Police and Crime Commissioner will continue to invest more than £1million to protect children and make communities safer

Police and Crime Commissioner Jane Mudd will invest more than £1 million in 2025/26 in organisations that protect children and young people from serious crime, and improve community safety.

The Commissioner has agreed to renew contracts with key partners including St Giles Trust, Crimestoppers Trust and Newport Live that will allow them to deliver their work programmes in Gwent for another year. Funding will also be provided to each of Gwent’s local authorities to support youth offending and community safety initiatives.

The continued investment supports the Commissioner’s priorities, set out in her newly launched Police, Crime and Justice Plan, to prevent crime, reduce reoffending, make communities safer and support victims. It also supports the Commissioner’s requirement under the UK Government’s Serious Violence Duty to ensure that local services work together to reduce and prevent serious violence.

Police and Crime Commissioner Jane Mudd said: “If we want to make changes in our society then we must start with our children and young people. We know they are vulnerable to becoming involved with crime and antisocial behaviour, and we know that once someone starts down that path it can be very difficult to change course later in life.

“We have a duty to do what we can to protect and safeguard our children. By continuing to fund these projects in Gwent we are ensuring that we have a robust response in place to tackle these issues and make a lasting difference to our communities.”

Projects that will continue to receive funding in 2025/26 include:

• St Giles Trust. £138,114 to deliver one to one crisis intervention to young people and their families who are at risk of involvement or already involved in serious violence and organised crime.
• Crimestoppers Trust. £45,947 to deliver the Fearless programme to year seven pupils and provide targeted support to schools in hotspot areas where serious violence or organised crime is an issue.
• Newport Live. £203,582 to deliver its Positive Futures programme, providing sport-based interventions to young people across Gwent.
• A contribution of £619,615 for local authorities and partners to contribute towards their local community safety and youth offending initiatives.