What assessment has the Minister made of the cuts to the community support and safety budget, and the impact that this will have on women's safety?
Wales is facing the toughest financial situation since the start of devolution. We’ve had to take a number of extremely difficult decisions to reshape our budget to focus funding on the services which matter most to the people of Wales.
In that context, we have had to take challenging decisions to prioritise areas of community safety spend which are devolved to Welsh Government. This includes maintaining or increasing spending in areas such as the Wales Hate Support Centre, the Anti-racist Wales Action Plan, the Women’s Justice Blueprint and the Community Cohesion Programme. The full extent of this investment is set out in the Draft Budget.
There have been no cuts to the Violence Against Women, Domestic Abuse and Sexual Violence budget for the next financial year, which demonstrates my commitment to continue to support the safety of women across Wales.