3. What future strategy will the Welsh Government follow to improve community cohesion in south Wales? OAQ52260

There are four objectives that we will pursue: firstly, building community cohesion at a national level; secondly, cohesion support at a regional level for isolated groups; thirdly, integration of new arrivals; and, fourthly, mitigating tensions and tackling hate crime.

First Minister, policing is crucial to ensuring our communities are cohesive and enjoy good quality of life, and our police forces work with local authorities, health, housing and, indeed, the voluntary sector in close partnership, reflecting the fact that a large majority of police work concerns devolved responsibilities. Given that, and the very strong case for devolving policing that follows from it, what work will Welsh Government do to ensure that relevant issues are foreseen and explored in terms of future devolution of policing?   

Can I thank the Member for his question? He is right to say that we have a long-standing position of supporting the devolution of policing and, of course, the commission on justice will be looking at further issues. It is important, of course, devolution or not, that we work with the police. We do that, whether it's through the civil contingencies forum, whether it's through other groups, for example looking at victim support, because we're committed to protecting and supporting victims of hate crime. So, we've provided funding to Victim Support Cymru to operate the national hate crime report and support centre. That funding will continue until at least 2020, and there do continue to be positive signs that victims are coming forward and are more confident in reporting.

First Minister, third sector organisations play a vital role in strengthening and actively promoting community cohesion as well as providing a link between public sector bodies and ethnic minority communities. For them to succeed, they need the support of the Welsh Government. So, will the First Minister outline how his strategy to improve community cohesion will utilise and support the third sector in Wales, please?

Well, one of the things that we're looking at is whether we should update the community cohesion plan for the summer of this year to take account of recent rises in hate crime and the new challenges to community cohesion in Wales. I can confirm that we plan to publish the community cohesion plan and the tackling hate crimes delivery plan, so that as those plans are taken forward, they will take account of new evidence and fresh circumstances.

There is definitely more that can be done on this front, First Minister, when you consider that the latest figures from the Home Office show that hate crimes are up by a fifth in Wales in just one year. The majority of the 2,941 offences recorded—and we know that there will be many more incidents that go unreported—are related to race or religion, and if you combine this with Nazi graffiti that has appeared in Cardiff and Newport in recent months, a worrying picture begins to emerge. We also know that Muslim women are disproportionately affected by hate crime. So, can you tell us: what can your Government do to provide targeted support, in particular for Muslim women, but to all others who are victims of hate crime and discrimination, and how can Welsh Government directly challenge this growing problem of hate crime?

Well, as I said earlier on, we do fund Victim Support Cymru, and I said earlier on when that funding would continue until—at least 2020. Can I join with her in deploring the daubing of racist slogans on buildings, particularly, but not exclusively, in Newport? I know that she will share my strong condemnation of that. When it comes to reporting crimes, of course, there are two ways of looking at it: firstly, if there was an increase in reported crime, it may be that the actual level of crime has increased, but also it may be that people are more willing to come forward to report crime. It's always difficult to get underneath the statistics. From our perspective, we believe that more people are coming forward. There are not enough yet that report hate crime, and that's why, of course, we continue to support Victim Support Cymru, as I've said, and also, of course, to see how we can further evaluate the community cohesion plan in order to be more effective.