PCC expresses support for Federation

14 February 2022

Dyfed Powys Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) Dafydd Llywelyn has expressed his support for exploring opportunities for the Police Federation to have a stronger voice at quarterly meetings of the four Welsh Chief Constables and PCCs.

Mr Llywelyn was an invited guest to the latest meeting of the Federation’s Welsh Affairs Sub-Committee (WASC) and gave a wide-ranging input, outlining his role, his priorities and his work liaising with both the Welsh Government and Westminster.

He likened the political situation to “straddling two horses to get the best deal” recognising that while policing and justice was not devolved to Welsh Government so many aspects of their work were under the direction of Members of the Senedd and therefore stating it was essential to work with both governments.

“Over the last 10 years, we have seen a maturing of relations between policing and the Welsh Government and that’s a good thing,” he said, adding that this relationship had seen the Senedd agreeing to cover half of the funding for PCSOs in Wales.

“We are trying to ensure police officers and the wider police family are not overlooked by the Welsh Government.”

Mr Llywelyn is the current chair of the Policing in Wales Group made up of the four Welsh Chief Constables and PCCs. The group members meet quarterly and he revealed he had voted for the Police Federation and other staff associations to be invited to attend but others had opposed the move.

“I can’t see why they wouldn’t want the Police Federation in the room,” he explained, “It is important for us to have this dialogue.”

He encouraged the Federation to keep pushing for a place at the meetings, saying that this could improve the service forces provide to the public and also bring about changes from an employer perspective.

After his presentation to the WASC meeting, which was chaired by Federation Welsh lead Nicky Ryan, Mr Llywelyn answered questions from committee members.

Federation wellbeing lead Belinda Goodwin asked the PCC how he saw his role in relation to officer welfare.

Mr Llywelyn said he felt it was one of the most challenging times for policing in England and Wales, admitting it was on a ‘bumpy road’ but stressing smoother tarmac was on its way.

He pointed out that he raised wellbeing issues with his Chief Constable and urged Federation officials to ask questions of their PCCs while sharing the experiences of frontline officers.

The PCC also said he did not feel it should be down to Federation branches to fund welfare vans and said he would consider funding one for his own Force if the Federation approached him.

The WASC meeting began with an update from Tiff Lynch, member of the Police Federation’s National Board and secretary of its Parliamentary Sub-Committee.

Tiff discussed progress on the Federation’s #573 campaign through which it was aiming to contact all MPs and also mentioned other ongoing work around the Time Limits campaign, changes to the law to protect emergency drivers, pay and conditions and the forthcoming results of the Federation’s annual pay and morale survey which would be available at individual force level.

There were also updates from Paul Griffiths and Estelle Hopkin-Davies of the Superintendents’ Association, Zac Mader, secretary of WASC, and Mark Hinge, political adviser to the committee.

For more information about the role of the Welsh lead or WASC, please email Nicky Ryan.