Corporate report

Criminal Justice Anti-Racism Action Plan for Wales Annual Report 2024 to 2025

Published 11 September 2025

Applies to England and Wales

1. Forewords

We are pleased to present the progress that has been made during the second year of the Criminal Justice Anti-Racism Action Plan, which is taking us closer to achieving our collective ambition of a Wales without Racism.

Holding our positions as joint Senior Responsible Officers marked a change of leadership for the Plan during the year. And throughout the year we have worked to prioritise the joint delivery we expect of our partners to drive and implement the Plan across Wales. We can see our criminal justice partners making differences in the areas of anti-racism and in tackling racial disproportionality, and we know they are working hard to do more.

We take our roles as leaders in this space very seriously. During the year we have listened to people in our communities and have been moved by the openness and honesty around the racism that continues to be experienced in Wales. We were struck by the levels of racial violence and disorder that occurred in the UK in the summer of 2024, and how this impacted on ethnic minority people living in Wales.

We listened to our Community Engagement Network members who told us that the events, including online racially motivated abuse, had a significant impact on them, their families and friends. These incidents made them feel unable to undertake basic life tasks that we all take for granted, such as using public transport, going shopping, or taking children to school, because they were fearful of being physically or verbally abused.

Witnessing communities coming together and standing up against hate presents a sense of hope that we can create truly integrated and cohesive communities where everyone feels safe, accepted and included. But the events themselves reminded us that we have much more work to do in creating an Anti-Racist Wales.

We recognise that in criminal justice we have more to do, but importantly, this report provides a look back at the extensive individual and cross-organisational work that has been undertaken across the justice system in Wales over the last year.

This has included:

• Research into the under-representation of ethnic minority people in criminal justice diversion programmes
• Work to develop restorative justice interventions for race hate crime perpetrators in Wales
• Developing a disproportionality dashboard that will collate data across criminal justice organisations so that we can better understand, measure and monitor disproportionality across the justice system
• Development of a framework to increase the diversity of our criminal justice workforce and membership of criminal justice boards across Wales, to better reflect our diverse communities
• Anti racism training sessions for staff across the justice system.
• Launch of a public communication campaign to increase awareness of our Plan and its ambition and outcomes to make sure communities know
  what we are doing

The work we have completed to date has created a solid foundation that we will build on with urgency to ensure that people from ethnic minority communities feel they have a fair and positive experience when in contact with the criminal justice system.

We want to ensure that our leadership can be used positively to help the actions in this Plan to progress, so that our communities feel safe and reassured that the elimination of racism is a priority for criminal justice. We know there is so much work to do, but we remain positive about the change taking place.

Over the past year, the Independent Oversight and Advisory Panel has worked alongside criminal justice agencies in Wales to ensure that the Anti-Racism Plan translates from commitment into action.

We have engaged with senior leaders, scrutinised strategies, and provided critical feedback to strengthen accountability and accelerate progress.

We acknowledge the steps taken by the partner agencies to address racial disparities in recruitment, leadership, and decision-making.

However, our reviews have also identified significant gaps - including the need for clearer accountability, measurable outcomes, and stronger engagement with ethnic minority communities. The work ahead is challenging. Leaders must take full ownership of the anti-racism agenda, ensuring that policies do not remain symbolic, but become embedded in every level of decision-making. Progress must be measurable, transparent, and continuously reviewed, with agencies demonstrating tangible improvements in workforce representation, bias reduction, and community trust.

As an independent panel, we will continue to hold criminal justice agencies to account, ensuring that anti-racism is not just a stated priority but a lived reality for all communities in Wales.

Chantal Patel
Chair of the Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel

Mark Hobrough
Chief Constable, Gwent Police Senior Responsible Officer

Ian Barrow
Executive Director, HM Prison and Probation Service, Wales and Community Accommodation Services. Senior Responsible Officer

2. Introduction

The Criminal Justice Board for Wales published its Anti-Racism Action Plan in November 2022. It was the first time ever that all of the criminal justice agencies in Wales had agreed to work together to collectively tackle racism and racial disparity. This included the four police forces in Wales, the four Police & Crime Commissioners, the Crown Prosecution Service, His Majesty’s Prison and Probation Service, His Majesty’s Courts and Tribunal Service, and the Youth Justice Board.

In addition, the Welsh Government, Welsh Local Government Association and Public Health Wales agreed to support the delivery of the Plan as members of the Criminal Justice Board for Wales.

The Plan’s development and publication was a huge step forward in acknowledging the historic racial disparity in criminal justice. It recognised the need for action so that the system in Wales would promote fairness and be anti-racist, and so ethnic minority people in Wales would no longer experience the injustice, unfairness, bias, and prejudice that they experience year after year, day after day. The Plan was co-produced with ethnic minority people across Wales and contains the actions that they wished to see.

The Criminal Justice Board for Wales will work alongside the Welsh Government as it implements its Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan, with the aspiration of an anti-racist criminal justice system in Wales by 2030. This is the second annual report on progress against the Plan. The first report was published in the spring of 2024. During the first year there was a focus on establishing the right governance structures, processes, and resources across criminal justice, to ensure the Plan’s delivery could be embedded and carefully monitored. The second year of the Plan has provided more opportunities for the delivery of actions.

It was during the summer of the second year of the Plan’s implementation that the UK saw shocking and saddening racial riots and online hate. This was a stark reminder of the ongoing racism that ethnic minority people are exposed to in the UK, and in Wales, and that there is a long way to go to eliminating it.

The events served as an opportunity for community members in Wales to remind criminal justice leaders of their need to be visible in standing up to racism. There is a determination to do so, and an ongoing need to work to deliver on all commitments in the Plan with vigour.

This report provides updates on progress made under each of the Plan’s seven key commitments:

1. Challenge Racism
2. Build an Ethnically Diverse Workforce
3. Involve, Listen and Take Action
4. Be Transparent, Accountable and Co-ordinated
5. Educate the Workforce
6. Promote Fairness
7. Focus on Prevention, Early Intervention and Rehabilitation

To accompany the report there is a Data Appendix, which publishes some of the available race-related data in criminal justice. The intention is to publish, and build on, this data each year so that progress on tackling racial disproportionality can be shown to communities. It is the first time that criminal justice partners have published such data together, and the data publication demonstrates the increased commitment towards transparency and openness in the process of promoting anti-racism.

