To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps he is taking to help tackle hate crime in (a) Cardiff Central constituency, (b) Cardiff local authority area and (c) Wales.
Answered on
23 February 2024
The Government is clear that all forms of hate crime are completely unacceptable. We have a robust legislative framework in place to respond to hate crimes which target race, religion, disability, sexual orientation and transgender identity, and expect the police to fully investigate these appalling offences and work with the Crown Prosecution Service to ensure perpetrators are brought to justice.
Our absolute priority is to get more police onto our streets, cut crime, protect the public and bring more criminals to justice. We are supporting the police by providing them with the resources they need. Part of this necessitates police recruitment and training - there are now over 149,000 officers England and Wales, which is higher than the previous peak in March 2010 before the Police Uplift Programme. As of 30 September 2023, there were 3,535 police officers in South Wales, a total growth of 540 additional officers against the adjusted baseline (2,995) at the start of the Police Uplift Programme (PUP) in March 2019. Wales now has 8,108 officers, a total growth of 1,143 additional officers since the start of the PUP. In addition, funding for South Wales Police will be up to £399.9 million in 2024/25, an increase of up to £24.4 million when compared to 2023/24. Funding for Wales will be up to £936.4 million in 2024/25, an increase of up to £56.0 million when compared to 2023/24.
The Government continues to fund True Vision, an online hate crime reporting portal designed so that victims of all forms of hate crime do not have to visit a police station to report. We also fund the National Online Hate Crime Hub, a central capability designed to provide expert advice to support individual local police forces in dealing with online hate crime.