Speaking in the Assembly Chamber yesterday, Shadow Minister for Communities and Local Government, Mark Isherwood AM, challenged the Deputy Minister and Government Chief Whip over concerns by third sector agencies that “statutory agencies often pay lip service to notions of involvement and co-production with them”. 

Mr Isherwood raised the concerns during a question on ‘Improving Community Safety’ and emphasised the need for third sector groups and organisations to be involved in a meaningful way.    

He said:

“The Welsh Local Government Association website states that ‘involving councils and the police, as well as fire and rescue, health boards and probation services, Community Safety Partnerships work to offer an effective multi-agency approach’. But other than referring to ‘working with councils and communities’, there is no reference to the third sector.

“However, the Welsh Government, in its document 'Working Together for Safer Communities: A Welsh Government review of community safety partnership working in Wales', published in December 2017, said that ‘third sector agencies are increasingly providing a wide range of community safety services - from victim support through to perpetrator programmes and from anti-social behaviour diversion schemes through to counter-radicalisation activity’, but respondents from third sector agencies had reported ‘that statutory agencies often pay lip service to notions of involvement and co-production’ with them. 

“What action have you taken, or will the Welsh Government take, therefore, on its statement in that report that your vision is a Wales in which 'The shared responsibility of government, public and third sector agencies is to work together with the communities they serve and the private sector to address activity or behaviour that is unlawful, anti-social, harmful to individuals and society and to the environment'?”

In her response the Chief Whip referred to the Safer Communities Programme, stating that : “it has a shared vision, which is about partnership, that every community is strong, safe and confident, and, importantly, as far as I'm concerned, and I am sure you as well, Mark Isherwood, that it provides equality of opportunity and social justice, resilience and sustainability for all. But - crucially important - it is a shared responsibility of Government, the third sector and the public sector to work together.” 

Mr Isherwood added:

“As the Welsh Government Review found, ‘Third sector respondents point to a tendency for statutory partners to call them in to support consultation and engagement activity, particularly for so-called ‘hard to reach’ sectors of society, but the involvement is generally late in the process and still largely built around questionnaire and survey type approaches rather than looking for more meaningful ways of engaging and involving’.”