Work to tackle serious violence in north Wales under the spotlight

Efforts to tackle serious violence across north Wales are set to come under the spotlight.

Independent consultancy firm, Wavehill, have been commissioned to carry out a “comprehensive evaluation” into the serious violence funding interventions commissioned by Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) throughout North Wales since 1 September 2024.

The work has been commissioned by Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales, Andy Dunbobbin, in collaboration with Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board, North Wales Police, North Wales Fire & Rescue Service, probation services and youth offending teams across the region.

The evaluation is part of ongoing work around the North Wales Serious Violence Response Strategy, which was launched in June, to work with communities to prevent and reduce serious violence across the region.

It focuses on bringing partners, including the police, local authorities, fire, and rescue services, and specified health and criminal justice agencies together to tackle serious violence and its root causes.

Serious violence has a significant impact on individuals and communities across North Wales.

During 2022-23 over 30,000 offences of violence against the person were recorded by the police across the region.

This is the equivalent to 44 offences per 1,000 people, though this was a decrease from the year before.

The key priorities of the North Wales strategy are:

• Supporting and enhancing prevention and early intervention around violence against women and girls, domestic abuse, and sexual violence (VAWDASV).
• Promoting contextual safeguarding to work with children and young people vulnerable to exploitation and/or modern slavery.
• Identifying and implementing improvements, best practices, and innovation as a partnership to respond to serious violence.
• Building a preventative approach in North Wales, through an understanding of risk, adverse childhood experiences, and trauma.

Wavehill’s evaluation will involve scrutinising projects and programmes taking place across North Wales.

The work will focus on how effective the initiatives have been in reducing serious violence and whether local communities are therefore becoming safer.

Andy Dunbobbin, Police and Crime Commissioner, for North Wales, commented: “The appointment of Wavehill to evaluate the effectiveness of our work to reduce serious violence underscores our commitment to addressing this issue on behalf of the people of North Wales.

“By scrutinising the effectiveness of existing interventions, this work will serve as a crucial guide in shaping the future North Wales Serious Violence Response Strategy and its aim of preventing and combating serious violence across the region.

“It is also important that we evaluate programmes and actions so that we ensure value for money is being returned for the people of the region.

“This work strengthens the collaborative approach being taken to tackle serious violence in North Wales. By working together and leveraging evidence-based practices, we are confident in our ability to create a safer and more resilient region for all.”

Ian Bancroft Chair of Safer North Wales Partnership Board said: “The evaluation will provide valuable insights into the effectiveness and impact of current interventions to reduce serious violence.

“It will enable Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) and stakeholders to make informed decisions about future resource allocation, projects and the development of new initiatives that actively target the root causes of serious violence within our communities.”

Andy Parkinson, Director at Wavehill added: “We are delighted to be working with the Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales and key partners across the region to provide an independent evaluation of serious violence interventions throughout North Wales.

“We will be drawing on our experience of undertaking similar evaluative studies for Violence Reduction Partnerships in England and our track record of working with organisations who provide support to young people at risk of exploitation and harm.

“Our evaluation, commissioned by Community Safety Partnerships (CSPs) will help inform future strategies to support safer communities.”

Wavehill is expected to report back on its findings in March 2025 and these will be published in due course on the website of the Office of the Police and Crime Commissioner (OPCC) for North Wales.