2.1 The Second Year of Progress

Throughout 2024 to 25, the Criminal Justice agencies in Wales have been building on the positive work of the Plan’s first year. The second year has aimed to develop practices and processes that will make a difference in tackling the racial disparity and disadvantage experienced by ethnic minority people in Wales.

The second year has also been an opportunity for the Criminal Justice Board for Wales to look internally at its own representation. Action has been taken to increase the ethnic diversity of the Criminal Justice Board for Wales members, and the members of the four Local Criminal Justice Boards across Wales that work to deliver justice in their areas. Leaders have had honest conversations about the journey they need to go on to deliver an anti-racist criminal justice system, and action has been undertaken to make progress on the important priorities in the Plan that will require systemic change.

A vast amount of activity has been undertaken during the year.

For example: Steps have been taken to develop consistent approaches to providing high quality anti-racist training across criminal justice; a framework has been developed for all partners to consistently work towards increasing the ethnic diversity of its workforce; criminal Justice agencies have focussed on collating and sharing more ethnicity data with each other and others to enable them to understand and tackle racial disproportionality; external communications and publicity around the Plan has been increased; comprehensive research has been undertaken to understand why fewer Black and ethnic minority people in custody take up diversion schemes; and partner organisations have undertaken many outreach and community engagement activities.

Whilst these core pieces of work have been taking place, working groups, workstream leads, and dedicated resources have been assigned to deliver multiple aspects of the Plan. Action continues to be underway under all seven commitments.

2.2 Holding Criminal Justice to Account

When the Plan was published, it included the commitment to ensure that ethnic minority people in Wales would be invited and encouraged to hold criminal justice agencies to account for their work on delivering the commitments.

Whilst this can happen in a number of ways as the agencies engage with their service users and ethnic minority staff, there are also two formal mechanisms through which this has taken place during the last two years: the Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel and the Community Engagement Network.

Both groups ensure that criminal justice partners are aware of how the Anti-Racism Action Plan is developing on the ground. The voices within the groups enable criminal justice to better understand whether change is being experienced by individuals and communities affected by racism. They also provide challenge where progress is not being made at the pace communities wish to see, and they are able to ask direct questions on what work is taking place to reach the goals set out in the Plan.

2.3 The Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel

The Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel continues to oversee the progression of the Plan. It consists of 10 people who were appointed through an open process and are remunerated for their time. The panel scrutinises criminal justice agencies on the activity they are undertaking via bi-monthly meetings. Panel members provide test and challenge, whilst giving supportive advice where possible. All panel members are from Black and ethnic minority backgrounds.

During the year the panel has received inputs from senior leaders and operational staff across Wales. Members have been able to ask probing questions around efforts to promote anti-racism. The panel has covered varied topics during the year.

This has included: the handling of race-related public complaints in policing; the handling of race-related grievances in prisons; the supportive development programme in His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunal Service; the outcomes and next steps regarding the Crown Prosecution Service research into racial disproportionality in charging decisions; public communications regarding Plan progress; ethnicity data collection across Wales; and continuing efforts to improve understanding of anti-racism and a more representative workforce across criminal justice.

In 2024 the panel adopted a new feedback process to criminal justice presenters attending panel meetings. The panel now provides written feedback to partner agencies, meaning the agencies can better understand what the panel felt was working well, and where there may be areas for improvement.

In March 2025, the panel launched its own webpage so that members of the public would have more access to the work of the members. During the year ahead the panel will look to establish more connection with communities.

Below is the Independent Panel’s position statement regarding the Plan’s progress after its second year:

At the end of the second year, the panel remains firm in its commitment to ensuring that anti-racism is embedded at all levels of criminal justice. The Anti-Racism Plan sets an ambitious agenda, but ambition alone is not enough. We need to see real, measurable change. Whilst we acknowledge the growing commitment to anti-racism across criminal justice, significant challenges still remain. As we move forward, our role will remain one of scrutiny, challenge, and advocacy - ensuring that justice is truly anti-racist and equitable for all in Wales.

2.4 The Community Engagement Network

A Criminal Justice Community Engagement Network was established in 2023. This online network is chaired by an external partner agency to promote independence. It is attended by organisations across Wales who are led by and/or represent the voices of ethnic minority people across Wales.

The network meets every two months to discuss criminal justice issues and for attendees to feed in their experiences, questions, and challenges on the work towards an anti-racist criminal justice system in Wales.

During the second year of the network, members have given feedback on a range of topics being developed within the Plan, particularly assisting with providing insight on the planned external communications being developed for launch in 2025.

The network has also received updates on the progress being made to gather ethnicity data and create a publicly-available data dashboard and has taken the opportunity to provide feedback to criminal justice partners on issues such as use of language.

The network members were particularly concerned and affected by the UK’s racial violence during the summer of 2024, and were instrumental in helping Welsh criminal justice leaders to understand the effects this had on communities living in Wales.

Below is the Community Engagement Network’s position statement regarding the Plan’s progress after its second year:

‘The Community Engagement Network has covered a breadth of issues during the year. It was a year that was challenging for global majority communities living in the UK. The racial violence during the summer of 2024 had profound effects across the UK, and our global majority communities in Wales felt those impacts. The CEN was able to provide a safe space for network members to come together and give peer to peer support during that period of unrest.

As a network we then offered our reflections to senior leaders in the criminal justice system in Wales to discuss what could be learnt from the responses of Wales criminal justice agencies to the racist incidents.

This was a constructively challenging process where honest conversations took place about how the system truly operates in an anti-racist space.

We have welcomed the opportunity for the network to have a voice and be able to have honest dialogue with senior leaders.’

3. Progress Against The Plan

This section provides information on the actions undertaken under each of the commitments in the Plan during the year.

The section also reports on some of the external views that have been fed through regarding various issues in the Plan. Throughout the year Criminal Justice in Wales has been interested in listening to the views of the community and independent voices in relation to all aspects of the Plan.

This has taken place in a range of formal meeting channels, but also via the numerous informal meetings, engagement sessions and events that have been attended throughout the year. The views of individuals and partner agencies are invaluable in providing insight into the progress being made on the ground, and the areas requiring attention.

3.1 Commitment 1: Challenge Racism

We will be proactive in challenging racism in society where criminal justice can have influence and will work to eradicate racism and racial bias across the system. We will ensure ethnic minority communities are aware of our anti-racist commitments.

3.2 Progress Against Actions

In 2024, a decision was made to conduct a review of the hate crime policing response across police forces in Wales. This is underway and will look at the differing services offered by the four forces in Wales so that more can be done to ensure consistency and best practice.

