4. What assessment has the Minister made of the effectiveness of Welsh Government policies to ensure community safety in Cardiff? OQ59173

Thank you very much, Rhys ab Owen. Crime and justice matters are reserved to the UK Government, but we are committed to working with the police and other partner organisations to promote community safety across Cardiff and Wales as a whole. This includes our commitment to funding police community support officers to keep our streets safe.

Last month, the Shadow Home Secretary, Yvette Cooper, announced that a Labour Westminster Government would bring in respect orders, a new form of anti-social behaviour orders popularised by Tony Blair in the late 1990s. Does the Minister agree with me, therefore, that the announcement by Yvette Cooper is likely to mean that the jagged edge of different approaches to policing and justice will remain, even if a Labour Government is elected in Westminster?

Well, I am proud of the achievements and indeed the manifesto commitments of this Welsh Labour party, which led to us committing funding to maintain our 500 police community support officers and increasing their number by 100. I know that the work that we've done and the work that we're doing indeed, even though policing isn't devolved yet, with our neighbourhood policing teams, with our PCSOs, is playing a critical role in helping to keep communities safe. Of course, this is about prevention, isn't it? This is about engaging with our communities and, yes, having to recognise that we need to tackle issues around anti-social behaviour, but on the basis of a preventative approach and community cohesion. I do also want to say that we share, of course, with colleagues across the UK and show partnership working with police on these issues, particularly in terms of working on our youth justice board. We're very much looking forward to the devolution of youth justice, which is crucial to this point, as well as our work on tackling violence against women, domestic abuse and sexual violence. That's what we're focusing on here in Wales.

I'd like to thank my colleague Rhys for raising such an important question. Minister, I recently listened to a Safer Communities podcast with the Prevent community engagement officer for Cardiff Council where incel ideology was brought up. Worryingly, common incel themes of self-loathing and grievance are more often than not transformed into misogynistic violence and the degradation of women, and are linked to perceived inadequacies in forming sexual relationships. I'm sure you're aware that this ideology is particularly fuelled by extremely low self-esteem, isolation, anxiety, and issues surrounding body image, which are exacerbated by mainstream media programmes such as Love Island, which reinforce the incel belief that women are hard-wired to automatically reject them because they do not have similar muscular physiques. In terms of community safety, incels are a credible threat to communities in the UK. There was a recent Plymouth shooting by incel member Jake Davison, and others have been arrested in connection with terrorist offences connected to incel involvement. Minister, what assessment has this Government made of the incel movement in Wales? What conversations have you had with the Minister for Education and Welsh Language regarding the need to help promote better body image in Welsh schools and to implement action to help young people become more resilient with issues surrounding body image? Thank you.

Thank you very much, Joel James, for raising this. Incel ideologies are having a corrosive impact on our young people and our male population, where the ideologies that have led to the horrors that you've described, Joel James, need to be addressed. I think this is where Rhys ab Owen's question is important, because it is, 'How are we going to develop these relationships?', which I believe goes back to school, education and the curriculum, and particularly our relationships and sexuality education theme that's going to be part of our rolling out of the curriculum. But I'm glad you've raised this issue, because this is where we do again work in terms of violence prevention. I think our schools programme is very important, which we fund with the police. We're funding not only our police community support officers, but also, with our police and crime commissioner funding support as well, we're funding a schools programme where police come in and talk with schools. They're very much linking to our curriculum as well. So, I agree. Thank you for raising this. This is where we need to work together to make sure that we have safer communities and our education has that impact in our schools. 

I'm very glad that this issue has been raised, because whilst policing is not devolved, I'm absolutely sure that the police are as concerned as we are about the way in which hateful views are exposing our young people to harmful images and extreme right-wing views. Yes, the RSE is very important to counter the hateful and self-harming images that young people are becoming exposed to, but clearly we need some regulation of what goes on online. I wondered if you'd had any conversation with the UK Government about the delays in implementing the online and related harms Bill so that we have some teeth to prevent people pushing all these hateful messages out online. 

Thank you very much, Jenny, for that follow-on question, because we have been engaged with UK Government counterparts as that Bill has progressed through Parliament. It's now back on track, I understand. The UK Government is progressing the Online Safety Bill again, and particularly—and the point you make is so key—regarding the enhanced protections it proposes for our children. But I think it is also important to recognise that we have our role and responsibility. Keeping people safe whilst they're online is incredibly important. Joel James mentioned the role of the Minister for Education and Welsh Language; well, we have our digital resilience in education action plan. It's important to mention that now. It's a cross-Government programme to protect young people from harm online. This is where I think working to ensure that there are additional protections, particularly for women and girls online, by including controlling or coercive behaviour in the list of priority offences within the Online Safety Bill, is welcome.