Introduction to the Wales Safer Communities Board

What is the Wales Safer Communities Board?

The purpose of the Wales Safer Communities Board is to provide leadership, oversight and direction to a joint programme of work with the aim of ensuring effective shared leadership is provided to support local partnership working in addressing community safety that will in turn support safe, strong and more confident communities. The Board also provides governance to the Wales Safer Communities Network.

Members of the Board currently are representatives from:

• Welsh Police & Crime Commissioners
• Welsh Chief Constables
• WLGA
• Local Authorities
• SOLACE Cymru
• Head of Safer Communities Network
• Welsh Government Community Safety Division
• Fire & Rescue Services
• HMPPS (specifically probation)
• Third Sector (Community Justice Cymru Chair)
• Community Safety Officers (Chair WACSO)
• Violence Prevention Unit
• Public Health Wales.

The Wales Safer Communities Board Priorities

The Board currently have five priorities:

1. Community safety is integrated across all relevant policy areas / partnerships: Understand and improve the place of community safety within the programme of strategic partnerships. This links to the roles of the different members, but also of the Wales Safer Communities Network Team including the collection of information through survey’s, workshops and shortly in the production of the first set of guidance.
2. Safer Communities Network is the recognised national forum for all sectors involved in community safety partnership working: Establish a Safer Communities Network for Wales. The Wales Safer Communities Network team have been put in place and are raising the profile of community safety locally, Wales wide and UK wide. Part of this priority is around the future membership model for the Network and long term sustainability.
3. The ‘Evidence-based, Intelligence-led’ principle and its application within local/regional partnership working is sustainably resourced: Develop an All-Wales Multi Agency Data & Analysis Hub/Team approach. Delivering parts of this priority is being actioned through partnership working through the Wales Data Analysis Innovation and Improvement Network (WDAIIN).
4. Community safety is prevention-focused and embraces a public-health approach: Develop effective joint and trauma-informed approaches to Anti-Social Behaviour and Crime Prevention. With a focus on Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) and Crime Prevention this priority is being developed in partnership with Public Health Wales, the Wales Violence Prevention Unit, and the ASB Practitioners Network.
5. To learn from other related and interdependent programmes: Providing mechanisms to feed key issues & learning into community safety partnership working, sharing awareness and cross-cutting practice.