This review will be completed in the year ahead so that recommendations can be put forward. In the spring of 2024, the Criminal Justice Anti-Racism Taskforce held a dedicated session on race hate crime.

At this meeting advisers were invited to outline community views and concerns in relation to race hate crime. This led to positive conversations regarding how the issues could be taken forward, with an important focus on the needs of victims and the wider implications for other public services, such as Education.

Also in 2024, Criminal Justice in Wales began to work with a commissioned Communications provider to develop materials to publicise the Plan and the work being undertaken to deliver against its commitments. The materials began to be utilised in the early part of 2025 and will be developed further in the year ahead.

This work will include messaging around challenging racism, as well as promoting ethnic minority role models in the criminal justice system. It is hoped this will have a positive impact on how the people of Wales understand the positive contributions that ethnic minority people bring to all aspects of criminal justice and to Wales.

The Community Engagement Network has continued to ensure that hate crime and the tackling of racism in society has been at the forefront of the minds of criminal justice leaders and their anti-racism activity during the year. The network has provided invaluable perspectives on the impact of racial hate crime on individuals and communities. These perspectives have helped criminal justice agencies to shape their future work and responses to racism.

Following the completion of the 2023 commissioned research on the use of Out of Court Disposals and restorative justice for hate crime perpetrators, review work has taken place during the last year to consider findings and next steps within criminal justice.

Discussions have included Welsh Government, whose Anti-Racist Wales Action Plan also contains objectives around hate crime perpetrator behaviour change. It is hoped that collaboration work can be undertaken to develop a pilot project in an area of Wales that will enable Out of Court Disposals to be used for those that commit low level race-related hate crimes. This would aim to ensure that early intervention could prevent their behaviour from escalating into more serious racist behaviour and crime.

The pilot project will build on the findings and recommendations of the commissioned research and will hopefully provide outcomes that can be built on across Wales.

3.3 Key Issues Raised by Community Members and Independent Voices in 2024 to 25

Following the summer 2024 racial riots and violence in England, members of the Community Engagement Network, as well as others in various community forums, were concerned that criminal justice agencies in Wales had not fully understood the impact this had had in Wales. They expressed disappointment at the minimal outward messaging from criminal justice leaders in response.

The network raised their concerns directly with the Criminal Justice Board for Wales so that senior leaders would understand that just because the same level of violence had not been seen in Wales, it had not meant that the fear and trauma had not been experienced amongst ethnic minority people.

The network members requested that criminal justice agencies should be more outspoken and visibly anti-racist when similar events happen in future. Their openness and honesty reminded criminal justice leaders what it means to experience the impacts of racism and online hate in everyday life, and how this can lead to fear and change of behaviour.

The positive conversations are shaping renewed approaches to external communications going forward, with a recognition that criminal justice agencies have a serious role to play in challenging racism.

3.4 Criminal Justice Action Example

North Wales Police has recently enhanced its hate crime response. The force recognised that investment was needed from a centralised team to offer continuity within the community and to ensure regular dialogue between minority community groups and the police.

Within the Equality, Diversity & Inclusion team there are now three Hate Crime/Community Engagement Officers who are independent of local policing teams. This means the officers can independently scrutinise performance on hate crime and engage with community groups who may be dissatisfied with the policing response.

The team ensures continuity within the community, which allows trust and confidence to build. The team also enables a deeper level of understanding of community concerns and can arrange the coordination of appropriate multi agency responses to community tensions as they arise.

4. Commitment 2: An Ethnically Diverse Workforce

We will increase the representation of ethnic minority people working in the criminal justice system as employees and leaders, creating a safer and more inclusive workforce that represents our local communities.

4.1 Progress to Date

All criminal justice agencies in Wales are working to increase the representation of ethnic minority people in the workforce and to improve internal cultures so that they promote anti-racism and wellbeing of their staff. Most agencies have specialised staff roles to lead positive action work.

In addition, the workforce representation workstream that was set up as part of the governance framework for the Anti-Racism Plan is coordinating and developing the work across Wales. The workstream scopes activity taking place across criminal justice in Wales, looking for opportunities to identify good practice, make improvements, and establish collaborative working.

In 2024 the workstream finalised a new framework to increase ethnic minority workforce representation. This was established following a vast scoping exercise that looked at the mechanisms already in place to encourage and support ethnic minority people into and through the organisations, identifying where there were gaps.

The framework sets out the standards expected of all criminal justice agencies in Wales in their efforts to work towards increasing ethnic minority representation and supporting ethnic minority people to progress into senior positions. In the year ahead the workstream will work to embed the framework and monitor its implementation.

Criminal justice agencies continue to take many opportunities to promote careers and vacancies amongst ethnic minority communities. This includes attendance at community events and local community groups to promote what the services have to offer. Positive links are also being made with schools with high levels of ethnic minority pupils so that they are aware of future opportunities available to them. Colleges and universities are also regularly engaged.

The South Wales Police Positive Action team alone attended more than 90 community outreach events over the last year, specifically targeting ethnic minority people for recruitment. This is having a positive impact on recruitment as well as community relationships.

South Wales Police offers support to all ethnic minority applicants who wish to take this up, including familiarisation sessions, application support, mock interview support, mock fitness tests, and the provision of feedback.

The Gwent Police Positive Action team also provides bespoke engagement and support to improve workforce ethnic diversity, encouraging recruitment from ethnic minority communities and carrying out regular check-ins with ethnic minority staff and officers to support welfare and career progression.

His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) has been conducting positive action work in partnership with EYST, which continues to improve the number of job applications received from ethnic minority jobseekers. HMPPS now runs regular bespoke drop-in sessions across Wales at community venues and are working with primary and secondary schools to raise awareness of the role of prison and probation services.

In 2024, the ethnic minority staff networks across criminal justice agencies in Wales were engaged with so that more could be understood about how they were being supported and utilised. The Plan is committed to ensuring that the voices and lived experience of ethnic minority people are used to shape future policy and process across criminal justice.

The staff network members have a valuable amount of lived experience and expertise to offer, and it is important that they are given a voice in organisations for this purpose. A survey was undertaken with ethnic minority staff network chairs and with Human Resources Departments so we could understand the current position.

The findings are being used to consider if there are further opportunities to support ethnic minority staff networks in Wales, and if there is an appetite for the development of a new All-Wales network to enhance collaboration. Moving forward the staff networks will also be crucial stakeholders in the development and oversight of internal policies associated with the Plan.

