn i raddau helaeth neu mewn egwyddor, y mwyafrif helaeth o'n hargymhellion - felly, er enghraifft, ar asesiadau o'r effaith ar gydraddoldeb, i gydymffurfio â'n rhwymedigaethau hawliau dynol a'n dyletswyddau cydraddoldeb y sector cyhoeddus; ar iechyd a gofal a chasglu data sy'n gysylltiedig â'r coronafeirws; ar effaith Deddf Coronafeirws 2020 ar fesurau sy'n effeithio ar ddyletswyddau gofal cymdeithasol ac iechyd meddwl; ar strategaethau lleihau tlodi a thargedau a dangosyddion perfformiad; ar brydau ysgol a gwyliau'r haf; ar fesurau gwaith teg i adferiad a arweinir gan werthoedd, a gweithredu argymhellion y Comisiwn Gwaith Teg; ar gyllid ychwanegol i wasanaethau cynghori ar fudd-daliadau a chyflogaeth a gwahaniaethu, yn enwedig ar gyfer cyflogeion BAME ac anabl; ar ymgyrch i annog pobl i hawlio budd-daliadau; ar archwilio hawl awtomatig i fudd-daliadau datganoledig; ar adolygu a chyflwyno offeryn asesu grŵp cynghorol BAME; ar hyrwyddo gwaith teg a hyblyg i bob cyflogwr sy'n cael cymorth gan Lywodraeth Cymru; cynyddu incwm gofalwyr di-dâl drwy ostyngiadau yn y dreth gyngor; ar adolygu hygyrchedd ac argaeledd gwasanaethau iechyd meddwl, yn enwedig i ddynion o grwpiau economaidd-gymdeithasol is; ar ddarparu model ariannu cynaliadwy ar gyfer y sector trais yn erbyn menywod, cam-drin domestig a thrais rhywiol cyn diwedd y Senedd hon; ar gasglu data ar gyfer dioddefwyr hŷn sydd wedi dioddef camdriniaeth; ar ddiweddaru ac adolygu cydlyniant cymunedol a chynlluniau a fframweithiau troseddau casineb; a rhaid i mi ddweud, ar lobïo Llywodraeth y DU am godi cyfyngiadau i'r rheini 'nad oes ganddynt hawl i arian cyhoeddus'; ar hyfforddiant ymwybyddiaeth ymfudwyr i staff cyhoeddus ar y rheng flaen; ac ar dargedu cymorth cyflogaeth at y rhai sydd bellaf o'r farchnad lafur, ac yn y blaen. Nawr, mae'r Llywodraeth wedi gwrthod un neu ddau o'n hargymhellion gyda rhesymau, a dim ond mewn egwyddor y maent wedi derbyn rhai ohonynt, fel y dywedais. Ond rwy'n croesawu'r ffaith bod gennym Lywodraeth sydd wedi ymateb yn gadarnhaol i'r mwyafrif llethol o'r argymhellion, ac yn wir nid yw wedi oedi cyn gweithredu ar lawer ohonynt yn barod. Mae'n amlwg wedi ymrwymo i fynd i'r afael â'r anghydraddoldebau sydd wedi'u hamlygu i'r fath raddau gan y pandemig hwn. Os daw unrhyw beth cadarnhaol o gwbl allan o drasiedi bersonol a dynol COVID-19, lle mae llawer wedi colli eu bywydau a'u hanwyliaid, does bosibl nad ailgadarnhau ein hymdrechion i leihau'r anghydraddoldebau mewn bywyd sy'n deillio ar hap o amgylchiadau geni a daearyddiaeth pobl fydd hynny. Gadewch i ni estyn ein dwylo ymhellach i helpu pobl i godi ar eu traed pan fydd y byd i'w weld bob amser yn eu llorio. Diolch.