£674,000 Towards a Safer Gwent

Eight services in Gwent which aim to either address community safety issues, prevent crime or tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) are sharing in nearly £674,000 awarded by the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert.

Gwent PCC Jeff Cuthbert is responsible for commissioning and developing services that deliver against community safety priorities in Gwent. This is delivered in collaboration with other key community safety partners who sit on the Safer Gwent group.

Gwent PCC Jeff Cuthbert has awarded £673,664 to eight Gwent based programmes and initiatives which aim to tackle deep rooted community safety issues, support victims and which are proven to have a positive impact on preventing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour. The funding announced today supports the work of a significant number of partners, covering all of the five local authorities in Gwent (full list of awards at end of release).

£28,000 of the funding has been allocated to South Wales Fire and Rescue Service (SWFRS) to continue its successful Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) and Deliberate Fire Reduction project, which was supported by Safer Gwent in 2017. In the last year (2017/18), the project has delivered educational intervention to 33 primary and secondary schools across the Gwent Police area, which resulted in 7,368 pupils receiving input on ASB, deliberate fire setting, vehicle crime and misuse of scooters and motorcycles. This has seen a 24% reduction in ASB and a 26% reduction in deliberate fires in the Gwent area. Seventy-six percent of the fire calls attended by SWFRS every year are deliberately started. This project will continue to engage with young people within communities across Gwent to reduce the number of arson attacks, deliberate fires and fire related anti-social behaviour such as attacks on firefighters and hoax calls. In addition, the project will look at additional areas including Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACES) and Truancy.

Delighted with the Funding, Matt Jones, Head of the Fire Crime Unit and Safety & Wellbeing Team for SWFRS, said: “The partnership working in the Gwent area following the continued support of the Safer Gwent group has seen significant reductions in ASB and deliberate fire setting. The joint working and co-location has allowed us to deal with community issues and address the issues our communities feel are important. The support from Safer Gwent has allowed us to apply a model which is being seen as ground breaking across the UK.”

Other services funded include:

• £151,809 for the Gwent Regional Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) Service so it can continue to address the safety of victims at high risk of domestic abuse across all areas of the Gwent region through multi-agency centres which will be supported by a team of Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA’s). From the work already undertaken, improvements have shown positive impacts with regards to the greater resilience provided across the service and in ensuring victims receive a more timely service. This reduces their risks and engages them with support sooner;
• £110,795 for the Youth Offending Service towards three dedicated Victim Workers to continue to support critical areas of youth offending services work and enhance and maintain service delivery across Gwent. The aim is to prevent first time entrants and divert children and young people from the Youth Justice System, reduce offending and re-offending by children and young people and provide access to appropriate specialist assessment and treatment services to address substance misuse by children and young people; and
• £141,000 to maintain the Positive Futures sport based inclusion programme, which uses sports and physical activity to divert young people away from crime and ASB. Nearly 10,000 individuals throughout Gwent engage with the programme annually and the police have noted a significant reduction in incidents of ASB in areas where the programme is active. By delivering sport based sessions in areas of need at appropriate times for youth engagement and diversion, the programme enables young people to achieve goals, whether this be qualifications or personal achievements. It also provides comfortable engagement and learning environments for those young people affected by adverse childhood experiences (ACES).

Highlighting the importance of supporting the services, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert, said: “Only through strong collaborative working with our partners and by putting the needs of the individual at the heart of all we do can we ensure the best possible quality of life for our citizens. I am pleased to be able to support a wide range of services today which will make a real positive difference and tackle some of the most deep-rooted community safety problems in Gwent. This funding will enhance our existing partnership working arrangements, support the priorities in my Police and Crime Plan and will make a big contribution to making Gwent safer and more secure.”

For a full list of funded projects, please click here