1. What action will the Welsh Government take to improve community safety in the next twelve months? OAQ53830

The Welsh Government is committed to making our communities safer. Last week, I spoke at the serious and organised crime strategy launch in Wales, and welcomed the contribution of the police, local government and third sector, working together with Welsh Government, to improve community safety. 

Thank you very much for that answer, Minister. Religious intolerance is on the rise around the world. In the last two months, we have seen attacks on mosques in New Zealand, on churches in Sri Lanka and on a synagogue in California. In response, the Home Secretary, Sajid Javid, has doubled the amount of funding available to provide protective security for places of worship. Given that the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion is a basic human right, Deputy Minister, what action is the Welsh Government taking to protect and reassure communities across Wales that they are safe at their place of worship?

I thank the Member for the question, because on 25 March, following the horrific events in New Zealand, I did write to all our faith communities—in fact, to all the imams across Wales—about protective security at places of worship. What was important was that I enabled those who were affected to liaise with me and officials to see how we could support them, and I drew attention to the places of worship protective security funding scheme. Yes, an uplift was announced by the Home Secretary; the difficulty, of course, is that it's only £5 million over three years and, indeed, it's not going to be available until July. So I'm pressing for that to be brought forward, and I'll certainly make sure that all of our mosques and, indeed, places of worship across Wales are aware of that funding.