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The decisions as the council's minutes record them. A plain-language summary follows once it has been written.
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on the 15th October 2025 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
RESOLVED to: • Consider and scrutinise the performance of the Community Safety Partnership in providing strategic direction to the regional and local delivery. • Consider and scrutinise the multi - agency approach to community safety issues.
In accordance with the Council’s Code of Conduct, there were no declaration of interest pertaining to the agenda.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on the 15th October 2025 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
It was RESOLVED to approve the minutes of the previous meeting held on the 15th October 2025 as an accurate reflection of the meeting.
Decision as recorded
RESOLVED to: • Consider and scrutinise the performance of the Community Safety Partnership in providing strategic direction to the regional and local delivery. • Consider and scrutinise the multi - agency approach to community safety issues.
The Partnerships and Community Safety Partnership Manager, BCBC and Head of Community Wellbeing and Resilience Service, RCTCBC jointly presented the report which outlined the current position of community safety in Rhondda Cynon Taf (RCT), as part of the regional Cwm Taf Morgannwg (CTM) Community Safety Partnership Board. In discussing the report, a Member referenced section 4.8 of the report which stated that there is a crosscutting priority around “Establishing mechanisms for the CTMCSP to work with responsible authorities to engage with communities and pay heed to citizen voices. The Member requested information on how the feedback will be collected and the process for analysing the data. The Partnerships and Community Safety Partnership Manager shared that across the partnership there are engagement teams in multiple organisations, but it is about making the best use of this and better share the information gathered. Additionally, through the Public Services Board work has been undertaken with co-production network Wales to improve how the partnership communicate and engage with harder to reach groups. The Member also referred to data variances as outlined within the report and asked how these will be overcome. The Head of Community Wellbeing and Resilience Service confirmed that data variances has been a challenge and informed Members that via PCC funding an analyst has been recruited across the region who will have access to the multiple sets of data and provide a coherent analysis of the whole picture. Members were informed this is a newly created post and the effectiveness will be reviewed and an update provided at a future meeting. Another Member referred to the training provided as part of the strategy to reduce hate crime and requested further information about the context in which this took place. The Head of Community Wellbeing and Resilience Service shared that training is provided as part of the Social Care Training calendar which is available to all employees as part of the Social Care calendar and also via other departments advertise training that is taking place with members of the public. Primarily training is undertaken with staff although the Officer shared their intention to increase the reach to members of the public through engaging with third sector organisations to offer training. A Member raised questions regarding hate crime awareness and anti?bullying initiatives in schools, specifically asking which age groups the training targets and what the current uptake is. The Member also queried schools’ awareness of the Misogyny Project. The Head of Community Wellbeing and Resilience explained that the training can be delivered to any age group and is adaptable to individual school needs. Historically, it was delivered primarily to Year 5 pupils due to limited resources, but the approach is now more flexible. Schools are encouraged to contact the service when training is required, often in response to specific incidents. Regarding the Misogyny Project, Members were informed that it is a relatively new initiative. Schools have been advised that misogyny can be incorporated into their programme if they wish. The Officer emphasised the importance of this training package and expressed the intention to roll it out as widely as possible. Members highlighted that such training should ideally be mandatory rather than dependent on schools requesting it. In discussing age ranges, the Officer noted an emerging trend of younger high?risk victims, which is concerning and reinforces the need for relationship?focused sessions in schools, although the overall age range of those affected remains broad. Members asked whether data is available to explain the trend of younger people being affected. The Officer advised that a drop?in service operates from the Pontypridd office, where younger individuals are increasingly seeking advice. Relevant data is available and could be brought to a future Committee meeting for scrutiny. A Member then referred to the RCT Community Safety Team’s performance framework, specifically the annual resident survey conducted via the “South Wales Listens” platform. While 82% of residents reported feeling safe, the Member requested further insight into why 18% felt unsafe. The Head of Community Wellbeing and Resilience stated that several factors contribute to this figure, including personal experiences and wider global events. However, the majority of concerns relate to anti?social behaviour and drug?related issues, which remain priorities for the partnership. These areas will continue to be targeted with the aim of reducing the 18% figure. Another Member queried whether there is any follow up support offered to those respondents who stated they felt unsafe. The Officer confirmed that part of the survey allows respondents to provide contact details and these are used to follow up to offer support and identify themes in detailed answers. The Member shared the view that there are opportunities to run interim surveys where issues have been identified to track progress in tackling these. A Member asked Officers to outline the future aims of the Community Safety Partnership in relation to RCT specific issues. The Head of Community Wellbeing and Resilience shared that it is vital to not lose local context and there are still local Community Safety teams and outlined some specific training that is only available within RCT. The Officer confirmed there has been no loss of resources or local delivery through the move to a partnership model. Another Member raised a query relating to the figures outlined in the report for Violence without injury and requested clarification that the figures for both time periods included online incidents. The Member also requested a breakdown of the data to determine the levels of online incidents. The Officer confirmed online incidents are included within the figures and whilst the breakdown of data is not held this can be requested from South Wales Police. Members commented on the benefits of having this data analysed. A Member raised the issue of the use of public transport across the County Borough adding to local anti-social behaviours and requested information from Officers regarding measures to tackle this. The Officer shared that work is ongoing with British Transport Police and Transport for Wales to address the matter but highlighted the challenges faced in focusing on one area due to the nature of the public transport network. Members commented on the visibility of PCSO’s within Communities and the perception of safety by local residents. Officers acknowledged the link between this and shared praise for the positive benefits between an effective PCSO and the impact on anti-social behaviour and information referrals. The Officer also acknowledged the ongoing challenges regarding staffing resource and shared on behalf of South Wales Police that a new neighbourhood policing model is being introduced which will add resource to neighbourhood policing which can be monitored for impact. Following consideration it was RESOLVED to: • Consider and scrutinise the performance of the Community Safety Partnership in providing strategic direction to the regional and local delivery. • Consider and scrutinise the multi - agency approach to community safety issues.
The Chair thanked Officers for attending and providing a comprehensive presentation of the report and for responding in depth to Members questions. The Chair also thanked Members for their attendance and for their scrutinisation of the information within the report and their questions.
None.
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