Jane Hutt MS, Minister for Social Justice and Chief Whip
Following the tragic death of Harvey Evans and Kyrees Sullivan on Monday evening and the disorder in Ely, the First Minister and I today held a meeting in Ely, with representatives of the local community, Action in Caerau and Ely, the South Wales Police and Crime Commissioner, the chief executive and leader of Cardiff Council, the MP for Cardiff West and local councillors.
We began our meeting with a moment of reflection for Harvey and Kyrees. Two families are grieving for their sons and the people of Ely and Caerau have experienced a collective trauma. Our thoughts are with the families and friends of Harvey and Kyrees.
The meeting was not designed to examine the events of Monday evening or to trespass into the territory of the Independent Office of Police Conduct investigation but to discuss how we can collectively support the community.
All the agencies around the table recognise the distress felt by local people and have committed to jointly sponsor a grassroots-led initiative to create a community plan for Ely, which will respond to the long-term needs of residents. It will be focused on actions and outcomes for people in Ely and Caerau.
The First Minister and I were clear this work will be done in genuine partnership with the people of Ely and Caerau. We want to listen, to learn and to draw on the strengths and local knowledge of residents and respond to their concerns.
We also agreed to explore what we can do together to provide more immediate support for children and young people over the summer months.
To support this community-led work it was agreed that I will chair a reference group which will bring together the local authority, schools, primary care services, youth justice services, the police, other relevant agencies, and the voices of children and young people as a resource for those developing the community plan.
We were all clear that this group would fully respect and engage with existing local and regional partnerships. I will provide further detail about this in due course.
The work we do in Ely and Caerau will help inform wider programmes to engage with and support other communities across Wales.
We are determined that this Community Plan will ensure the local community in Ely and Caerau can recover from the events of this week.