8. Debate: The Police Settlement 2020-21

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 3:43 pm on 10 March 2020.

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Photo of Julie James Julie James Labour 3:43, 10 March 2020

Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I'd like to thank Members for their interests and their contributions today and reiterate once more my thanks to the police service across Wales, particularly in the light of their efforts in the recent flooding events. 

I'm not too sure where the first contributor, Mark Isherwood, was going as he started, but it was quite obvious that he sought to lay the blame elsewhere for his Government's obviously poor choice in cutting funding to the police, a poor choice that reverberates still today, as all other contributors acknowledged. 

Community safety is a top priority for this Government and, whilst this settlement is better than some may have expected, we are under no illusion that one better settlement makes up for the previous 10 years under the UK Government's austerity agenda. Indeed, some police and crime commissioners have expressed concern that, whilst additional funding has been provided for some new officers, there is insufficient funding for the existing complement. This, of course, is a matter for the Home Office and we urge them to address it as an urgent priority. 

We are committed to working with PCCs and chief constables to ensure that these challenges are manged in ways that limit the impact on community safety and front-line policing in Wales. Continuing to work in partnership to identify and take forward opportunities is as important, as is demonstrated by a successful deployment of the 500 community support officers.

We also, of course, continue to push for the devolution of criminal justice and policing in line with the Thomas commission's recommendation. I could not agree more with the comments of various contributors around the Chamber: it makes no sense at all that policing is not devolved when all other blue-light services are devolved, and it quite clearly would be better if we co-ordinated the thing entirely from a devolved point of view. I wholly endorse all the contributions on this point, and particularly Carwyn Jones's excellent summation of how idiotic the argument made the other way actually is.

Having endorsed that thoroughly, Deputy Presiding Officer, I commend this settlement to the Senedd.