Agenda item

Chair's Announcements

To receive.

Minutes:

Ukrainian/Russian Conflict:

 

The Leader of the Council referred to the current horrendous situation in the Ukraine as the unprovoked invasion of country continued to escalate, as did the appalling dire humanitarian crisis, which had resulted in the displacement of almost a million people in the first seven days and now two million refugees had fled Ukraine after two weeks and this exodus was unfortunately, anticipated to continue as long as the war persisted.

 

He continued by stating that everyone’s thoughts were with all those affected by this situation and last week the General Office building had been lit up in the colours of the Ukrainian national flag to show the County Borough’s solidarity with its people. 

The Leader advised that it was difficult at this stage to predict exactly what may or may not unfold over the coming period and how this may impact on the country and indeed communities.  In the days and weeks ahead, people would have concerns about the impact of this war in Ukraine and at home and said that the Council would do all it could to gather and provide information and support to residents. 

 

As part of the public service response, the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) had met with Welsh Government to explore options to ensure support could be provided in Wales when Ukrainian citizens began to arrive.  Further to this, the Leader of the WLGA had written to the Prime Minister and Home Secretary on behalf of the 22 Welsh local authorities expressing concern that amongst other things the U.K. refugee resettlement process was too complex, narrow and restrictive unlike the U.K.’s European neighbours who had moved at speed and had streamlined processes and relaxed rules.  The Leader of the WLGA had, therefore, requested that U.K. Government reconsider the current position and further updates would be provided in due course when more of the details were established. 

 

Councillor John Mason had convened a meeting, as Chair, of the Resettlement Working Group on 14th March to discuss the latest position with regards to the possible resettlement of vulnerable people from Ukraine and local arrangements, at which he was certain that suggestions around further necessary preparations would be discussed at the meeting and he hoped by that time further information would have been received from the WLGA.  In addition, the Council would continue to work closely with key agencies at a national, regional, and local level to keep matters under close review to ensure it could respond as best it could to any implications arising for the local communities. 

    

The Leader continued by advising that there had been huge generosity from the Welsh public and indeed people and organisations within its own communities and he offered sincere thanks on behalf of Council to each and every person who had made a contribution thus far. People had been eager to donate and support the people of Ukraine, however, donations of physical goods presented logistical difficulties both here and abroad and, therefore, people were urged who wanted to donate – and were able to – to make a financial donation to the Disaster Emergency Committee’s appeal and the Council had issued a statement providing this message and relevant details last week.

 

The Welsh Government had also confirmed it was providing £4m in humanitarian aid to Ukraine, donated to the Disaster Emergency Committee, which represented 15 major aid charities.  Allocating the funding in this way would ensure it reached those who needed it as quickly and as efficiently as possible.

 

Work was also being undertaken with other public bodies in Wales to identify and take action on any investments held associated with the Russian state.  In terms of Blaenau Gwent’s exposure, the Council had no direct investments with Russian businesses or financial institutions since they would not currently meet the risk averse strategy of investing in high credit rating counterparties. 

 

With regard to the Greater Gwent Pension Fund exposure, on a fund basis (based on January 2022 valuations) there was exposure of circa 0.19% or £7.14m to the Russian Market.  The Wales Pension Partnership had issued a strong statement of intent to divest the Fund of these investments as soon as practically possible.

 

At this juncture, Members and officers in an act of solidarity with Ukraine and for all those involved in this terrible tragedy on both sides of the conflict paid their respects with a minute’s silence. 

 

Congratulations:

 

Congratulations were expressed to:

 

-      Mr & Mrs Annett of Waunlwyd who had celebrated their 70th wedding anniversary on 1st March.

 

A letter of congratulations had been sent.

 

-      Councillor Clive Meredith who had donated his 100th pint of blood to the Welsh Blood Transfusion Service.

 

Chair’s Appeal – Blaenau Gwent Foodbank:

 

The Chair expressed her appreciation to Members who have donated to the Blaenau Gwent Foodbank appeal. To date over £770 had been raised to support this organisation which had played a vital borough wide role supporting the vulnerable through the course of the pandemic and continued to do so.