Over the course of the last year the ‘Developing the Workforce’ workstream has been looking at bringing in effective and consistent ways to measure organisational culture and staff satisfaction. The workstream has been particularly concerned with looking for ways to understand the experiences and views of ethnic minority staff and how these may differ from the experiences of white staff.

Whilst criminal justice organisations currently do this in varying degrees, there is no agreed consistent way from which comparisons can be drawn. The workstream is looking to develop a way of measuring this for future use across criminal justice.

All partner organisations are continuing to work on the collation of user-friendly data in relation to recruitment, retention and promotion of staff and officers by ethnicity. The intention is to ensure that more of this data is publicly available, beginning with the inclusion of some of the data at the end of this report. Finally, of note over the course of the last year, May 2024 saw Emma Wools elected as the new South Wales Police & Crime Commissioner. She is the first black female Police & Crime Commissioner in Wales.

4.2 Key Issues Raised by Community Members and Independent Voices in 2024 to 25

In the summer of 2024, the Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel received a presentation from policing in relation to their processes around handling race-related complaints from the public. During the course of this presentation, panel members enquired as to the ethnic minority representation in the Professional Standards Department handling these complaints.

This uncovered that there were no ethnic minority officers or staff in the department at the time. This raised concerns for panel members, given that those officers and staff were making important decisions around whether or not incidents had involved racist behaviour.

The panel provided feedback following the meeting and asked for action to be taken. The issue identified the importance of the need to prioritise internal development efforts to increase the ethnic minority representation of staff in departments where the lack of diversity could have a particularly negative impact.

Criminal justice agencies therefore need to be doing more to understand representation at a departmental level and to improve internal positive action and development for ethnic minority staff.

4.3 Criminal Justice Action Example

His Majesty’s Courts & Tribunal Service (HMCTS) has been delivering a pilot development programme to staff from under-represented groups, including ethnic minority staff.

The ‘Power of Choice’ programme helps staff to identify and tackle any barriers they have experienced with progressing in HMCTS. To date, HMCTS has delivered the programme to 6 cohorts to enable talented staff to develop for future progression into senior roles in the organisation.

HMCTS recognises the need to continue to address the under representation of ethnic minority people, including in senior roles, recognising the importance of improving the diversity of skill sets and thought in decision making roles.

The programme is also able to help the organisation to understand where there are common themes or systemic issues that need to be tackled in relation to staff development for minority groups. Since 2023, HMCTS has already seen a 20% success rate for those securing temporary or permanent promotion following participation in the programme.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is continuing to undertake its national internal ‘Count me in’ programme, which is looking to improve the self-declaration of staff in relation to equality monitoring. This will help to improve the accuracy of workforce data, which in turn will enable greater identification of areas of racial disproportionality and under-representation.

The Youth Justice Board has pioneered initiatives like Elevate, a dynamic 6-month mentoring programme designed to help middle managers from ethnic minority backgrounds to progress into leadership roles.

With 2 successful cohorts over the last three years, Elevate has helped 21 participants to move closer to strategic management positions. The Youth Justice Board has also promoted the Ethnic Minority Application Programme (EMAP), a pilot scheme where Senior Civil Servants volunteer to mentor ethnic minority talent applying for internal roles.

5. Commitment 3: Involving, Listening and Taking Action

We will better understand the personal and collective experiences of ethnic minority people involved in the criminal justice system in order to take action to meet their needs. We will make sure lived experiences support and drive decision-making for new policy and practice.

5.1 Progress to Date

Criminal justice agencies in Wales accept that they have a long way to go in improving the ethnic diversity of their workforces, including the representation of ethnic minority people involved in policy and decision making at senior levels. One of the core commitments of the Plan itself is to work to genuinely improve this representation.

Until this is achieved, the Criminal Justice Board for Wales continues to look for meaningful ways to open up existing policy and decision-making structures to make them more inclusive. This has been a priority at a Wales-level and at local levels over the last year.

There are four Local Criminal Justice Boards across Wales. These Boards are made up of criminal justice organisations in the area, which come together in partnership to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of criminal justice at a local level. They are chaired by Police & Crime Commissioners. In the autumn of 2024, all Local Criminal Justice Boards in Wales took direct action to invite ethnic minority professionals from within their organisations to become members of the Boards.

It was clear that this would enhance the insight and lived experience being used to make criminal justice decisions at a local level and would also offer development opportunities to staff who may not have previously been involved in multi-agency working. It is hoped this action will lead to improvements in ethnic minority representation and decision making at Local Criminal Justice Board levels over the course of the year ahead.

Since the action has been taken in South Wales, the South Wales Criminal Justice Board has increased its ethnic minority representation from 3% to 14%.

The Criminal Justice Board for Wales, which all Local Criminal Justice Boards feed into, is aiming to take the same direct action in the first quarter of 2025. This will hopefully increase the ethnic diversity of people involved in criminal justice decision making at the highest level.

The Criminal Justice Board for Wales continues to invite the Chair and Vice-Chair of the Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel to its meetings and to events relevant to the Board. In September 2024, the Panel Chair was invited in person to attend the three-hour spotlight session on Anti-Racism Plan progress with members of the Board. This enabled the panel to feed in its thoughts on the progress and ongoing areas of challenge around the implementation of the Plan, ensuring that their views could be taken into account.

The Community Engagement Network has also been involved throughout the year in providing feedback and input on progress in relation to the Plan’s activities. The network was particularly helpful in feeding into plans associated with external Communications resources being developed during the year.

All criminal justice agencies are doing more to understand how they can involve ethnic minority people in shaping their services and holding them to account for their actions. Police forces have developed a range of mechanisms in which this can take place, including community engagement processes in person and online, and through the use of community scrutiny panels.

There are also Race Forums in the prisons in Wales, enabling ethnic minority prisoners to discuss their experiences and needs with prison staff.

In 2024, the Communications Strategy for the Plan was finalised by a commissioned service provider, and it was launched early in 2025. This will enable more people across Wales to understand the work criminal justice agencies in Wales are doing to become anti-racist and should increase the opportunities for more direct engagement with the agencies from the public and partners.

The materials being producing are taking account of language needs and aiming to build trust with communities and stakeholders. The Communications Strategy has also introduced the use of a public survey to measure public confidence in criminal justice across Wales, including by ethnicity. The results will be used as a benchmark on which to improve in future years.

The Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel established its own webpage early in 2025. The panel is aiming to increase its social media presence in 2025 to 26. It is hoped that this will provide more opportunity for communities to directly engage with the panel so that their views can be fed into the Plan’s implementation.

