7. What is being done to maintain momentum on the implementation of the Cardiff Violence Prevention Programme across Wales? OAQ(5)0076(CC)

I thank the Member for his question. The Welsh Government is committed to making our communities safe. I welcome initiatives such as the Cardiff violence prevention programme, which has had a positive impact on our communities, and we are working with our NHS colleagues to move this forward.

Thank you, Cabinet Secretary. It’s been some years now since Professor Jonathan Shepherd did pioneering work in Cardiff to collect A&E data to reduce violence in Cardiff city centre. Since then, the English Government have used that approach and hard-wired it into the operation of public services in England. What can be done to make sure that we maintain the momentum behind our own programme, and what are the opportunities under the implementation of the ask-and-act policy under the Violence against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence (Wales) Act 2015 to make sure that data are collected and acted upon?

Yes, I think Jonathan Shepherd has done a remarkable job. Indeed, from his work on this, he now features in my advisory group on domestic violence services. So, he’s bringing his intelligence around this to this programme too. The requirements through the NHS and emergency services departments is the challenge we face at the moment, about integrating it across the system. But it is something I know the health Minister is looking at very carefully to make sure we push this agenda out. It is a great prevent model, because we know if we can recognise where there are issues in communities through alcohol misuse and violence, then we can prevent that if we have some hard-line, early interventions. So, I’m grateful for the Member’s question today. I will ask the Cabinet Secretary for health to update you on how the implementation is going through the NHS system.

Can I add to the commendation of this particular programme, because there’s no doubt that we can use data very effectively to see where behaviour change can result from some fairly small changes to the way we deliver services or what we allow in the urban environment, for example, whether you have glass glasses or plastic glasses. There are lots of things there that contain the issue of a lot of young people drinking too much at certain times and then behaving badly, and, with some changes like street pastors, there are lots of things that can help reduce the level of violence.

The Member’s right and, again, it’s an excellent programme where research came from not within the community safety sector but from the medical sector, which was really interesting. When we measured the impact in Cardiff, violence fell by 42 per cent, which is a huge, huge amount. We must continue to roll this programme out and, as I said to the previous question, we will update Members in terms of how this programme is being secured across our estate.