Community Safety

Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:39 pm on 24 November 2021.

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Photo of Jane Hutt Jane Hutt Labour 1:39, 24 November 2021

Thank you, Russell George, for that question. This is something that, I'm sure, many Senedd Members across the Chamber are involved in, in local road safety campaigns—I certainly am in my constituency. This is very much involving not just the local authority, in terms of their powers and responsibilities in terms of road safety, but the police as well, in terms of enforcement and engagement, with those GoSafe initiatives that you're mentioning, where residents and communities are working to try themselves to take the initiative, working in partnership with the police and local authorities. But also, of course, the Welsh Government, not just in terms of the road safety annual grant to local authorities, which is the responsibility of my colleague Lee Waters, as Deputy Minister for Climate Change, recognises that this is something where we need to look at it from across the whole Senedd—support for the 20 mph default arrangements that we'll have for residential areas in 2023.

But I would like to say, just in terms of my responsibilities, police community support officers play a very important role in liaising with communities, and it is the Welsh Government that has not only funded our 500 PCSOs in Wales, but is increasing them, and it was in our manifesto commitment. We're delivering another 100 because PCSOs are the eyes and ears of their communities—I think we all know that—very much taking a problem-solving and preventative approach to addressing issues within their local areas, and I know that they're at the forefront of many of these road safety campaigns.