The All-Wales Gypsy Roma Traveller Group, established by the criminal justice agencies in Wales in 2023, continued to meet during the year. The group was convened following recognition that more needed to be done to understand how to meet the distinct needs of Gypsy Roma Traveller communities in the Plan’s delivery. The group brings together the Welsh police forces with Welsh Government, the Welsh Local Government Association, and third sector partners and individuals.

The issues of racism for Gypsy Roma Traveller people remains a serious concern and there is a need for enhanced partnership working to address some of the disadvantages and discrimination that these communities face. The Group is chaired by Clinks, an external partner organisation.

5.2 Key Issues Raised by Community Members and Independent Voices

in 2024 to 25

This year has seen a continuing trend of third sector partners and community members feeding back the need to balance hearing from people with a lived experience of racism, with the ongoing weight and trauma that can be caused when these experiences are conveyed. During the summer of 2024, this again became poignant when community members conveyed their own experiences of racism as a result of the UK racial violence, in order for the criminal justice agencies to understand the significant impact this was having.

The criminal justice agencies in Wales need to ensure that lived experiences are sought out and used to inform progress towards an anti-racist service. However, they need to take account of how this is done, and what recompense or support could be given to individuals being asked to convey their experiences. Racial trauma-informed approaches continue to be researched within Public Health Wales, who are core partners in this work.

During the year, members of the Community Engagement Network have also raised the significance of considering language and terminology during communication. This may require further work in the years ahead so that language is consistent and sensitive to the ways in which racially marginalised communities wish to be seen and heard.

5.3 Criminal Justice Action Example

In 2024, Gwent Police worked with a local, Black-led youth organisation, Urban Circle, to start to break down barriers between policing and young people, particularly young Black and ethnic minority people. Gwent Police wanted to directly engage with the young people to improve their understanding of the issues they were facing in their communities, and any community safety concerns they may have had.

To mark Black History Month in October 2024, a group session was arranged involving members of the youth group, their facilitators, Gwent Police officers and staff, and members of the Gwent Police & Crime Commissioner’s office. Officers spoke to the young people about the issues they said mattered to them, including stop and search rights and knife crime.

The young people then asked questions of the officers. Positive conversations took place around use of police powers as well as careers in policing. The engagement had a positive impact on the young participants who left feeling more confident about meeting police in their communities. Police attendees also left with a greater understanding of the perspectives and concerns of young people from ethnic minority backgrounds.

Between September and November 2024, the South Wales Police Chief Constable hosted a series of engagement events aimed at fostering open dialogue and addressing critical issues raised by ethnically diverse communities. This activity followed his landmark address at the National Black Police Association Conference in October 2023, where he acknowledged that the force met the criteria for being institutionally racist.

The events provided a platform for collaborative discussions, enabling the identification of actionable solutions to community concerns. Issues such as stop and search, the handling of hate crime, and disproportionate use of force, were discussed in an open and honest way, with attendees expressing the action they wished to see.

The series concluded with a ‘Community Thank You’ Event in November 2024, at Police Headquarters. This marked a significant step forward in building trust, celebrating progress, and shaping the path for continued improvement.

Attendees noted the emphasis on open dialogue, transparency, and a willingness to listen as essential steps toward building trust.

While the events marked significant progress, they also highlighted the work still required. The force has committed to taking steps to act on the outcomes of the sessions, including the decision to incorporate community feedback into ongoing strategies to address the priority issues of hate crime, stop and search, and community collaboration.

The Office of the Dyfed Powys Police & Crime Commissioner held and attended engagement events during the course of the year to consult on the new Police & Crime Plan for the area. There was a keenness to ensure it would cover issues of significance to ethnic minority people.

6. Commitment 4: Transparency, Accountability & Co-ordination

‘We will create greater transparency and accountability across the criminal justice system in relation to tackling ethnic disproportionality and promoting an anti-racist approach. We will invite external scrutiny on our performance and ensure effective structures are in place to deliver our commitments.’

6.1 Progress to Date

The last year has continued to provide a focus on the need for criminal justice agencies to encourage openness, transparency and accountability around their work, particularly in relation to their work to tackle racial disparity. The governance surrounding delivery of the Anti-Racism Action Plan aims to promote inclusion and anti-racist ways of working, ensuring that racially minoritised people and independent experts are involved in overseeing the work and providing views on progress.

During 2024 to 25, resources were allocated to the Plan’s delivery by all criminal justice agencies, and all agencies have undertaken to include the delivery of the Plan’s objectives in their own internal business planning and governance arrangements. They all continue to attend and support the Wales-wide workstreams that develop collaborative activity to deliver the Plan.

Following the Police & Crime Commissioner elections in May 2024, all elected Commissioners agreed to include their commitment to the Criminal Justice Anti-Racism Action Plan for Wales in their own Police & Crime Plans. This will enable them to focus on delivery and oversight of the plan in policing in their areas.

The Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel is the formal mechanism through which the criminal justice system in Wales is held to account for delivery of the Anti-Racism Action Plan. The panel was appointed through an open recruitment process, and all current members are from ethnic minority backgrounds. The panel meets every two months with the purpose of overseeing the work of all criminal justice agencies to meet their commitments in the Plan. Further information on some of the work the panel has undertaken is contained in an earlier section of the report.

Throughout 2024 to 25, the Criminal Justice Board for Wales has ensured that the Panel Chair, Vice-Chair and other panel members where possible, have been invited to key events and meetings to feed in their independent views. For example, in September 2023 the Panel Chair was invited to attend with senior leaders of criminal justice in Wales at an in-person planning and development day to discuss some of the challenges in progressing certain aspects of the Plan.

In March 2024, a member of the panel was also invited to take part in the recruitment process for a Deputy Chief Constable in Wales. This encouraged openness and transparency in the process of recruiting a senior criminal justice leader in Wales, whilst giving the opportunity for the panel member to put a focus on anti-racism in the process if they wished.

In the autumn of 2024, the Data & Disproportionality workstream agreed the final set of data measures that the criminal justice agencies would work towards collating to consistently measure and compare progress in relation to racial disproportionality. The data measures include all aspects of the criminal justice journey for victims and people who have offended.

For example, they include data relating to police use of powers, arrest rates, charge and outcome rates, prison populations, victim ethnicities and race hate crime rates.

They also include criminal justice workforce data. As it becomes a routine process to gather, analyse and report against these measures across criminal justice in Wales, it will provide a much more open picture to the public on the progress that is being made to tackle racial disproportionality, which is regrettably seen in all aspects of the criminal justice journey. Work is ongoing to develop a publicly shareable data dashboard to enable members of the public to access the data themselves.

