Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Social Justice – in the Senedd at 1:57 pm on 6 July 2022.
Thank you very much, Sam Rowlands, for bringing this to our attention today and congratulations on joining the shift. I think, across the Chamber, there will be people who have already done that or who will take up that opportunity, because it shows you what life is like on the front line, doesn't it, for our police officers and all those who they engage with, not just the citizens that they're engaging with but of course all of the other people at the sharp end, whether it's the ambulance service, accident and emergency—all the emergency care system working together.
The place where these issues are raised is at our policing partnership board, which I or the First Minister chair. We work with policing colleagues, so the chief constables, the police and crime commissioners, and indeed the Secretary of State for Wales joins us, so it's devolved and non-devolved. We're looking at strategic issues. In the last meeting we had, we looked at homelessness and we looked at substance misuse. We regularly look at the pressures of the health service, which policing now have to engage with, and I would say that this policing partnership board is an ideal way of ensuring that we can work, as we do, at a devolved level, in terms of the services. And of course it includes local government, as well as health boards and the police themselves.
But let's also recognise the hard work that's undertaken by our police people across Wales. I am certainly looking forward to joining the anniversary of our PCSOs in a couple of weeks' time, to recognise the work that they do at the sharp end, as well.