SOLICITORS are volunteering to discuss issues around sex and consent with pupils in secondary schools in Gwent.
The initiative is being led by solicitors and supported by the area’s police and crime commissioner who as well as overseeing Gwent Police and holding its chief constable to account has a responsibility to prevent and tackle crime.
Jane Mudd told councillors about the programme when she answered questions from Monmouthshire County Council’s public services committee who asked about withdrawal of school liaison visits.
The Welsh Government said it would stop funding the School Beat Cymru scheme, which involved officers from Wales’ four forces delivering lessons on substance abuse, safety, safeguarding and behaviour, to save £2 million a year from April 2024.
Ms Mudd said despite the Welsh Government-funded scheme ending, police still visit schools and she said her office is also supporting other schemes to address issues around children being victims of crime or becoming involved in crime and attitudes around issues such as misogyny.
Solicitors
She said: “We are taking forward an initiative, developed by solicitors, who on a voluntary basis go into schools and talk to young people around issues of consent. It’s another way of addressing issues around misogyny.”
Ms Mudd also said: “I think to hear about consent from legally qualified persons sets that out really clearly.”
Conservative councillor for Raglan Penny Jones said she was concerned whether there was any link between a reduction in the school liaison visits and children being targeted by county lines gangs that bring drugs from larger urban areas to smaller towns and rural counties.
Ms Mudd said Gwent Police has a chief superintendent responsible for county lines within its five operational areas established by the chief constable and she could get the chief constable to provide the committee with further information.
Crimestoppers
Her office also provides funding for the youth offending services in Gwent, with the aim of diverting young people away from the criminal justice system and Fearless, the youth arm of the Crimestoppers charity, also visits schools.
“They go into schools and talk to children and young people including about being able to report anonymously.
“They are not old and boring like us,” Ms Mudd told the councillors: “The people that go in the young people are able to form more of a connection with.”
The St Giles Trust also works with children who may be at risk of involvement in serious violence or organised crime on a referral basis, said Ms Mudd.
Wales’ four police and crime commissioner and chief constables have also been working on an alternative to the schools liaison programme that is no longer funded and said they will soon put some proposals to the Welsh education minister.
But she stressed police still continue to visit schools: “Officers continue to go into schools but not as part of that programme. I go into schools sometimes and the chief constable has visited schools with me where I’ve felt it is important he hears for himself some of the issues young people like to raise.”