6.2 Key Issues Raised by Community Members and Independent Voices in 2024 to 25

There continues to be a public interest in racial disparity data in criminal justice, with an ongoing need for this to be more readily available and transparent. This is in development and has moved forward significantly in the last year. However, Independent Panel members and partner organisations have expressed some frustration during the year at not being able to receive some aspects of the data on a Wales-wide basis in relation to civil service partner agencies who work across England and Wales.

It is recognised that this is difficult to extrapolate and has not previously been routinely collated or shared. However, it continues to make it difficult to demonstrate movement in the Plan’s progress in Wales if data includes activity and workforce data relating to England.

6.3 Criminal Justice Action Example

All police forces in Wales operate an Independent Advisory Group (IAG). This invites community members to comment and advise on police force policy and activity.

Scrutiny panels are also playing increasingly important roles across criminal justice. These enable external partners and members of the public to look at criminal justice activity undertaken, or decisions made, to provide an independent perspective for future learning. These generally happen through the oversight of records or video footage in online meetings or in-person meetings at police premises.

Use of Force and Stop Search scrutiny panels play a vital role in ensuring South Wales Police maintains high policing standards and delivers fair, transparent, and community-responsive policing services. These panels have been operating for a number of years, having been established through the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner. They enable members of the public to view police officer body worn video footage of stop and search and use of force, so that they can provide feedback on the quality of the interactions and any concerns they wish to raise.

During the last year, South Wales Police has built on this scrutiny model further, now organising panels in accessible locations in the community, such as community and youth centres. This has enabled more people to get involved in overseeing the use of police powers, including young people, faith leaders, and local stakeholders.

The renewed process has broken down barriers to accessing the information, which had only previously been available to members of the force Independent Advisory Group or the Police & Crime Commissioner’s Police Accountability & Legitimacy Group. This is leading to increased trust and confidence in communities.

7. Commitment 5: Educating the Workforce

We will invest in high quality educational anti- racism resources for use by anyone working in the criminal justice system. We will work alongside ethnic minority people and groups to make sure all provision reflects their needs and experiences.

7.1 Progress to Date

The ‘Developing the Workforce’ workstream continues to positively drive forward work to develop educational anti-racism resources for the criminal justice workforce. All criminal justice agencies are delivering or have delivered training around race since the introduction of the Plan.

There is a vast amount of work taking pace in individual organisations to ensure that anti-racist practice and the systemic racism experienced by racially minoritised communities in criminal justice is understood. The Plan’s workstream is aiming to coordinate this work so that there is more collaboration, more consistency, and a high standard of learning around anti-racism, now and in the future.

In the summer of 2024, an independent evaluation was concluded into the Cultural Competency training programme pilot that was undertaken across criminal justice in the previous year. This training was delivered by commissioned providers and undertaken with a cohort of 250 criminal justice staff across Wales.

The evaluation highlighted the ways in which the training had enhanced learning and understanding, and also shone a light on the impact that lived experience brings to training of this nature. The evaluation also noted the need to take account of additional factors in future training delivery models, importantly the need for sustained learning rather than one-off sessions. In September 2024, following the evaluation, the Criminal Justice Board for Wales met in person to discuss options for future joined up anti-racist learning.

The members agreed to the need to establish personal development learning processes that could be embedded over time, would impact behaviour change, and have relevance to specific criminal justice roles.

In 2024 the workstream finalised a new framework for Anti-Racist Training and Personal Development to increase ethnic minority workforce representation. This was established following the outcomes of the training pilot evaluation and a vast scoping exercise that had looked at the anti-racism training and development practices in place across criminal justice agencies, identifying good practice as well as gaps.

The framework sets out the standards expected of all criminal justice agencies in Wales in their efforts to educate their officers and staff on racism and anti-racism. In the year ahead the workstream will work to embed the framework and monitor its implementation, with the understanding that a personal development approach to learning is needed.

In the year ahead there is also an intention to develop anti-racist learning for existing operational trainers in criminal justice. This will enable anti-racist practice and worked examples to be threaded into operational training used across policing, prisons and other criminal justice settings.

To further enhance learning amongst the senior leadership within the Criminal Justice Board for Wales, a community collaboration model will be established and delivered in 2025 to 6. This will enable leaders to go into community partner settings led by racially minoritised people to directly participate in established groups, clubs and classes and have informal conversations with community members.

This approach will enhance the Board’s understanding of ‘on the ground’ experiences in relation to race, culture, religion and racism.

7.2 Key Issues Raised by Community Members and Independent Voices in 2024 to 25

Race equality training and awareness continue to be regularly raised during engagement with ethnic minority people in relation to their experience of the criminal justice system. There is a clear view that much of the Plan’s success depends on the investment in internal training on anti-racism, cultural competency, unconscious bias, and racial profiling across criminal justice. Without this training, much of the Plan is seen as arguably impossible to deliver as it relies on systemic change across the whole system.

Throughout the course of the year, community and partner views have focused on the need for training to lead to change. There is also a feeling that there needs to be accountability for what officers and staff do differently following any anti-racism training they attend.

Community members emphasise that attending training is not an end in itself, and that there needs to be personal responsibility and organisational follow-up to ensure it leads to behaviour change and different outcomes.

7.3 Criminal Justice Action Example

In 2024, Dyfed Powys Police and the Office of the Dyfed Powys Police & Crime Commissioner underwent a procurement process to secure specific anti-racism training for all staff and officers across the Force. The training will be rolled out over the next two years.

Gwent Police have begun the roll out of the College of Policing’s Upstander training programme, which empowers officers to recognise and challenge racism and inappropriate behaviour in the workplace. To date, 175 officers have completed the programme. In addition, 2079 officers and staff of Gwent Police have completed anti-racism training, run by an external partner, hearing from trainers with lived experiences of racism.

During Black History Month in 2024, South Wales Police hired the national Black Cultural Archives ‘History of Black Britain Timeline’ for display in its Headquarters building. Officers and staff across the force, as well as external stakeholders, were encouraged to view the exhibition throughout its five-day display. The display offered the opportunity for attendees to reflect on the history of Black communities.

The aim was to enhance anti-racist learning within the South Wales Police workforce by enabling staff to see how racism had permeated communities over the years, and how historic events had influenced the continued racism seen today.

