Gwent PCC awards over £633,000 towards a Safer Gwent

27th June 2017

Nine services in Gwent which aim to either address community safety issues, prevent crime and tackle anti-social behaviour (ASB) are sharing in over £633,000 awarded by the Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) for Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert.

In addition to having overall responsibility for the budget for policing in Gwent, Jeff Cuthbert is also allocated funding from the UK Home Office which he can use to commission services that support one or more of his five police and crime priorities for the Gwent Police area.

Service providers had to bid in for this funding through Safer Gwent, a multi-partnership group established by the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner in 2015 to tackle community safety issues. The recommendations of the Safer Gwent group were then passed on to Mr Cuthbert for his approval.

After much deliberation, Gwent PCC Jeff Cuthbert has awarded £633,348.50 to nine Gwent based programmes and initiatives which aim to tackle deep rooted community safety issues, support victims and which are proven to have a positive impact on preventing crime and tackling anti-social behaviour. The funding announced today supports the work of a significant number of partners, covering all of the five local authorities in Gwent (full list of awards at end of release). The services funded include:

  • £151,809 for the Gwent Regional Independent Domestic Violence Advocate (IDVA) Service so it can continue to address the safety of victims at high risk of domestic abuse across all areas of the Gwent region through multi-agency centres which will be supported by a team of Independent Domestic Violence Advisors (IDVA);
  • £110,000 for the Youth Offending Service towards three Substance Misuse Worker posts and three Victim Worker posts to enhance and maintain service delivery across Gwent; and
  • £101,000 to maintain the Positive Futures sport based inclusion programme which uses sports and physical activity to divert young people away from crime and ASB. Nearly 10,000 individuals throughout Gwent engage with the programme annually and the police have noted a significant reduction in incidents of ASB in areas where the programme is active;
  • £28,000 for South Wales Fire and Rescue Service towards its Anti-Social Behaviour and Deliberate Fire Reduction project. The project will build partnerships throughout Gwent to help engage with young people aged 7 - 25 with the aim of creating positive behaviour change in relation to deliberate fire setting and anti-social behaviour.