The Wales Safer Communities Network is committed to sharing knowledge and best practice with all practitioners involved in community safety. Our seminar series is one of the many ways practitioners can engage with and learn from other members of the network. This series we were delighted to welcome over 240 delegates who registered to attend one of our seminars.
The four seminars in this series were:
- Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) Overview
- Suicide Prevention
- Anti-Social Behaviour Hotspot funding
- Local Place Shaping
We heard from Carol Eland, the Regional Outreach Adviser for Wales who provided an overview of the Disclosure and Barring Service in a Welsh context. This seminar was not recorded however the DBS team run regular events and Carol is happy to be contacted to discuss any queries.
The suicide prevention seminar focussed on providing an understanding of the work of the National Suicide and Self Harm Prevention Programme, managed from within the NHS Wales Executive. The presentation was recorded and there are resources on the use of language for practitioners to use.
Our Anti-Social Behaviour (ASB) seminar featured updates from all the police forces in Wales as well as a Clear, Hold, Build case study. The Cae Fadre estate had been a hotspot for ASB and it was affecting the local community. Through partnership working with other organisations, including social housing, local police forces have been able to transform the community and reduce instances of ASB. Local Policing Inspector Leigh Parfitt, South Wales Police, presented the steps that were taken to turn around the behaviour in this community.
Our final seminar of the series focussed on Local Place Shaping with Kaarina Ruta and Tim Peppin from the Welsh Local Government Association (WLGA) with a focus on transport. They discussed the 20mph legislation and the impact of obstructions on the highway. There was also a forward look at addressing the dangers of pavement parking and the new Road Safety Strategy. A follow-up seminar is being planned to cover planning and regeneration.
We would like to thank all our contributors and everyone who attended the Spring/ Summer Seminar Series. We’d like to hear from you if there are any topics that you’d like us to cover in a future seminar series, or if you have a case study of best practice that you’d like to share with other practitioners, contact us to let us know your views. We look forward to sharing details about the Autumn Series soon.