The display also highlighted many of the positive influences and contributions Black people have made and continue to make in the UK. Staff and officers were asked to provide feedback after viewing the display. Many reported being enlightened on many aspects of history and felt the learning would have an impact on their future work and public interactions.

8. Commitment 6: Promoting Fairness

We will promote fairness in a criminal justice system that is anti-racist and challenges racism and its causes, so that people of all ethnic identities and backgrounds experience fair outcomes.

8.1 Progress to Date

Criminal justice agencies in Wales are continuing to collect and analyse data that highlights the racial disparity and unfairness that exists within the service.
This includes the collection of numerical data, as well as the data that comes from hearing about the lived experiences of people in racially minoritised communities.

Criminal justice is developing more inclusive and stringent ways to analyse this data in collaboration with communities and partners, for example, through the use of Independent Advisory Groups, Accountability Groups and Scrutiny Panels.

In 2024 the ‘Data & Disproportionality’ workstream associated with the Plan’s governance amended its Terms of Reference to ensure it operates using an ‘Explain or Reform’ approach. This means that racial disproportionality across criminal justice must be able to be fully explained, or the matter in question needs to be acted on so that the disproportionality will be eradicated.

Partner agencies are working on a collective and individual basis to tackle racial disparity in varied ways. For example, in November 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) launched an action plan to tackle racial disproportionality on a national level, following extensive research into charging decisions.

Also in 2024, the probation service in Wales established a Disproportionality Taskforce. The taskforce works to analyse and understand areas of racial disparity that may be evident in outcomes for people on probation, such as housing, employment and breach levels. They explore underlying causes and take action using the ‘explain or reform’ principle.

Through engaging partners, commissioned services, practitioners, people on probation, and operational leads, the taskforce has increased accountability and enabled a deeper understanding of where and why racial disparity occurs.

The work has also raised the profile of anti-racist principles across stakeholders. Data is reviewed on a cyclical basis to assess progress, and the first formal review of progress and outcomes from the Taskforce will take place at the end of 2025.

Work is taking place to better support ethnic minority people in the delivery of a range of services across criminal justice. There is a commitment to better understanding the specific needs of Black and ethnic minority people and to providing services that appropriately meet them.

As has been outlined under Commitment 1 of this report, work is taking placed to promote consistency and fairness in the delivery of hate crime support to victims.
A review is underway across Wales to understand any improvements that may be required in the provision of a high-quality victim-led service.

There is also ongoing work taking place to develop options for enabling hate crime perpetrators to receive Out of Court Disposal processes that focus on their behaviour change. It is hoped that a pilot restorative justice process will be established that enables perpetrators to understand the impact of their racist behaviour on victims, using a supportive approach.

In 2024, South Wales Police and the Police & Crime Commissioner’s team attended a domestic abuse survivor engagement session facilitated by BAWSO, a partner organisation. The session provided the opportunity for ethnic minority victims and survivors to provide feedback on their experiences with South Wales Police.

Those attending provided valuable feedback covering issues such as access to help, barriers to reporting, barriers to accessing support, impacts on children, equality and disproportionality concerns, court experiences and housing issues. The feedback is being used to shape responses and communications for the future.

As referenced earlier in the report, an All-Wales group set up by criminal justice agencies in Wales continues to meet to discuss the specific needs of Gypsy Roma Traveller communities in relation to criminal justice. This includes third sector and lived experience representation, as well as police forces, Welsh Government and the Welsh Local Government Association.

The aim is to collaboratively and consistently look to develop fair and inclusive ways of working and engaging with Gypsy Roma Traveller communities in Wales. To date most of the focus has been on the need to develop fair protocols to deal with unauthorised encampments in Wales in an anti-racist way.

As outlined in an earlier section of this report, the Criminal Justice Board for Wales is continuing to work with Public Health Wales to consider how its Trauma-Informed Wales Framework can align with understanding of the impact of racial trauma in criminal justice.

Criminal justice agencies in Wales now have a deeper understanding of trauma-informed approaches and many are committed to bringing these into their service delivery work with victims, survivors, people who offend, and their own staff. In the year ahead there will be more collaborative working with Public Health Wales to consider how to bring more understanding of racial trauma into the work.

In February 2025, a symposium to discuss how this can be taken forward was delivered by Public Health Wales and attended by Criminal Justice in Wales and community organisations.

8.2 Key Issues Raised by Community Members and Independent Voices in 2024 to 25

In 2024, the Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel looked at some of the complaints processes operating in policing. They fed back that more needed to be done to make the public aware of how to access complaints procedures, and that the routes for making a complaint should be relatively easy.

The panel also looked at internal complaints processes for prisoners raising complaints about racial harassment. Panel members were pleased to see the channels available to prisoners to raise these concerns but felt more needed to be done to consider issues around reluctance to report. This included the need for the processes to be well-advertised, safe, and accessible.

Feedback from some victims and survivors during the year has shown there is lack of awareness around why criminal justice agencies monitor ethnicity and capture other equality data for victims.

Some victims were concerned it could have a negative impact on the service they would receive, which shows there is more for criminal justice to do to outwardly explain why the information is collected and how it can make a positive difference.

8.3 Criminal Justice Action Example

In November 2024, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) launched an ambitious plan to tackle racial disproportionality and safeguard fair prosecution decision-making.

This followed extensive research, commissioned by the CPS and overseen by an independent Disproportionality Advisory Group, which found that defendants from ethnic minority backgrounds were significantly more likely to be charged for a comparable offence than white British defendants.

At the heart of the new action plan will be a change to the Code for Crown Prosecutors, the guidance by which prosecutors make their decisions, which will be designed to eliminate racial bias in decision-making.

In January 2025, the Chief Crown Prosecutor for Wales attended a meeting of the Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel to outline the findings of the CPS research, as well as the actions contained in the resulting action plan. This enabled panel members to understand how the research was specifically being considered in Wales and how action plan progress would be monitored.

During the last year, the Joint Scientific Investigation Unit consisting of South Wales Police and Gwent Police, has launched a new process for Crime Scene Investigators (CSIs). This uses specialist lenses that enable injuries to be evidenced on people with darker skin tones that are not visible, or are minimally visible, to the naked eye or officer handheld devices.

CSIs have received training in the use of the new equipment, and officers can refer cases to them when they believe it may be required. Data on the number of referrals and the impact this is making will be collated during the year ahead.

9. Commitment 7: Prevention, Early Intervention & Rehabilitation

We will work together to end the over representation of ethnic minority people who have committed a crime and defendants in the criminal justice system in Wales. We will provide holistic, person-centred and trauma-informed support to offenders and those at risk of offending so they can make informed life choices for employment, education, social relationships, and mental and physical health and wellbeing.

9.1 Progress to Date

As outlined in last year’s annual report, 2023 saw the completion of a commissioned literature review in relation to the use of Out of Court Disposals and criminal justice diversion schemes amongst ethnic minority people. This research moved into a second phase in 2024.

The initial review looked at the reasons for the under representation of ethnic minority people in such custody diversion schemes, and the subsequent greater likelihood of harsher sentencing for ethnic minority people. The literature review also considered possible ways to adapt current processes to increase the representation and therefore divert more ethnic minority people from a criminal justice route.

In 2024, the second phase of this research has involved a commissioned researcher analysing quantitative data in relation to the use of Out of Court Disposals in South Wales Police, as well as the conducting of interviews with stakeholders in the force area.

The researcher has spoken with custody staff, external service providers, ethnic minority people who have been through custody, and some defence solicitors. The intention is that these experiences and viewpoints, alongside the quantitative data, will provide a clearer position on what may be contributing to the under representation of ethnic minority people in diversion.

The final report of the research will be available in the spring of 2025 for the Criminal Justice Board for Wales to consider.

Over the course of the last year, His Majesty’s Prison & Probation Service (HMPPS) has worked with commissioned partners, BtheChange and Safer Wales, to support nearly 70 ethnic minority people on probation, including young adults and women. Often in community settings, support is provided by staff with expertise and lived experience focussing on a range of factors, which improve rehabilitative outcomes, including advocacy, education, training and employment, and finance.

Ongoing monitoring suggests that the provision of holistic, compassionate, and culturally informed support is resulting in improved mental health, reduced isolation, and better access to other services including health and housing.

In addition, HMP Berwyn continues to engage and support Gypsy, Roma, and Traveller prisoners. Through heritage craft projects, tailored education and health interventions, prisoners are securing better employment opportunities, improving their health and wellbeing, and helping staff to learn more about their culture and values.

During 2024, Gypsy Roma Traveller group projects have included confidence-building courses, Blacksmith sessions, ‘story book dads’ to support those with children to maintain positive family ties, and a candle making project to mark Holocaust Memorial Day.

The team at Berwyn have also been working closely with the North Wales Health Boards to respond to health inequalities, supporting direct interventions that have increased the uptake of vaccinations and access to mental health support.

10. Key Issues Raised by Community Members and Independent Voices in 2024 to 25

Partner organisations continue to highlight the importance of taking trauma informed and person-centred approaches to the design and delivery of services in criminal justice.

The research into hate crime perpetrators and the under representation of ethnic minority people in diversion schemes, has particularly highlighted the importance of using holistic approaches that understand the multiple layers that all victims and perpetrators have. The research highlights how these need to be factored into any supportive rehabilitative or preventative approach.

10.1 Criminal Justice Action Example

Prisons across Wales have been working to improve support provided to ethnic minority prisoners. Informed by data and experiences of ethnic minority prisoners, work this year has included making improvements to the availability of culturally appropriate skin and hair care, and barbering services.

Heritage arts and cooking projects have taken place across several prisons, celebrating diverse ethnic identities and educating the wider staffing and prison community on the experiences of ethnic minority prisoners.

HMP Cardiff has worked with ethnic minority prisoners to develop artwork and poetry, which has been showcased in a prisoner and staff booklet to be displayed in all probation public spaces.

The Women’s Justice Blueprint work across Wales has incorporated the need to consider service design appropriate to the needs of ethnic minority women. Women’s Centres are being developed in association with criminal justice across Wales, and their specifications include the need to ensure due consideration is given to meeting these needs.

The Youth Justice Board is continuing to work closely with its youth justice partners to address the contributors to racial disparity and improve practice. An example is its ongoing work to promote the increased use of Outcome 22 (diversionary practice) for children, believing this would be a positive step in reducing the over representation of ethnic minority children in the youth justice system.

11. The year ahead

Key issues of focus for criminal justice in the year ahead (2025 to 26) include:

• Working to embed the new Anti-racism training and development framework across organisations and to begin to train existing operational trainers on anti- racist practice
• Developing a renewed engagement model throughout Wales to ensure that ethnic minority people can be better engaged on the Plan’s delivery and have a say in how things are progressing on the ground
• Continued emphasis on the new Communications activity across Wales as work progresses to inform people of the progress being made in relation to the Plan’s aims
• Working to develop a pilot programme to introduce an Out of Court Disposal process for hate crime perpetrators. This will be victim-led and focussed on behaviour change of perpetrators of racist hate crimes
• Enhancing focus on internal cultures within criminal justice workforces so that internal racial harassment can be tackled, and criminal justice can better understand the ways their staff are feeling

In the year ahead, the Independent Oversight & Advisory Panel has committed to overseeing the following:

• Ensuring agencies demonstrate measurable outcomes, moving beyond commitments to delivering evidence of impact
• Strengthening accountability structures, ensuring that all anti-racist actions are tied to clear benchmarks
• Encouraging greater community engagement, ensuring that those most affected by racial disparities shape policy decisions
• Holding leadership accountable for progress, ensuring sustained and visible commitment from senior officials

12. Conclusions

The second year of the Plan’s implementation has seen the beginnings of positive changes taking place across criminal justice in its journey towards being anti racist. Action is being taken under all commitments in the Plan, and there is a genuine focus on the need for enhanced anti-racist learning and ethnic minority representation across the service, including amongst decision makers.

There is also a continued focus on transparency, accountability and openness with communities, who are increasingly being asked to take part in holding the service to account.

Unfortunately, data shows there is still much more to be done, and the scale of change required across criminal justice is not under-estimated. This is not a surprise to any racially minoritised people in Wales who have experienced unconscious bias, microaggressions, and racism on a daily basis for far too long.
Data is available for the first time in the appendix of this report.

All criminal justice partners in Wales remain dedicated to working together to eradicate racism across their services and to ensuring that ethnic minority people in Wales see the change they deserve to see.

Sincere gratitude and appreciation are expressed to all ethnic minority individuals and staff, as well as organisations, who have assisted with the implementation, oversight and challenge of the Plan in its second year. The Criminal Justice Board for Wales will continue with this co-delivery approach and will continue to include Anti-Racism as one of its core priorities in the year ahead.

13. Appendix: Criminal Justice in Wales Data

You can view the data tables along with the explanatory notes here.